Resource link project: Anyone want to help?

[OneGrassRoot]

I'm trying to find sites which contain a variety of helpful resource links. When someone is in crisis or needs help, there are a multitude of organizations in their communities which can help.

Yet finding them can be a bear. And when you're in the midst of a crisis, it all seems so overwhelming...even making calls or searching online.

I'd like to compile as comprehensive a directory as possible covering many categories that are applicable when people are in need (social crisis, health crisis, environmental crisis, etc.).

I know there are a ton of resource pages and links out there. They're often regional and disconnected from other similar directories and often focused on a particular type of assistance.

I'd like to gather them all into one place, if possible...as much as possible.

Can you guys recommend sites which you feel are a good place to send people when they're in need of help -- sites which may contain a comprehensive list, be it global, national, regional, whatever? Alternately, can you recommend organizations and service agencies you personally recommend?

My experience is that I find these great sites which at one point attempted to create such a comprehensive list (often libraries and/or university systems), but now many of the links no longer work.

If anyone can or wants to help, post here or PM me, please.

Thanks! :hi:

[zipplewrath]

1. Wiki help?

Wikicrisis?

Sounds a tad ambitious. I used to work a suicide hot line. We had the "community resources list". It was a huge effort to create and maintain. And that was just for our community. Sounds like you are almost describing a specialized search engine or something.

[OneGrassRoot]

2. It's way over my head, that's for sure...lol

I just know what I feel needs to be created, and that I want to help create it, but I need people much smarter than I am to help. ;) Especially on the technical side.

I'm hoping something like this already exists and one of these brilliant DUers will simply be able to point me to it. ;)

I'd ultimately like to work with the library systems -- connect them in some way -- to provide this information and make them an even more vital aspect of community, both online and offline.

Thanks! :hi:

[66 dmhlt]

3. Very admirable ...

And very, very ambitious. You might start by selecting just one element and see how that goes before trying to tackle the whole gamut.

(To be honest, with all the regional variations - not to mention subsets of something like "Health" ... well, it's a bit mind-boggling.)

Best of luck!

[OneGrassRoot]

4. Thanks....

They're doing something similar in England, I found. It's tied in with their public library system.

I'm going to follow that path....

;)

:hi:

[Shallah Kali]

5. 211.org is a good start

http://www.211.org/

[OneGrassRoot]

7. I just traveled down the Yellow Brick Road and found them!

I should have come here to your post instead...lol. Would have saved an hour. ;)

211 looks PERFECT!

It's not a comprehensive online network yet (just spoke with the administrator, who said things are still very, very fragmented, not up-to-date, etc.), but their call center setup looks PERFECT!!!

Sad I never heard of it before? This is really exactly what I was looking for.

Thanks! :)

[ceile]

6. Sure.

Check your PM.