Ontario 211 Services develops partnerships to advance an integrated human service system. With our 211 Regional Service Providers, we collaborate to ensure broad and equitable access to community services and maximize the use of existing resources.
Matawa First Nations & 211 North Service Mapping Project
211 North was invited to partner in a mapping project. Matawa First Nations Management, a Tribal Council serving 9 first Nations communities, will use 211's data in this project. After mapping resources, they will also create infographics to help people understand what services do. These will help people transitioning from custody and those experiencing homelessness. The partnership aims to make it easier for people to understand the services here to help them. This data sharing partnership ensures ongoing project sustainability.
Toronto Community Crisis Service Pilot
The City of Toronto, Toronto Police Service, 211 Central and four community partners are piloting the Toronto Community Crisis Service (TCCS) program.
The pilot launched in March 2022 in four regions and seeks to provide a community-based response to non-emergency mental health crisis calls. By working together, these organizations can provide culturally safe mental health supports. The pilot needs to be responsive to local priorities and the system's complexity as residents face navigating Toronto's health, social and justice services.
A recent market research campaign found that awareness of the pilot had increased by 22%. It also found greater awareness and trust in Black and Indigenous communities with the support of the 211 Services community helpline.
TCCS dispatches via 211 have now exceeded those transferred from 911 – a great achievement and a positive indicator of the pilot's success. Since launch, 211 has made over 8000 dispatch calls for the pilot, and there is a strong commitment to expand the pilot city-wide by July 2024.
Local Immigration Partnership Partners With 211 South West
The Windsor Essex Local Immigration Partnership is the region’s lead agency coordinating support for migrant workers and refugees. As part of this work, they created an English and Spanish app using 211 data and crowd-sourced information to help meet the service needs of this community – notably temporary migrant workers working in the agriculture and greenhouse sectors in the area.
Ottawa Police Services Fraud Squad Team Up With 211 East
Ottawa Police Services and 211 East have partnered to share fraud prevention messages. They are running a joint outreach campaign across the region, including presenting to seniors’ groups across Eastern Ontario. More sessions will run in the Fall of 2023 and Spring of 2024.
Affordable Access to Transit in Thunder Bay
The City of Thunder Bay and 211 North are partnering on the "Affordable Access to Transportation and Recreation" project – a three-year pilot launched in July 2023 to reduce poverty and enhance accessibility to the community's resources. They hope to do this by providing reduced transit fairs and recreation fees. The objective is to enhance an individual's mobility and help them feel empowered, enabling more residents to participate in local social and economic opportunities.
211 North intake staff will receive, process, and approve applications for the Affordable Access Pilot program as the public point of contact for the application process.
- Resource data sharing with five municipal GIS mapping systems, the County of Simcoe, the Cities of Barrie and Peterborough, Northumberland County, and the District of Parry Sound.
- Eighteen custom online directories and community calendars for specific regions or subject areas.
- Infrastructure Canada and United Way Canada to provide custom data collection and reporting for the annual national Shelter Capacity Report.
- Ontario Council of Agencies Serving Immigrants (OCASI)
- Toronto Child and Family Network
- University of Toronto PhD Research
- City of Toronto
- Toronto Police Services
- Toronto Public Library
- North York Women’s Centre
- UHN – Connected Care
- North York General Hospital
- UWGT – Peel Newcomer Strategy Group
- The 519
- City of Brampton
- Ontario Council of Agencies Serving Immigrants (OCASI)
- Toronto Area Local Health Integration Networks (LHINS)
- Benefits Screening Tool Project Prosper Canada
- Toronto Public Health
- Wellesley Institute
- Toronto Community Foundation
- Ontario Caregivers Association
- Ontario Digital Services
- York Region
- City of Cambridge
- Advocacy Centre for Tenants Ontario
- Centre for Research and Education on Violence Against Women & Children
- Tamarack Institute for Community Engagement
- Black Health Alliance
- Durham College
- Ontario Health Teams
- Information Oxford
- Canadian Frailty Network
- Service Coordination Vanier
- Connecting Ottawa
- Lanark Leeds Grenville OHT
- Ottawa Police Service
- Counselling Connect
- Ontario Caregiver Association
- Surrey Place (Toronto Autism Services)
- ReportON
- Assessment and intake services for United Way Bruce Grey, for utility assistance and backpack programs.
- 24/7 Housing Helpline for three municipalities, Bruce, Grey, and Simcoe Counties: short-term shelter program and coordinated referral and shelter placement entry point.
- Couchiching, Muskoka Area and Hills of Headwater Ontario Health Teams system navigation service.
- City of Thunder Bay - Incident Reporting & Referral Service (Racism Reporting)
- City of Thunder Bay - Graffiti Guard
- Age Friendly Thunder Bay
- Thunder Bay 55 Plus Centre - Snow Angels
- Healthy Kids Thunder Bay
- Lakehead District School Board, Thunder Bay Catholic District School Board, TbayTel - Phones for Families
- Synergy North - Low-income Energy Assistance Program – LEAP, Thunder Bay
- United Way Centraide Simcoe Muskoka
- Prosper Canada
- Toy Mountain
- Toronto Community Crisis Service pilot program
- Social prescribing and closed-loop referral partnerships with three hospitals, ten Family Health Teams, and paramedic services for four municipalities, Bruce, Grey, Simcoe, and Northumberland.
- Assessment and enrollment service for Urgent Needs Discretionary Funds for United Ways Simcoe Muskoka and Perth Huron to support at-risk households.
- Reducing Seniors’ Isolation through Social Prescribing by clinicians to connect seniors to meaningful social and volunteer activities in Simcoe County.
- A South Georgian Bay Collaborative Project working to reduce the impact of poverty through improving coordinated care planning with healthcare providers and community agencies.
- Coordinated Access System project management and administrative oversight to operationalize a new coordinated access system utilizing access points, common tools, and processes to prioritize people for housing and support services to prevent and reduce homelessness in Simcoe County.
- A provincial partnership with the Alliance for Healthier Communities for Social Prescribing for Better Mental Health to promote mental health and prevent mental illness through social prescribing by clinicians for connections to community services and wellness activities.
- Closing the Loop for Upstream Homelessness Prevention project led by United Way Canada to increase the capacity of the 211 Canada network in reducing and preventing the inflow of vulnerable people into homelessness by facilitating closed-loop referrals with homelessness service partners.
- South Georgian Bay Ontario Health Team digital integration project for eReferral data sharing.
- Research study with the University of Ottawa, Innovations Strengthening Primary Health Care Through Research (INSPIRE PHC), to study and inform elements of Community Connection’s social prescribing model for comprehensive, whole-person navigation to prepare for broader adoption.
- Taking Action Against Youth Homelessness (Elgin County)
- Windsor Essex Local Immigration Partnership
- Organizing Spontaneous Volunteers System
- Income tax Clinic-CentralizedBooking Pilot
- Toronto Mental Health Strategy Table
- Community Coordinating Plan Advisory
- Data for Equity
- Toronto Seniors Strategy Accountability Table
- Human Service Integration
- Toronto Police Services / Toronto Metropolitan University
- Social Research
- City of Toronto Digital Team
- Youth Development Unit
- Social Development Finance and Administration (Confront Anti-Black Racism Unit)
- Toronto Community Housing Corp
- Toronto Drop-In Network
- Toronto Hoarding Support Services Network
- Social Planning Toronto
- Toronto Nonprofit Network
- Toronto Aboriginal Support Services Council
- South Riverdale Community Health Centre
- Toronto and York Region Labour Community Services
- Council of Agencies Serving South Asians
- Network for the Advancement of Black Community
- Centre for Young Black Professionals
- Black Creek Community Health Care
- Lumacare
- LOFT North West
- Toronto Community Benefits Network
- Health Commons & Women’s College Hospital
- Toronto District School Board and others
- Ontario Psychological Association
- Region of Durham
- Peel Newcomer Strategy
- Anti Black Racism and Systemic Discrimination Collective of Peel
- Regional Community Response Table (Peel region)
- Ontario For All
- Canadian 211 Leadership Table
- Urban Alliance on Race Relations
- Ontario Health Teams, anchor partner with South Georgian Bay and Couchiching.
- Home Takeover community initiative with Grey Bruce Public Health Unit to support vulnerable tenants in precarious living situations with unwanted guests.
- Affordable Housing Community Impact Lab, a community co-design initiative supported by Social Innovation at Georgian College, exploring leveraging technology to expand access to local rental market data and enable community leaders to make informed decisions on appropriate and affordable housing strategies in Simcoe County.
- With the South Georgian Bay Ontario Health Team, developing a Community Information Exchange, a cross-sector community collaborative that uses digital tools to collaborate and coordinate care to address social risk factors and reduce health inequities for people.
- Bruce Grey Data Information Sharing Collective, sharing vital local data to inform regional programming, policies, and funding.
- Nishnawbe Aski Nation (NAN)
- Poverty Reduction Strategy Committee Thunder Bay
- United Way of Thunder Bay
- United Way Centraide North Eastern Ontario
- Vulnerable Populations Planning Table (Thunder Bay)
- Community Safety & Well Being (City of Thunder Bay)
- Regional Food Distribution Association (Thunder Bay)
- Thunder Bay and Area Food Strategy
- Home and Community Care Support Services (Northwestern Ontario)
- Lakehead Social Planning Council - Reaching Home, Coordinated Housing Access Table (CHAT)
- United Way Centraide Canada - Closing the I&R Loop for Upstream Prevention of Homelessness.
- Community Safety and Wellbeing Committee
- Indigenous Friendship Centre – Thunder Bay
- Matawa First Nations Management
- Cornwall SDG Emergency and Strategic Response Council
- Ambassador Advisory group-City of Ottawa
- United Way East Ontario cabinet participant
- Social Services Advisory Committee-Ottawa
- Emergency Food Task Force-Ottawa
- Community Crisis Response Implementation Committee-Ottawa
- Council on Aging
- Emergency Risk Communicators Network (Toronto)
- Emergency notification and communication protocols with 34 municipalities.
- Simcoe Muskoka Vulnerable Population Emergency Planning Committee oversees an emergency plan and disseminates timely information to service providers supporting vulnerable populations.
- Bruce Grey Post-disaster Long-term Assistance Network mobilizes resources during/after an event.
- Simcoe County Emergency Response Committee provides integrated planning, training and exercises for community emergency management.
- 211 Northern Region: Communications Protocols – 50 communities
- ESSEX COUNTY (Windsor, Amherstburg, Kingsville, Lasalle, Leamington, Tecumseh)
- OXFORD COUNTY (Blandford, Blenheim, East Zorra-Tavistock)
- MIDDLESEX COUNTY (London, North Middlesex, Thames Valley, Township of Lucan Biddulph, South Middlesex, Municipality of Thames Centre)
- LAMBTON COUNTY (Sarnia, Dawn Euphemia, Township of Enniskillen)
- ELGIN COUNTY (Bayham, Dutton Dunwich, Town of Malahide, West Elgin)
- 211 Eastern Ontario has 16 agreements. Most recent Tay Valley Township and Greater Madawaska Township
