CLEVELAND, Tenn. – There soon will be a new telephone number for people who need help but don’t know where to turn.
The Mayors’ Coalition on Community Care is a joint project by Bradley County Mayor D. Gary Davis and Cleveland Mayor Tom Rowland.
The mayors think there are about 200 community care agencies in the area. The idea is to get them all to sign up to a database that will be housed at Lee University’s Leonard Center, where a student intern will take calls from people requesting help.
The phone service, expected to be ready sometime in August, will be a clearinghouse for information about various agencies that offer the kind of help the caller needs.
“We believe this will greatly enhance the ability of the community to minister to those less fortunate,” Davis said.
A recent United Way community needs survey found that half those people who need some kind of help don’t know where to turn.
“It will operate kind of like a 411 system you may be familiar with,” Rowland said. “We believe if we fund the first year with seed money, then grants can be found in subsequent years to keep it going.”
On Monday, the Cleveland City Council appropriated $2,500 to the coalition, provided the county did the same. A local businessman has donated $2,500 as the county’s matching money.
Dan Howell, the county mayor’s assistant, said Lee University is joining the effort by providing an office space and the telephone.
Most of the $5,000 will be a two-semester stipend for the student, probably a senior, who maintains the list, advertises the phone number and answers the phone, he said.
The hours the phone number will be available will be advertised in news releases.
Howell noted that the Leonard Center is the university’s service learning arm, coordinating hundreds of students doing community volunteer work.
“So this is truly a classic win-win situation,” Howell said.