Make sure that any still-relevant comments are addressed on the new site.
20170428132635947.pdf
Also, the following from Elizabeth Kelly, 211 manager:
One of the specialists completed the suggestions for suggested searches on our 2-1-1 database.
Please let me know if this is helpful or if we need to do further refinement to this. Feel free to share my contact info with the Code folks.
I’ve pasted her suggestions here (and saved it on the Word Doc under 2-1-1 search suggestions at the end):
• I would tack on “Food Stamps” under “Food Pantries”—I’m not terribly familiar with the rights of incarcerated folks re-entering the community, but I believe felons can get food stamps as long as they committed a non-drug related felony. I’m not sure about that though, and if they want to refrain from using that as a search example that understandable.
• “Prepared Meals” should be changed to either “Soup Kitchens” or “Home Delivered Meals” (though given the demo my assumption is the former would be more accurate/relevant to their needs). I would also put it under “Food Pantries”, as a sub-grouping.
• Since it’s so crucial, there should probably be a mini-list or sub-list of housing search terms, similar in format to the community health terms. I would suggest having “Transitional Housing” first, followed by “Halfway Houses,” “Home Rental Guide,” and “Homeless Permanent Supportive Housing” (since that pops Homeward Bound, and may be a good way to guide people in that direction). “Homeless Shelters” could also be added under this sublisting, but that’s up to the discretion of the Re-Entry Hubs folks
• Under the health sublisting, I would keep “Community Health Clinics First”, then make the second entry be “Women’s Health Centers”, then “Prescription Expense Assistance.” The last entry “Alternative Health” could be shifted to “Alternative Medicine,” though I would delete that and add in its place “Central Intake/Assessment for Substance Use Disorders” and ditto for mental health. I know that’s a wordy taxonomy, but using anything else on the website produces a confusing nightmare of irrelevant resources (in my humble opinion, having just typed in “mental health.”). I would also add Addictions/Substance Use Disorder Support Groups
• Zap “Miscellaneous,” that would be confusing to people and produces no results anyway
• Zap “Public Health” for same reason”
• Add “STD Clinics” to health sublisting
• Add “Local Bus Service” at end for transportation
After so many beautiful bullet point explanations, this is what it would end up looking like:
Food Pantries
Soup Kitchens
Food Stamps
Transitional Housing
Homeless Shelters
Halfway Houses
Homeless Permanent Supportive Housing
Home Rental Guides
Community Health Clinics
Women’s Health Clinics
Prescription Expense Assistance
Central Intake/Assessment for Substance Use Disorders
Central Intake/Assessment for Mental Health Services
STD Clinics
Addictions/Substance Use Disorder Support Groups
Local Bus Services
Sorry if this list is a bit lengthy, but I think it more evenly covers the range of basic needs that a recently released person might be facing. I’ve checked all the taxonomies listed to ensure that they return a relevant result, because there are very many that do not!
Make sure that any still-relevant comments are addressed on the new site. 20170428132635947.pdf
Also, the following from Elizabeth Kelly, 211 manager:
One of the specialists completed the suggestions for suggested searches on our 2-1-1 database. Please let me know if this is helpful or if we need to do further refinement to this. Feel free to share my contact info with the Code folks.
I’ve pasted her suggestions here (and saved it on the Word Doc under 2-1-1 search suggestions at the end):
• I would tack on “Food Stamps” under “Food Pantries”—I’m not terribly familiar with the rights of incarcerated folks re-entering the community, but I believe felons can get food stamps as long as they committed a non-drug related felony. I’m not sure about that though, and if they want to refrain from using that as a search example that understandable. • “Prepared Meals” should be changed to either “Soup Kitchens” or “Home Delivered Meals” (though given the demo my assumption is the former would be more accurate/relevant to their needs). I would also put it under “Food Pantries”, as a sub-grouping. • Since it’s so crucial, there should probably be a mini-list or sub-list of housing search terms, similar in format to the community health terms. I would suggest having “Transitional Housing” first, followed by “Halfway Houses,” “Home Rental Guide,” and “Homeless Permanent Supportive Housing” (since that pops Homeward Bound, and may be a good way to guide people in that direction). “Homeless Shelters” could also be added under this sublisting, but that’s up to the discretion of the Re-Entry Hubs folks • Under the health sublisting, I would keep “Community Health Clinics First”, then make the second entry be “Women’s Health Centers”, then “Prescription Expense Assistance.” The last entry “Alternative Health” could be shifted to “Alternative Medicine,” though I would delete that and add in its place “Central Intake/Assessment for Substance Use Disorders” and ditto for mental health. I know that’s a wordy taxonomy, but using anything else on the website produces a confusing nightmare of irrelevant resources (in my humble opinion, having just typed in “mental health.”). I would also add Addictions/Substance Use Disorder Support Groups • Zap “Miscellaneous,” that would be confusing to people and produces no results anyway • Zap “Public Health” for same reason” • Add “STD Clinics” to health sublisting • Add “Local Bus Service” at end for transportation
After so many beautiful bullet point explanations, this is what it would end up looking like:
Food Pantries Soup Kitchens Food Stamps Transitional Housing Homeless Shelters Halfway Houses Homeless Permanent Supportive Housing Home Rental Guides Community Health Clinics Women’s Health Clinics Prescription Expense Assistance Central Intake/Assessment for Substance Use Disorders Central Intake/Assessment for Mental Health Services STD Clinics Addictions/Substance Use Disorder Support Groups Local Bus Services
Sorry if this list is a bit lengthy, but I think it more evenly covers the range of basic needs that a recently released person might be facing. I’ve checked all the taxonomies listed to ensure that they return a relevant result, because there are very many that do not!