Welcome to United Way of Southwestern Indiana 2-1-1 eNewsletter! The purpose of this newsletter is to make you, our social services partners, aware of 2-1-1 activities, new and/or changes to programs in our database, and to show you what we are doing. The 2-1-1 eNews will be released the last week of the month.

We encourage your feedback! Let us know how we can help you, if you need 2-1-1 supplies, or if you would like someone to speak about 2-1-1.

Send Stephanie an email at snorrick@unitedwayswi.org

In addition to answering 20,000+ calls for assistance, our 2-1-1 Center:

• took part in the Rapid Response Team for transitioning Whirlpool Employees
• advocated for hundreds of Vectren customers in need of utility assistance and kept utilities turned on for 170+ households
• had over 260 pre-trial clients, who provided over 6,700 hours of community service for 22 social service agencies - four of those clients continued serving and two of them were hired by agencies
• conducted an Outcome Satisfaction Survey of 458 clients - 44% reported receiving help from referral agencies and 96% stated they would call again
• received over 170 responses from our Service Provider Survey - over half of the respondents reported that 2-1-1 refers clients appropriately and they would recommend the service to others

Stephanie Norrick, CIRS

Director of Community Resources

Carol Tenhumberg, CIRS

Community Resource Specialist

Cathy Perrin, CIRS

Community Resource Specialist

Jan Martin

Community Resource Specialist

Cierra Gregory

Intern, Community Resource Specialist

1. Food
2. Housing/Utilities
3. Individual/Family/Community
4. Income Support
5. Health Care

1. Housing/Utility
2. Individual/Family/Community
3. Income Support
4. Transportation
5. Food

Type of Call

Advocacy - 35

Assessment - 20,067

Crisis - 0

Information - 818

Sex of Caller

Female - 15,048

Male - 5,509

Who's Calling

Friend/Family - 366

Organization - 3,749

Self - 16,812

Database

Agencies - 514

Programs - 954

Serving as your 2-1-1 Center for Vanderburgh, Warrick, Spencer, Posey and  

Gibson counties.

Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA)

United Way of Southwestern Indiana provides free tax preparation and filing through the Financial Stability Partnership. The Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) Program offers free tax help to low-to-moderate income residents who need assistance preparing their tax returns. Certified volunteers receive training through the Internal Revenue Service to help prepare basic tax returns in communities across the country.

The goal of the VITA Program is to provide families with practical help to maximize their income by obtaining all of the federal and state tax credits available to them. Additionally, VITA provides families with the option to avoid paying high tax preparation fees or utilizing high interest refund anticipation loans.

USI

The University of Southern Indiana will provide free tax assistance on Wednesdays from February 2 through April 13. This service is available to USI students and individuals with low-to-moderate income. Sessions will be held by appointment only at 5 p.m. and 6:45 p.m. each Wednesday in Room 104 of the new Business and Engineering Center. To make an appointment, call the College of Business at (812) 464-1718.

AARP

AARP will also be conducting free tax assistance at various library locations in our community. To learn more, please dial 2-1-1.