The Windham Community Care Team announces the implementation of a new system to help people struggling with homelessness to access services in Windham County beginning Monday, September 15th, 2014. Any person or family who is homeless or about to become homeless must call 211 Info line (choose option 3 then option 1) for help. Service providers working with people should no longer refer people directly to shelters or supportive housing programs, but should assist people in calling 211. 211 operators will then direct people to needed services. Directing people to call or visits shelters or supportive housing programs will not be an effective referral and will lead to a potentially wasted trip for the client. This is a new process in Windham County and we will be assessing as we proceed how the process is working.
This system is being implemented across Connecticut and eventually will be statewide. The Windham Community Care Team has been working on this Coordinated Access to Care process for over a year as part of the Greater Windham Region Ten Year Plan to End Homeless. For more information contact Windham Human Services or The Windham Region No Freeze Project or any or member of the Windham Community Care Team.