Praise for Linn County’s hub

Thanks to a new online resource hub, it just got easier for Linn County residents to find the services they need from a long list of nonprofit groups.

Where once there was a list of spreadsheets detailing available services, the resource hub is a one-stop shop for accessing community services. If someone, for instance, is in need of mental heath care, a click on “Mental Health and Counseling,” will deliver a list or providers and explanations of their services.

It’s a more convenient way to access information of available services. It was launched by Linn County with hopes of fostering collaboration across departments and agencies. Linn County Community Services developed the site to help people facing critical needs, including child care, affordable housing, food help, legal assistance and other necessities.

The PDF lists that have been offered for 20 years remain in place. But the new hub is an easier and more interactive way to access information on available services. And it includes maps showing where various community organizations are located.

We know that online access can be a barrier to many seeking help. But we expect the public library and other agencies that offer access to the internet will assist residents in need of access to the hub.

“Through disaster response, we recognized that there was a significant need for a more modernized resource hub to distribute ongoing resource information in addition to the need to be able to revise resources information quickly. The ability to map resources in connection with disaster response activities will be very beneficial moving forward,” said Linn County Community Outreach and Assistance Director Ashley Balius in a news release.

“When people are in crisis or when they are stressed, the last thing they want to do is search through 22 PDFs to try to find the right resources for them. This interactive resource hub with search and filtering functions will allow customers to identify the resources they need much more easily than in the past,” Balius said.

Our hope is that the local organization can summon the resources needed to keep the site updated in real time. They also need to spread the word among clients that the hub is available. Too much time and energy has been spent building the hub to let it lapse and become less effective.

We welcome the hub and praise Linn County and its partners for creating it.

(319) 398-8262; editorial@thegazette.com