CANTON ‒ The 211 helpline for information and community resources has returned to Stark County — more than three years after it was transitioned to an online guide because of the high cost and declining call volumes.
The renewed service, brought back under a statewide expansion, is now being run by Lifeline Inc., a Community Action Agency based in Lake County.
Stark residents can call 211 to talk with an operator that can connect them with resources such as food assistance, substance abuse prevention or mental health support locally.
Ohio 211 Director Tanya Kahl said reinstating 211 will help more people access local services in Stark.
“The goal of bringing 211 back to Stark County is to make getting help simple and accessible to all Ohioans through as many different channels as possible,” Kahl said in an email.
The state expansion brought 211 to 30 counties where services had previously been limited or not available.
Lifeline Executive Director Carrie Dotson said the helpline is another route available for seeking help.
“I think anytime someone is facing a utility shut-off or an eviction or maybe is short on funds to buy groceries for the month — whatever the need is — the more resources they can tap into, the better,” she said.
The state expansion of 211 was funded in Ohio’s biennial budget passed in 2025. The Ohio Department of Children and Youth has committed to funding the service through June 2027, with the possibility of renewal in subsequent state budgets.
Stark 211 is being administered by new group
Lifeline is a Community Action Agency based in Painesville. It serves Lake and Geauga counties. The group has operated the 211 helpline in Lake County for about 16 years.
It also has provided temporary disaster coverage for Pike, Fayette and Highland counties for about seven years.
Lifeline now operates 211 for five counties: Lake, Stark, Fayette, Highland and Pike.
“We knew we had some capacity to take more calls, particularly if there was some funding available to hire additional call navigators,” Dotson said. “All of the counties that were contiguous to us were already covered, so we just said we were happy to take whatever counties were sent our way, wherever we can help make an impact.”
Stark 211 relaunched July 1. Dotson said they have already taken about 600 calls.
“We’re confident call volume, once we get out there and start meeting people and distributing information, those numbers are going to go much higher,” she said.
Lifeline has a dedicated team to keep its database of local resources up to date. The team does consistent updates as resources change and conducts a formal update process at least once a year where each agency is contacted.
The group plans to hold a September meeting in Stark County to talk with community agencies about 211 and build partnerships. The Stark County Community Action Agency will help host the local meeting.
Stark County Community Action Agency CEO Rodney Reasonover said he’s been supportive of bringing 211 back to the county.
“It’s a resource that people can utilize to find needed services in the community,” he said. “Access to emergency services, housing assistance, food services, things of that nature — expedience becomes the issue at hand. I just see it as a valued asset in the community.”
Local resource StarkHelpCentral.com still up and running
Stark 211 was previously operated by United Way of Greater Stark County before it was discontinued in 2023 and transitioned to StarkHelpCentral.com, an online resource supported by Stark County Mental Health & Addiction Recovery and other county agencies.
At the time, county agencies said the information line was more costly to operate than the online platform and the amount of callers was decreasing.
“When they came on with us, in the previous eight years, the 211 system had seen phone calls decrease by about 55%,” StarkMHAR Executive Director John Aller said. “It was kind of natural to go to more of an online presence.”
Angela Perisic, president and CEO of United Way, said the transition to the online resource was successful, and StarkHelpCentral.com now gets more visits in a month than the total amount of calls to 211 in the entire year before it closed.
StarkHelpCentral.com will continue to be accessible as a searchable online resource for people in need of help and information. The site, which launched in 2018, houses about 750 resources.
Aller said StarkHelpCentral.com is a proven system that is managed locally and consistently updated.
“It was kind of grassroots, agency-based with community input to develop this,” he said. “At this point, we’d like to partner with 211 in any way that we can, but I think the system that we have in place is more robust and not only provides resources but also gives information about the different systems.”
Aller and Perisic said they worry the return of Stark 211 could create confusion about who is operating the helpline, especially since its being run out of Lake County.
“From United Way’s perspective, when things are rosy and great, then it looks good, but inevitably, if someone doesn’t get assistance and they think they should have, they’re going to automatically think that it was United Way that didn’t serve them,” Perisic said.
Aller and Perisic also questioned reviving the helpline when a more cost-effective resource, StarkHelpCentral.com, is already available.
But the state of Ohio still sees a place for 211. Kahl said there were over 10,000 calls to 211 in 2025, though the helpline had been discontinued for two years. That data was one of the factors that motivated the state expansion, she said.
“Some populations that prefer to call 211 include individuals with disabilities and older adults, households with multiple needs or complex situations, and individuals who don’t have reliable internet or a smartphone,” Kahl said in an email. “A benefit of calling 211 is that help seekers don’t need to figure out the right search term or be afraid they missed something that is available. When someone calls 211, the trained 211 navigators may suggest resources that they would not think to search for on their own.”
Kahl said the helpline can also be useful in emergency situations or during natural disasters.
What to expect if you call 211
If you call 211, you will talk with a live person. If all call specialists are unavailable, you can leave a voicemail to get a call back as quickly as possible.
Once talking to a navigator, you’ll be able to ask questions about local resources or ask for help with things like food, housing and utilities. Other common calls could relate to transportation, health care, mental health, legal issues, disabilities or education.
Call navigators may ask some follow-up questions about demographics to help connect you with the appropriate resources.
The representative will then share available resources and contact information over the phone or via text message.
“Our team is trained,” Dotson said. “They will go through that with them and help provide them all the resources that they can, and they will give them all the agencies that appear to meet their needs.”
Reach Grace at 330-580-8364 or gspringer@usatodayco.com. Follow her on X @GraceSpringer16.
This article originally appeared on The Repository: 211 helpline returns to Stark County. A Lake County group is behind it
Reporting by Grace Springer, Canton Repository / The Repository
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By Grace Springer, Canton Repository | USA TODAY Network
