About 2-1-1 Maryland
Mission & Vision
Every hour of every day, people need essential human services. They are looking for help finding affordable housing, food, employment training, utility payment assistance, services for their children or aging parents, and many other issues.
2-1-1 Maryland is partnership of four agencies working together to provide simple access to health and human services information. 2-1-1 is an easy to remember telephone number that connects people with important community services. Our specially trained call specialists answer calls 24 hours a day, every day of the year.
The 2-1-1 database has information on nearly 5,000 agencies and programs across the state. Each week 2-1-1 Maryland handles thousands of calls from people in need, providing referrals to services and helping people problem-solve when the services they need are not available.
Vision
Maryland will be a state where it is easy to access information on health and human services and critical incidents
Mission Statement
The mission of 2-1-1 Maryland is to be a statewide resource always available by telephone and internet to connect citizens to health and human resources at any time, a resource for government officials to make information available to Marylanders in the event of natural disasters or man-made incidents and a way for Marylanders to connect with opportunities to offer help to others.
Guiding Principles
The values and principles that will guide 2-1-1 Maryland are:
- Availability and accessibility. Services will be available to callers whenever they choose to call or log on. Services will be accessible to everyone and will be available by telephone, TTY, directories, and the Internet.
- Reliability, accountability and consistency. Using an information and referral standards-based approach such as provided by the Alliance of Information and Referral Systems, 2-1-1 Maryland will develop and implement systemwide performance measures to ensure reliable, accurate, and consistent service.
- Privacy. Personal identifying information will be used only for purposes agreed to by the callers.
- Self-Determination. Every caller has the right to determine what their needs are and to choose what services they want or don’t want to access. Callers will be provided with the fullest range of service options available to meet their needs in a manner that respects their personal values, delivered to them in a fair, non-judgmental, and unbiased manner.
- Efficiency. We will strive for maximum efficiency on multiple levels by:
- Leveraging existing infrastructure whenever possible;
- Minimizing or eliminating duplication or unnecessary redundancies;
- Achieving a high level of integration among the system call centers;
- Referring callers to the right agency resources correctly the first time; and,
- Being willing and available to support additional information and referral service needs by public and private agencies.
Whether you are an individual looking for help for yourself, a friend or family member, or someone who works for an agency calling on behalf of someone you serve, we are here to help you find resources to help solve your problem. Call us by dialing 2-1-1 on your phone or explore the website and database.
Leadership
State Office
2-1-1 Maryland is charged by state law to establish and maintain an information and referral service network available to all Maryland residents, offering the public efficient 24/7 guidance in accessing health, crisis, and social services. It coordinates the activities of the four partner call centers, provides oversight and works to secure funding and other resources to support 2-1-1 services in Maryland. It 2-1-1 Maryland is registered as a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit organization with the IRS. Donations to 2-1-1 Maryland are tax-deductible.
Quinton Askew
President & CEO
Kenyn Benjamin
Director of Operations
Board Members
Learn more about each board member.
Lois Mikkila, Chair
LKM Consulting
Thomas Laskowski, Vice Chair
Co-Founder and CEO ByteStone AI Corp
Toni Gianforti, Secretary
Community Volunteer
Michael Malloy, Treasurer
Community Volunteer
Shelly L. Brown, Esq
Neighbors & Brown
John Geist
Community Volunteer
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Veola Green
Program Associate, Annie E Casey Foundation
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Beth Everett
Executive Director, United Way of Kent County
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Ateira Griffin
CEO & Co-Founder, BOND: Building Our Nation’s Daughters
Chau Nguyen
Chief Technology Officer, NYSA LLC
Janice Wiliams
Janice Williams Consultations, LLC
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Tiffany Turner-Allen
Executive Director, Nonprofit of Prince George's County
