Education Archives

We’re very proud to announce that the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, Office of Childhood (DESE OOC) has chosen us as their technology partner to help families with children from prenatal to age five find and connect to early childhood programs and resources. Together, we’ll support Missouri families and children throughout the state.

In this week’s blog, we’ll highlight this new partnership and explore our history of supporting social care in Missouri. Stay tuned for a follow post about how we work with organizations to support early childhood intervention.

About the Missouri Office of Childhood

The DESE OOC oversees many statewide programs – including Parents as Teachers, Child Care Subsidy, and Early Intervention – that each have their own specific needs and requirements. 19.3% of children under 5 years of age in Missouri live in poverty, and the Missouri Family Resources platform (powered by Findhelp) supports more than 250,000 families in addition to state and local navigators who work on-the-ground in communities across Missouri.

Making it Easier for Families to Get Help

When it comes to self-navigating, 60% of Findhelp users search for help on their phones or other mobile devices. Findhelp community-facing platforms often have 5x as many searches and connections as customer staff sites, demonstrating the desire for individuals to find and connect to resources on their own.

Users may hesitate to share personal social needs with navigators due to shame or stigma, so it’s important to provide easy ways for them to self-navigate anonymously, at a time that’s convenient for them.

To meet families where they are, Findhelp built a mobile application for Missouri Family Resources that families and navigators can download to find and connect to programs directly from their phones. The app can be accessed for free through Apple or Google.

Analytics to Take Action

In addition to providing an intuitive database and platform for community members, the Missouri DESE OOC will also benefit from Findhelp’s robust data and analytics to better support Missouri families and children. For example, the chart below shows searches in Missouri over the past two years, broken down by social need category:

These insights will help the State identify local and statewide trends, track needs, and spot issues, enabling them to be proactive in helping more people–all while protecting user privacy. Informed by data, they can strategically allocate resources and tailor interventions.

A History of Supporting Missourians

One of the reasons the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education chose Findhelp is because we have an engaged network that’s already in place. Our network spans the entire Show-Me State and Missourians across the state are using our platform to find and connect to needed services and support.

728,615 users statewide
3,103,744 searches statewide
7,837 listed programs serving Missouri
1,290 claimed programs serving Missouri

Findhelp’s data and analytic tools can identify gaps in services and provide actionable insights to inform public policy. For example, over the past two years, monthly users and searches on findhelp’s network in Missouri jumped 551% and 11,438% respectively, reflecting our important (and rapidly growing) role in connecting Missourians to local social assistance.

Partnering for Impact in Missouri

As of April 2024, we partner with more than 15 customers through the state to connect their patients, members, students, constituents, and clients to local resources.

Here are some highlights of how these organizations successfully partner and innovate with Findhelp to lift up their communities.

Home State Health Plan (part of Centene)

Home State Health Plan aims to care for patients throughout Missouri by partnering with physicians, specialists, hospitals, and other providers to ensure each member receives the right care, at the right time, in the right setting.

For almost a decade, Home State Health Plan has relied on Findhelp as their social care technology partner.

In 2015 they launched their social care platform (powered by Findhelp) to make it easy for their Medicaid members across Missouri to find help and receive services to improve health outcomes.
Since launch, more than 74,000 staff and members have made almost 160,000 searches for social care resources.
Home State Health Plan’s platform is a trusted resource for community health workers (CHWs) across the state who make sure all counties are served and there are no gaps in coverage.

Saint Luke’s of Kansas City

Saint Luke’s Health System includes 14 hospitals and campuses across the Kansas City region, home care and hospice, behavioral health care, dozens of physician practices, a life care senior living community, and more.

5 years ago, in 2019, Saint Luke’s launched their Findhelp platform to support wellness for their patients and community.

Over 47,000 staff and patients have used the platform to make more than 5,000 connections to resources.
Since launch, Saint Luke’s has partnered with us to build an accountable social care network that enables intervention for non-clinical factors that impact care by connecting patients with community partners.
As part of this work, Saint Luke’s worked with Findhelp to build a Trusted Network of seven community partners. To-date, over 500 referrals have been placed to these partners, with a closed-loop rate of 87%.
Saint Luke’s integrated their Findhelp platform fully into their electronic health record (EHR) and patient portals to support more efficient workflows for all users.

Children’s Mercy

Children’s Mercy is a leading independent children’s health organization dedicated to holistic care, translational research, breakthrough innovation, and educating the next generation of caregivers. They transform the health, wellbeing and potential of children, with unwavering compassion for those most vulnerable.

In the fall of 2020, Children’s Mercy’s launched their LiftUpKC platform (powered by Findhelp) for their patients and staff, to support Missouri children and families.

In a few short years, more than 36,000 staff navigators and patients have conducted over 300,000 searches on LiftUpKC.
The platform is fully integrated into two separate electronic health records (EHRs) used by Children’s Mercy, helping to connect patients more easily to resources while maintaining interoperability and supporting staff workflows.
Children’s Mercy has also created strong partnerships with local community organizations. These supportive community partnerships have allowed an additional 600 patients to be referred to organizations that can assist them with housing, utilities, food resources and more!

Support Families and Children with Findhelp

Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs), such as witnessing violence, not having enough food to eat, or experiencing homelessness or unstable housing can impact the health and wellbeing of children well into adulthood.

According to the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention (CDC), “ACEs are linked to chronic health problems, mental illness, and substance use problems in adolescence and adulthood. ACEs can also negatively impact education, job opportunities, and earning potential.”

Addressing the social needs of young children is a proven way to prevent ACEs; connect with us to learn more about how we can partner to support families.

Findhelp customers empower student success at more than 15 higher education institutions around the country, from community college systems to private universities and prestigious schools of medicine. These institutions want to help students achieve their professional goals and dreams, but social factors beyond the institutions’ control can have detrimental impacts on student success and graduation rates.

Barriers to Student Achievement

Income, Pell Grants, and student aid have not kept up with the cost of college; affordability is a significant barrier to college completion and successful entry into the workforce. Students from communities with low incomes commonly contribute financially to their families while in school – not the other way around. Each year, 3 million students drop out of college because of a financial emergency of $500 or less (Hope Center for College, Community and Justice).

According to the Hope Center for College, Community and Justice’s most recent basic needs survey, nearly three in five of the almost 200,000 students who responded said they had experienced basic needs insecurity. 39% of students at two-year colleges and 29% at four-year colleges experienced food insecurity, and 48% of all students experienced housing insecurity.

Post-secondary credentials are key pathways to economic security; higher education institutions partner with Findhelp to provide access to support programs for their students so that they can focus on their studies, instead of worrying about their next meal or where they’re going to sleep that night.

Learn how we’re helping colleges and universities across the country improve student outcomes and empower students.

Impact in Action: Our New Customer Video Series

We’re launching a new series as part of our storytelling initiative: “Impact in Action.” In this series we’ll explore stories of how our customers successfully partner with us to positively impact their communities and support the populations they serve.

Watch the short video below to learn more about how the University of Hawai‘i empowers student success and achievement through the Findhelp platform.

Supporting the Whole Student: the University of Hawai‘i

Founded in 1907, the University of Hawaiʻi (UH) System includes 3 universities, 7 community colleges and community-based learning centers across Hawaiʻi. In March 2021 UH launched their Student Basic Needs platform (powered by Findhelp) to provide a quick and easy way to connect with social care resources in their area.

Using Findhelp’s single sign-on (SSO) capabilities, students and faculty use their university email credentials to log in to the platform, streamlining access to additional Findhelp features like favorites folders and referrals.

Student Basic Needs Committee

UH President David Lassner formed the University of Hawai‘i Basic Needs Committee (UHBNC) to better understand and address food and other forms of basic needs insecurities in the student population. The UHBNC is dedicated to supporting students’ basic needs so that they can achieve their personal and educational goals. With designated committee members from each UH campus, the committee is familiar with accessible resources available specific to their campus and the surrounding community.

To gain insight into the social need barriers facing their students, UH partnered with Temple University’s The Hope Center for College, Community and Justice in 2020 to survey students and report on their social care needs. The Hope Center’s free reports and resources provide the evidence and the insight needed to support #RealCollege™ students. Despite the high levels of basic needs insecurity that were identified, the report showed that only a small number of UH students reached out for support.

To address the needs of their students, the Committee developed a Basic Needs Master Plan for social care barriers like food, housing, childcare, mental health, clothing, living expenses, and transportation. According to the 2020 UH student survey, more than half of their students experience some type of basic needs insecurity.

Notably, UH requires that students log in to their Findhelp platform via single sign-on, so that needs, resources, and outcomes can be tracked to an individual student’s record. Between March 2021 to January 2024, more than 4,000 students have logged into the platform, completing more than 21,000 searches and 2,000 connections. Staff, faculty, and students are all encouraged to use Findhelp and the basic needs committee website, and UH leads monthly webinars to teach people how to use their basic needs site and Findhelp platform.

Meeting Students Where They Are: Virtual Basic Needs Café

UH launched its Virtual Basic Needs Café in early 2023, and expanded it to all campuses later that spring. The program, available to students outside of regular business hours, connects them to professional staff to identify and access basic needs resources via UH’s Findhelp platform. The café operates Sunday to Thursday, from 8pm to 12am and provides a safe and welcoming space for students.

A UH student being helped via the Virtual Student Basic Needs Cafe.

Support Student Success

If you’d like to learn more about how we partner with higher education institutions nationwide and can help you support your students, grab some time with us.

The Findhelp network has been serving customers across the country for nearly a decade, and we’ve been partnering with organizations in North Carolina since 2016 to connect the individuals they serve to local, state, and national community social care resources and services. Read on to learn more about our vast statewide network of customers and community partners and how we’re collaborating and innovating with to improve health outcomes.

The North Carolina Landscape

Every state has its own unique challenges. According to the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services (NCDHHS), these are some of the social care barriers facing North Carolinians:

More than 1.2 million North Carolinians are unable to find affordable housing.
North Carolina has the eighth-highest food insecurity in the U.S. (more than 1 in 5 children live in food-insecure households).
Nearly a quarter of North Carolina children have had adverse childhood experiences.
Nearly 1 in 2 women in North Carolina have experienced intimate partner violence.

To address these challenges, NCDHHS successfully applied for a Medicaid 1115 waiver and awarded a sole-source contract to a social care vendor. The approved waiver pilot is focused on high-need populations like individuals with significant behavioral health issues, children in foster care, and people struggling with substance use. Nearly four years into the Healthy Opportunities project (using the NCCare360 referral platform), things are still moving slowly. Without changes, especially to the referral process, North Carolinians in need of services could keep not getting the help they need (Forbes, North Carolina Health News, WRAL-Raleigh).

Complex Support to Address Complex Needs

At Findhelp, we have a history of successfully supporting 1115 waivers, facilitating invoices and payments, and supporting mental and behavioral health across industries and states.

We’ve built many platforms like NCCare360 that support comprehensive social care programs like Healthy Opportunities that are delivering value, expanding in scope, and sustaining funding to provide the best outcomes for individuals. What makes the difference? Experience designing and launching successful programs, a dedication to interoperability, support for CBO choice, and a fundamental commitment to privacy.

Prioritizing Privacy

Privacy is a cornerstone for both Findhelp and the customers we serve, as is protecting the dignity and safety of the people seeking services. Here’s how we think about the privacy of our users:

We believe in a consumer-directed privacy model, where individuals control who has access to their personal social care data through transparent, informed consent.
Organizations should be able to access social care information based on care coordination responsibilities, and sensitive or private referrals should remain private with the seeker having the choice to share (or not).
Data should not be sold or shared at the whim of vendors.

Getting these programs off the ground is complex; you need a partner who has done it before, and done it successfully.

Our Network in North Carolina

Organizations across industries continue to sign with Findhelp and use our platform to support their populations.

One of the reasons these organizations are choosing Findhelp is because we have an engaged network that’s already in place. Our network spans all 100 counties and North Carolinians across the state are using our platform to find and connect to needed services and support.

1,014,000+ users statewide
4,395,350+ searches statewide
9,779 listed programs serving North Carolina
1,770 claimed programs serving North Carolina

Findhelp’s data and analytic tools can identify gaps in services and provide actionable insights to inform public policy. For example, over the past two years, monthly users and searches on Findhelp’s network in North Carolina jumped 551% and 270% respectively, reflecting our important (and growing) role in connecting North Carolinians to local social assistance.

As of November 2023, we partner with more than 16 customer organizations throughout North Carolina to connect their patients, members, students, constituents, and clients to local resources. Below are highlights of how some of these organizations successfully partner and innovate with us to lift up their communities.

Building Trusted Networks of Community Partners

A successful and sustainable network requires that Findhelp, our customers, and community partners each have a seat at the table. These partnerships are the foundation for building Trusted Networks.

Trusted Networks allow Findhelp customers to prioritize specific community partners and highlight them in search results on their platform. This tight-knit network of priority partners helps establish deep, long-term relationships which lead to stronger outcomes for your seekers.

Atrium Health is a nationally-recognized leader in shaping health outcomes through innovative research, education and compassionate patient care. Based in Charlotte, North Carolina, Atrium Health is an integrated, nonprofit health system with more than 70,000 teammates serving patients at 40 hospitals and more than 1,400 care locations.

Atrium Health’s Community Resources Hub (powered by Findhelp) became available to the North Carolina community in 2018.
They launched a version of their Findhelp platform for their employees to self-navigate, and are currently implementing an advanced integration between Findhelp and their electronic health record, Epic, that will allow social care referrals to be placed from within a patient’s medical record.
Atrium Health has a very large geographic footprint and has partnered with Findhelp to build Trusted Networks of community partners in their different regions, leading to increased engagement and, in one of their focus regions, a referral response rate of 84%.
Below is a quote from one of Atrium’s Trusted Partners, the Cabarrus County Department of Human Services:

Novant Health is a multi-hospital system with more than 350 physician practices offering advanced medical treatment and headquartered in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.

Novant launched NHMyCommunity (powered by Findhelp) in 2018, and used Findhelp data to support their Health Equity Accreditation from the National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA).
They provide integrated social care interventions for the patients based on screening results and connect patients to a tailored list of trusted resources in the regions that they serve.
Novant Health has developed Trusted Networks across all of their markets in North Carolina, reflecting their dedication to improving health and upward mobility through community programs and partnerships.

Expanding the Capacity of CBOs

Trusted Networks also provide a clear path for our customers to support community-based organizations (CBOs) through funding or other financial incentives, increasing the CBOs’ capacity and expanding their local impact.

As the only statewide nonprofit pharmacy in North Carolina, NC MedAssist provides prescription and over-the-counter medications at no cost to their neighbors in need. They believe that no one should ever have to choose between purchasing food or buying their medicine.

NC MedAssist faced a lot of difficulty in spreading the word about their organization. In order to get referrals, they would arrange meetings at hospitals and private practices, use billboard ads, and even go door-to-door in their community for people to learn about their services. These efforts were tedious and took away from the time they could have spent linking individuals to the medications they needed.
Since 2017, NC MedAssist has been using the Findhelp platform to receive referrals for uninsured and low-income individuals seeking pharmaceutical drugs throughout North Carolina.
Within one year of joining the Findhelp network, they saw a 2800% increase in referrals.

Serving Students Statewide

Schools want to help students achieve their academic goals and dreams, but social factors beyond the institutions’ control can have detrimental impacts on student success and graduation rates. Findhelp supports students at educational institutions around the country, from Ivy Tech in Indiana to Dallas Community College District in Texas.

North Carolina Community Colleges System (NCCCS) is focused on providing the best path to meet educational and career goals for aspiring academics and professionals across the state. They are the only public organization in North Carolina dedicated to providing affordable college access to anyone in the state. They have 58 community colleges serving 594,457 enrolled students.

NCCCS launched their Community College Resource Finder (powered by Findhelp) in 2019 with the goal of providing students, faculty, and staff with accessible and reliable information on social care resources to address food, housing, mental health, and more.
Colleges have seen student success rates increase by including the Resource Finder in staff workflows, in new student orientation materials, and providing ongoing support for current students.
NCCCS has added Findhelp search boxes on the website of individual member colleges to improve visibility into the barriers impacting each college’s unique population (example: Gaston College).
Colleges use the NCCCS platform to promote student access to on-campus services including on-campus food pantries, automotive repair, and financial assistance in addition to resources offered by community partners.

Supporting Mental & Behavioral Health

At Findhelp, we have a history of partnering with our customers to address the social needs of substance users and support mental and behavioral health. Our social needs assessments allow your staff navigators to identify an individual’s current needs, and our platform filters help users find specialty programs that adress substance use and mental or behavioral health challenges.

Eastpointe is a managed care organization dedicated to working with individuals and families in eastern North Carolina who struggle with substance abuse, mental health, and intellectual and developmental disabilities. They are committed to ensuring that no member falls through the cracks, and work side by side with providers and community partners to ensure their members have the medical, social, transitional, and vocational support they need.

Eastpointe launched their Social Network (powered by Findhelp) in 2020 and have partnered with us to support their care management and community education.
They conduct outreach to community agencies, licensed independent practitioners, and hospitals who help the uninsured and those on Medicaid get comprehensive, effective treatment. This is accomplished through a number of initiatives where their Findhelp platform is also promoted, including:
- Convening social care providers who serve Eastpointe members
- Participation in coalitions and collaboratives across all 10 counties (focus areas: mental health, crisis intervention, substance use, senior support, school mental health, and rural health)
- Mental health first aid training
- Crisis intervention training for first responders
- Activities, events, and training aligned with awareness months (e.g. Mental Health Awareness Month in May)

Our Ongoing Support for North Carolina

Findhelp is modernizing America’s social safety net for anyone who needs help or helps others. With the largest network of community-based organizations and a Best in KLAS closed-loop referral system, Findhelp is the fastest and most reliable way to get help with privacy and dignity.

We’re investing in North Carolina communities for the long term and are committed to ensuring that individuals connect to the resources that they need. We believe that community organizations and service providers should be able to work within their chosen systems of record, to choose which systems they want to integrate with, and have control over who has access to see their data.

Findhelp’s expanding commitment to North Carolina includes continuing to advocate for our customers, community partners, and people in need across the region and welcoming the state of North Carolina and other institutions to discuss an inclusive approach to interoperability, focusing on data sharing standards that allow us all to be good stewards of the information entrusted to us. We’re excited to continue expanding our North Carolina network of customers and CBOs to modernize the safety net for all.

Partner With Us!

If you’d like to learn more about how we partner with organizations like these both in North Carolina and nationwide and can support your goals, connect with our team.

Libraries exist to serve their local communities, each of which have unique needs, populations, and available resources. People count on their local libraries for more than just books and computer access; they often double as community centers, polling places, and much more. Many library patrons are facing complex life challenges, including housing and food insecurity, transportation obstacles, substance abuse, and more. We know that library staff help visitors access information and solve problems, but questions related to social care needs may be beyond the scope of library resources – this is why many libraries partner with Findhelp.

Beth Wahler, director of the School of Social Work at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, has conducted research highlighting the scope of needs. Wahler surveyed almost 5,000 people at three Midwest public libraries, and preliminary results showed that 10% of patrons reported needing help finding a job, 6% said they needed mental health assistance, and 4% needed housing assistance (source: NPR).

To address these needs, many libraries throughout the country are establishing social work collaborations. Whole Person Librarianship, an online hub for this work, regularly updates a map highlighting these diverse partnerships, which range from a full-time social worker on staff to hosting social service office hours or hiring student interns.

Map of U.S. libraries with established social work collaborations.

While libraries are rapidly adapting to meet their patrons’ social needs by hosting vaccination clinics, hiring social workers, partnering with nonprofits, and more, gaps still exist; we can help.

Why Partner with Findhelp?

Library staff can seamlessly connect patrons to services that can help them via Findhelp’s innovative and comprehensive platform. As the nation’s leading social care referral network, Findhelp offers a private and easy-to-use search and referral functionality. Our network includes more than half a million local, state, and national free and reduced-cost programs that serve every ZIP Code in the country, from rural areas to major metropolitan centers.

Priority on Privacy: Findhelp’s platform is safe, free, and secure — no need to enter personal information to find resources. You can rest easy knowing that your patrons have the dignity of privacy when searching on Findhelp.
Reliable Data & Analytics: You’re being asked to do more with less. On Findhelp’s platform, you can access search trends in your area to support grant applications and funding opportunities; track referrals; and follow up with patrons.
Local Community Network: When you use Findhelp, you’re joining a network of existing resources who are engaged and ready to respond to referrals on our platform. Our community engagement team partners with you to build relationships specific to your patrons’ needs so that you know they’ll be taken care of when you refer them to programs outside of your walls.

How Libraries Partner with Findhelp | Diverse Partnership Models to Support Diverse Communities

These are just a few examples of how some library systems across the country are partnering with Findhelp to support their patrons.

Support from Social Workers: Central Arkansas Library System

The Central Arkansas Library System (CALS) provides resources and services to help residents reach their full potential, and to inspire discovery, learning, and cultural expression. Headquartered in Little Rock, CALS is the largest public library system in Arkansas.

CALS has several social workers on staff who use Findhelp.org to directly refer patrons to local resources.
These social workers help connect unhoused people in their community directly to local service agencies to assist with their needs.

Community Awareness: Evanston Public Library

Evanston Public Library (EPL) aims to be the heart of their diverse community by promoting the development of independent, self-confident and literate citizens, and providing equitable access to cultural, intellectual, technological, and information resources.

EPL has become the main custodian of the Evanston Care Network platform (powered by Findhelp).
They are the site administrators, and work to make their patrons and partners aware of the platform (and how they can use it) through community outreach via marketing and events.

Analytics for Grant Writing: Knox County Public Library

Established in 1889, Knox County Public Library (KCPL) has played a major role in Vincennes, Indiana’s development; their mission is to meet the informational, educational, and cultural needs of their community. They play a major role in leading community engagement efforts in southwest Indiana.

KCPL promotes the Wabash Valley Connect platform (powered by Findhelp) through flyers, bookmarks, and public events.
Additionally, they use the analytics available through Findhelp to support grant efforts for new initiatives to address food insecurity, including the creation of a Community Learning Kitchen.

Best of Both Worlds: Indianapolis Public Library & the Immigrant Welcome Center

With a mission to enrich everyone and strengthen communities by inspiring lifelong learning, the Indianapolis Public Library (IPL) is celebrating 150 years of supporting Hoosiers since its founding in 1873. At their flagship Central Library they provide space for the Immigrant Welcome Center (IWC), a nonprofit and trusted partner and advocate for all immigrants. IWC works with community partners and local leaders to offer programs and services for Immigrant and Refugee Support, Naturalization and Legal Assistance, English Language Literacy, and Community Partner Support.

Immigrant Welcome Center is a Findhelp customer and serves immigrants and library patrons via their IWC Connect platform (powered by Findhelp).
The IPL also supports immigrants through a host of other services, including bilingual storytimes, citizenship and English conversation classes, and much more.

Watch our documentary short (17:14) about the Immigrant Welcome Center’s Natural Helpers program.

Empowering Library Staff to Help Patrons Succeed

This is a real-life patron success story from the Central Arkansas Public library’s social work team (names have been changed to protect privacy).

Partner With Us!

If you’d like to learn more about how libraries partner with Findhelp across the country, and how we can support your organization’s goals, connect with Roger Stremming, Community Engagement Manager.

Findhelp (formerly Aunt Bertha) was incorporated in 2010 to make it simpler for people to connect to help, with dignity and ease. 12 years later, more than 10 million people have searched for help on our platform. Our Founder and CEO, Erine Gray, reflects on this important milestone:

Founder and CEO, Erine Gray, talks about what this milestone means to him.

Gray will never forget the sound of call center phones ringing off the hook in 2008 as Texas state employees fielded thousands of calls from people requesting SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program) assistance. That year, the housing market had collapsed, sending the economy into a downward spiral and millions of families into food insecurity. State agencies quickly discovered that they were not equipped to process the astronomical uptick in SNAP applications, leaving eligible candidates with weeks-long wait times. It was the Great Recession— and it was when the idea for findhelp was born.

As Gray looks back on his role in helping the state of Texas respond to this economic crisis, he says:

The recession laid bare the vital need for a stronger American safety net, and Gray became committed to creating an alternative. In 2010, he incorporated Aunt Bertha (now findhelp) with the dream to strengthen the safety net by leveraging technology to create a network of resources. Throughout the next ten years, findhelp became the nation’s largest social care network, connecting users with services ranging from childcare, to housing, to addiction recovery and more, in a matter of seconds.

Gray didn’t believe the nation would again undergo a crisis as extreme as the 2008 recession. “But it happened again,” he recalls “in 2020.” Ten years after its founding, amidst the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, the findhelp team quickly recognized the critical need to add COVID-19 response programs to our network, including free internet programs for when schools switched to remote learning, drive-up food pantries, utility assistance programs, and more.

The network we had been building for ten years made it possible for us to respond quickly to the crisis. We were prepared to help people find help through one of the greatest challenges our country has faced.

Today, more than 10 million people have used the findhelp platform to connect to help. “This is a sign of the times,” Gray explains. “This milestone demonstrates just how much need is out there in the United States. We see people looking for homeless shelters, for utility assistance programs, food, counseling. And it’s growing. There are gaps in the American safety net, and people need help.”

As findhelp looks toward the future, Gray is dedicated to closing gaps in the safety net through interoperability and collaboration, allowing policymakers and funders to make efficient, data-informed funding decisions to support people in crisis and help people overcome poverty.

Findhelp’s search and referral data helps organizations and government agencies gain Social Determinants of Health (SDoH) insights to connect the dots between social factors and long-term community health outcomes. User privacy is our priority, and we’re committed to protecting user data while creating an interoperable network that helps policymakers, healthcare organizations, foundations, community organizations, and the private sector work together to prepare for the challenges not only of today, but also of the future.

As we mark our 10-millionth-user milestone, we’re grateful to all who have helped shape the future of American social care. Together, we can do so much more.

About findhelp

Findhelp is the nation’s leading social care network, making it easy for customers in a wide range of industries to integrate social care into the work they already do—from education and government to housing, healthcare and more. Through customer platforms alone, the findhelp network reaches millions of users across the country, making it easy to connect people seeking help and the verified social care providers that serve them, with dignity and ease.

“The true heroes… will be servant leaders, quietly working out of the spotlight to transform our world.”― Ann McGee-Cooper

This year on 211 Day, we shined the spotlight on our 211 partners who are committed to transforming their communities by guiding people to the right resources— 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. In 2021 alone, 211 call specialists responded to over 20 million calls to assist people in need of resources including food, housing, and more. Because of their commitment, callers who felt despair can begin to heal, and callers who felt stuck can begin to thrive.

We’re honored to celebrate you: our communities’ resource specialists, database curators, call center managers, directors, and outreach specialists. In case you missed it, please enjoy a special 211 Day video message, from us to you!

We’re grateful for 211/United Way team members’ devotion to helping their communities through pandemic challenges while navigating a social care landscape that is vast and ever changing. We know that it takes a community to help people in need find and apply for services. When findhelp and United Way work together, people in need are one step closer to getting help.

We’re proud of our partnerships with United Way and 211s, and welcome the opportunity to connect with local and state 211s to see how we can work together! To learn more about partnership, please visit our United Way and 211 partnership page.

KLAS Research, the industry standard for impartial healthcare IT research, has issued its first Social Determinants of Health (SDOH) Referral Networks Report showing Aunt Bertha as the clear leader in the space. As the industry pioneer with the greatest share of the market, Aunt Bertha leads in value and integrity and rates highly in satisfaction. Aunt Bertha—which has the largest closed-loop referral network across all 50 States—had the largest number of respondents and most complete data set, generating the most accurate and statistically significant results in the group of evaluated organizations.

KLAS’ rankings are based on interviews with thousands of healthcare professionals about the IT products and services their organizations use. Vendors are scored on several pillars including value.

In this year’s report, Aunt Bertha received an “A” grade for value and an overall score of 91.7 indicating high satisfaction. The satisfaction ratings are especially notable for a network operating at the size and duration of the Austin-based social benefit corporation, having 100+ more healthcare customers than its closest competitor, and more customers than all its competitors combined, according to the report.

Aunt Bertha received the highest scores for quality of phone/web support, ease of use, and customers receiving their “money’s worth.”
Aunt Bertha is the only vendor validated as bringing in referrals from publicly accessible websites.
Aunt Bertha customers highlighted the responsiveness of the vendor’s executives and the vendor’s willingness to customize.
Aunt Bertha received an A grade in the subcategories of culture, loyalty, relationships and value.

The first-ever SDOH report from KLAS recognizes referral networks that seek to close health care gaps by connecting care providers with community resources in their area. As a public benefit corporation and pioneer in the social care network industry, Aunt Bertha has differentiated itself in an increasingly crowded space through a commitment to privacy, transparency, fair pricing and a whole person approach to care. The company has vastly more users than other competitors, which gives context to the rankings.

Aunt Bertha currently serves over 200 health care organizations and insurers across the country, as well as United Way 2-1-1s, and other large nonprofits — resulting in the largest closed loop referral network in the United States. Aunt Bertha also runs findhelp.org, a free version of its platform that individuals across the country can use anonymously. In 2020, Aunt Bertha served its 5 millionth customer, and the site has become a go-to resource during the challenging times brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Immigration Policy Lab (IPL) at Stanford University recently completed a nationwide study examining the distribution of immigration legal services providers (ISPs). Their work analyzes where low-income immigrant populations live in relation to ISPs, which provide critical services for immigrants, like helping them with complicated legal processes related to living and working in the U.S. Understanding the great need to help this population, Stanford Immigration Policy Lab chose to partner with Aunt Bertha for this research and shared their comprehensive database of over 2,000 ISPs to be listed on Aunt Bertha’s free online resource, findhelp.org.

How Aunt Bertha meets Stanford Immigration Policy Lab’s needs:

Aunt Bertha’s extensive database lists thousands of immigrant services, ranging from translation services to legal assistance and much more;
Aunt Bertha provides a quick and easy search for anyone to find help for free. It also provides tools for sharing programs with loved ones and connecting directly with programs; and
Aunt Bertha’s team reviews and maintains resources every six months to ensure people looking for help have the right information.

About the Immigration Policy Lab

With branches at Stanford University and ETH Zurich, Stanford’s Immigration Policy Lab uses large datasets, creative research designs, and cutting-edge analytical tools to bring new evidence to bear on the urgent problems practitioners face. By guiding the people who set public policy, as well as those who directly serve low-income immigrant communities, their research inspires solutions that improve immigrants’ lives and strengthen the communities receiving them.

Aunt Bertha’s Impact on the Network of ISPs

The goal of IPL’s project was to create a comprehensive list of organizations in the U.S. that provide free or reduced-cost assistance with official immigration-related documents or forms (e.g., naturalization or DACA applications) and legal representation in immigration proceedings. This data would effectively reveal where low-income immigrant communities do not have reasonable access to critical services.

In their working paper, IPL researchers write,

“Immigrants often navigate legal challenges most citizens never encounter, such as renewing visas, petitioning for family reunification, pursuing naturalization, or defending themselves against deportation in immigration courts.”

The IPL study underscores the importance of these programs to this population and the importance of having a resource like findhelp.org to find these programs.

ISP Map — The ISP network and the low-income immigrant population size across the U.S.

IPL reached out to Aunt Bertha about a research partnership after exploring findhelp.org and finding a number of ISPs in the Aunt Bertha program database. Understanding the great value of IPL’s research, Aunt Bertha shared data on existing immigrant service organizations in their database to help the IPL team map where low-income immigrant legal services were located in relation to need. The IPL team added these organizations to a larger list compiled from multiple sources in an attempt to create a complete listing of ISPs across the country. Aunt Bertha is now working to list every ISP included in the comprehensive database constructed by the Stanford team. Through this work, immigrants across the nation can use findhelp.org to connect to an ISP in their community.

Stanford’s Research Findings

Once equipped with the combined data from the Department of Justice, the Immigration Advocates Network, and Aunt Bertha, the Stanford research team was interested to find out whether there were communities that were overserved or underserved. Finding areas with gaps in the provision of services to low-income immigrants could help governments, funders, and service providers more effectively invest their resources in the communities that could most benefit from additional support.

The Stanford research team found that most immigrants whose household income is below 150% of the Federal Poverty Guidelines live close to an ISP but that there are underserved areas in southern cities that have more recently become a popular destination for immigrants. Their analysis suggests that rearranging the distribution of ISPs across the nation would provide access to over one million more low-income immigrants nationwide.

Moving Forward

Aunt Bertha’s unique database of hundreds of thousands of social service programs and nationwide search data provides an opportunity to obtain important insights regarding individuals seeking help. As part of our public benefit mission, we seek out opportunities to leverage our data with partners, like Stanford’s Immigration Policy Lab, to enhance our collective understanding of how we best help people seeking services.

Want to learn more?

Schedule a demo with one of our team members to see how Aunt Bertha can benefit your organization.

Alexandria House provides a two year transitional housing program and aftercare services to women and women with children in Los Angeles, California. In early 2020, Alexandria House connected with findhelp (formerly Aunt Bertha) through another member of the nonprofit community. Shortly after, their staff participated in a community workshop held at the United Way of Greater Los Angeles, introducing them to findhelp. This workshop explained the findhelp network, how the database of social care programs could help their residents, and how to expand their impact throughout their community. With findhelp.org, Findhelp’s free online resource, Alexandria House is now able to efficiently serve their current and former residents while also helping others in the community navigate to services.

How findhelp meets Alexandria House’s Needs:

Findhelp’s comprehensive database of social care programs has made it easy for Alexandria House staff to find resources for their residents and community members; and
Alexandria House staff can now easily and efficiently direct people in need to nearby programs on findhelp.org.

About Alexandria House

Alexandria House is a transitional residence and house of hospitality. They provide safe and supportive housing for women and children in the process of moving from emergency shelter to economic stability and permanent housing. Located in the densely populated and ethnically diverse Mid-Wilshire area of Los Angeles, they also serve their broader neighborhood community by providing educational and enrichment opportunities.

Challenges

When Alexandria House first opened their doors to help their community in Los Angeles, they quickly noticed that housing wasn’t the only issue these individuals were facing. With the federal definition of homelessness being so narrow, people are left to call any and all programs they find, including Alexandria House. Calls range across all categories of need, addiction recovery, transportation, food, and domestic violence support. While Alexandria House is able to provide transitional housing and client case management, they do not have the physical capacity to help all those in need who contact them. To make matters more difficult, they also experience a high call volume, averaging 1,000 a month, from individuals seeking help in the LA area.

Alexandria House aims to not turn someone away without a next step or lead for other services; going to great lengths to still help people they can’t directly assist. The struggle to find resources for the people that called them for help was insurmountable. To address these challenges, they collected resources as their staff learned and networked, or as people who called gave them new information. They resorted to manually writing this new information down in a shared book, but found it very difficult to keep their information updated, as nonprofit organizations tend to quickly run out of space and resources.

Alexandria House Homes — Two of Alexandria House's transitional homes in Los Angeles, California.

“We struggled to find ways to get resources to people who called in or stopped by our organization when we didn’t have resources to give right away,” says Madison Craigo, a case worker at Alexandria House, “there’s so much need in Los Angeles right now and there are a lot of resources that are able to give help, but we found difficulty in connecting the two.”

Alexandria House staff wanted an easy way to get resources to folks who called them seeking shelter. Not all callers are able to write down numbers and names, or even get internet access to look up information on their own.

How Alexandria House Amplified their Impact with findhelp.org

“We went to an opening meeting with findhelp and learned about the site and started putting it to work,” says Madison Craigo, “I shared it with our staff and made a lot of folders for the various people and situations I usually get calls about.”

Alexandria House has specific needs for their current and former clients and their greater community. With a wide variety of needs beyond housing, such as mental health, job readiness, and rental assistance, they found that findhelp.org encompassed exactly what they needed — a strong database of resources that was quick, easy, and reliable. Through findhelp’s Favorites Folders Tool Alexandria House staff now creates lists of regularly used programs to share, so that they can easily reference them when they’re on calls.

The user-friendly findhelp platform has empowered Alexandria House to help people they previously could not easily serve. Their staff no longer relies on manually writing down information because they know and trust the resources in findhelp are robust, up to date, and truly there for their community. Now, they supplement their capacity for those they can’t help directly by navigating findhelp.org to find a resource nearby that can help them.

“Now, when people call looking for shelter or housing, I’m able to have a conversation and find out their situation and where in LA they are currently at and cater a list of resources for them and their specific needs. Before, I would have a conversation and then have to do a little bit of research to find what places were available and close to them. Now, it’s a lot quicker and I know that the people I’m talking to are getting all of the information up front about the resources I am giving them,” says an Alexandria House staff resident.

Results of Working with findhelp.org

Findhelp’s free online resource, findhelp.org, provides an opportunity for Alexandria House to amplify their impact by providing them with a comprehensive database of hundreds of thousands of vetted social care programs. Alexandria House staff can now easily search and find resources and can connect their clients to nearby programs on findhelp.org. They spend less time trying to navigate the system on their own and more time helping people in their community.

Want to learn more?

Read about how your organization can benefit from the findhelp network. If you’re a part of a nonprofit in California and want to get more involved, check out our work in the west coast.

Since 2017, NC MedAssist has been using the findhelp network to receive referrals for uninsured and low-income individuals seeking pharmaceutical drugs throughout North Carolina. Fellow findhelp partners, Atrium Health, Novant Health and Benelynk, serve as their top providers for referrals. Through these partners and other sources, NC MedAssist has seen a 2800% increase in referrals within one year of joining the findhelp network.

How findhelp meets NC MedAssists’s needs:

The findhelp network makes it easy for individuals to find and get help from NC MedAssist;
The free screening form and reporting tools aid Community-Based Organizations (CBOs) in closing the loop more quickly; and
Findhelp’s user-friendly interface makes navigation a simple, uncomplicated process.

About NC MedAssist

NC MedAssist is the only statewide nonprofit pharmacy in North Carolina. They provide prescription and over-the-counter medications at no cost to their neighbors in need. They believe that no one should ever have to choose between purchasing food or buying their medicine.

Challenges

Before joining the findhelp network, NC MedAssist faced a lot of difficulty in spreading the word about their organization. In order to get referrals, they would arrange meetings at hospitals and private practices, use billboard ads, and even go door-to-door in their community for people to learn about their services. These efforts were tedious and took away from the time they could have spent linking individuals to the medications they needed. NC MedAssist was looking for a better way to advertise their services that not only benefited them but also the people they were helping. Without a reliable platform, NC MedAssist could not help as many North Carolinians as they aimed to serve.

How Findhelp Helped

In 2017, Atrium Health launched their white-label version of findhelp’s search platform — The Community Resource Hub — to connect their patients and community members with organizations that provide food, housing, and other forms of assistance to address Social Determinants of Health (SDoH). NC MedAssist uses The Community Resource Hub, provided through their partner Atrium Health, as their main platform for promoting and managing their program. Through staff adoption, they were able to begin using findhelp’s search platform quickly and easily.

RJ headshot2 — Robbie Jarret, Director of Patient
Engagement at NC MedAssist

After claiming their programs on Atrium’s custom findhelp platform, NC MedAssist gained access to the free open toolkit for nonprofits. This toolkit offers a multitude of tools designed to help organizations like NC MedAssist support people seeking services. The free suite includes tools like the customizable screening form and referral tracking — both of which are heavily implemented by NC MedAssist staff.

“I love that people can use the screener on the site to enroll in our program…” says Robbie Jarret, Director of Patient Engagement at NC MedAssist.

The screener helps staff confirm whether or not patients are eligible for services, so that their social care workers spend less time figuring out if someone is qualified and spend more time helping.

“I like the fact that referrals go through immediately, without any wait time. I think that empowers the patient,” comments a staff member on the referral tracking tool.

Once someone refers an individual to NC MedAssist, their staff updates the status of that referral to track the outcome. This makes it simple for NC MedAssist, the person seeking help, and the social care worker helping the individual in need to determine whether or not they can provide services — all within the findhelp platform. All referral fields — appointment details, screening results, referral status, and more — are available to view in real time.

Spreading the word about their services to receive referrals (something that was previously a tedious process for NC MedAssist) became uncomplicated and effortless once they were introduced to the findhelp platform.

Results of our Partnership

Within one year of joining the findhelp network, NC MedAssist saw a 2800% increase in referrals on the platform. Seeing their services openly listed on findhelp.org (findhelp’s search and referral platform) made it easier for North Carolinians to find their services. This completely eliminated previous efforts of visiting hospitals and door-to-door marketing to spread awareness.

NC MedAssist Mobile Event — NC MedAssist's mobile, free pharmacy event in Person County, NC.

“We serve the whole state of North Carolina and [findhelp] is a great way for people to get connected no matter where they live and what kind of medications they need….I love that it’s free, accessible at any time of the day or night and offers a central place to go to and find services, refer patients, and track the status of [the] referral.”

The free intake tools help NC MedAssist staff close the loop faster and get individuals the help they need, sooner rather than later. Findhelp’s user-friendly interface makes navigating the platform a simple process. As a result, findhelp is NC MedAssist’s preferred search and referral platform, beating out other leading online resources in North Carolina.

NC MedAssist has been a great supporter of the findhelp network and looks forward to continuing the partnership in helping individuals access medications they need throughout the state of North Carolina.

Want to learn more?

Read about how your organization can benefit from the findhelp network. If you’re a part of a nonprofit in North Carolina and want to get more involved, check out our work in the east coast.