MANSFIELD — When it comes to local resources, Terry Carter is like a walking encyclopedia.
She knows where senior citizens can get fresh fruits and vegetables at a discount. She can tell veterans where to go for housing assistance or to get a copy of their discharge papers. She has the dates memorized for the next prescription drug take-back and dumpster days. She can tell you when the next community meal is and which towns have summer farmer’s markets.
If Carter doesn’t have the information you need at the top of her mind, she has it at her fingertips.
Carter has spent more than two decades at the heart of First Call 211, a free service that connects callers to a variety of community resources and local information.
How to call 211
First Call 211 has information on food pantries and community meals, housing and shelters, financial and utility assistance, state and local government offices, consumer protection and consumer education, seasonal assistance, abuse reporting, food and nutrition, immunization and health care screenings and more.
Callers can simply dial 211 or text 898211.
First Call 211 also accepts walk in appointments Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. First Call 211’s offices are located at 36 West Third Street in Mansfield.
First Call 211 has local resources lists, including food pantries, farmers markets, free meals and mental health recovery services on its website.
The program originated from the Information Line of Richland County, a service established in the late 1980s by leaders from various social services agencies. Their goal was to address the complexity of navigating the social services system.
Since 2004, the line has been operated through the Mansfield/Richland County Public Library.
“Navigating through the various federal, state, and local services can at times be overwhelming,” Carter said. “(211) helps families understand what help is available and how to get connected.”
Today, there are dozens of certified and accredited 211 lines in operation across the U.S. and Canada. But the fact that First Call 211 operates out of the library is fairly unique.
“We’re one of only about two or three (libraries) across the U.S. that directly operates a 211 service,” Carter said.
“To me, it’s just a natural connection. People come to the library for information, for vetted, neutral information.”
They call 211 for the same thing.
“Everything that we do is confidential. Everything is neutral,” Carter said. “I don’t care what your politics are.
“I don’t care if you think these services should or shouldn’t exist. My role is to know if they exist.”
Carter led efforts to make 211 available statewide
Carter began working for First Call 211 in 2004, when it was a two-woman operation. Today, it has six full-time and two part-time employees.
Richland County’s share of services are funded through the MRCPL and Richland County Jobs and Family Services.
Over the years, First Call 211 has taken on additional counties. Agencies in Ashland, Huron, Wayne and Holmes counties all contract services with First Call 211.
For years, 211 services in the Buckeye state have been funded and administered at the county level. Some counties have had 211 services eliminated amid funding cuts. Some have never had an official 211 line.
But that is set to change this summer.
Governor Mike DeWine announced on April 14 the Ohio Department of Children and Youth is partnering with Ohio 211 to expand coverage to the entire state.
It comes after years of advocacy from Ohio 211, a network of the state’s 13 providers. Carter serves as the agency’s board president.
All existing 211 providers across the state will pick up neighboring counties so every Ohioan will have access to the service, Carter said.
First Call 211 is adding Erie County to its roster.
DCY will cover the cost of the expansion through June 2027. Carter said now that 211 is officially a statewide service, her goal is to go after state and even federal funding.
In the past, Carter said it was difficult to make a case for 211 funding in the state budget because it wasn’t a statewide program.
“This investment from DCY really is going to put us in a better position for leveraging a statewide system for bringing in additional funds,” she said.
Nevertheless, Carter said she thinks 211 will be more sustainable long term if there’s a mix of local and state funding, ideally through public-private partnerships.
“There have been other states, where it became a state service, and then two or three administrations down, somebody puts a line item (veto) through that funding,” she said. “I don’t want it to have all my eggs in one basket.”
While 211 services are available in every state, Ohio is one of the last to achieve universal coverage, Carter said.
First Call 211 connects callers with thousands of resources
In 2025, Ohio’s 211 centers received 797,169 calls and identified 809,120 needs.
Top reasons people call include needs like food, housing, utilities assistance, financial support, clothing and household needs. But the First Call 211 can connect callers with thousands of local resources and provide a wide variety of information.
“People have the perception that it’s only for poor people, but it truly is all resources, all services,” Carter said.
“We get calls, ‘Is the post office open today? Who’s my township trustee? What’s the deadline to register to vote?’ It can be any kind of local information and resources.”
In addition to taking calls, employees at First Call 211 maintain a massive database.
New services are catalogued. Discontinued services are removed. Listings are updated as times, locations, eligibility requirements and funding sources change.
“The health department is probably one of our most complicated records, because I think they have 30 or some different programs,” Carter said.
All resources in the database are checked for accuracy at least once a year, but are often updated on-the-fly as the staff become aware of changes.
First Call 211 also posts monthly free meal calendars. Callers can dial 211, then press 4 to hear a daily recording of free community meals.
“We get an average of 1,000 calls a month on that line,” she said.
Nevertheless, Carter believes there is a lack of knowledge about 211’s services.
“When the food stamps went on pause, there was a lot of people out there putting together lists of food pantries and food resources, without realizing that we already had all of that information and could easily distribute that,” she said.
“It’s very frustrating to me because I know those resources locally and when it changes, I often see the food pantry list posted in social media from two years ago.”
How does 211 work?
In Ohio, calls to 211 are automatically routed to the nearest provider.
“Where you’re physically standing, and who your service provider is, and which tower it’s pinging off is gonna determine which call center the call drops to,” Carter explained.
While First Call 211’s database isn’t publicly available, trained 211 operators are available 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
Calls are confidential, but operators may ask for information like a caller’s zip code, gender and age. Carter said that information helps operators identify which resources a caller may be eligible for.
“The entire value of 211 is the conversation that you have — being able to ask those specific questions,” Carter said. “We’re not only listening for what they’re saying, we’re also listening for what they’re not saying.”
Carter said that human connection is part of what makes 211 so valuable. Operators can offer more specific resources, help callers brainstorm solutions and save them the trouble of pursuing services for which they don’t qualify.
“A lot of our role is empowering (callers) to navigate the systems for themselves, to understand how the services are provided, to understand what to expect when they go through those systems,” she said.
“At the end of the day, we give hope. Let’s figure this out. Let’s see what we can do.”
“Sometimes we may not have an answer for someone. But just to know that they’ve been heard and there’s another human on the other end that understands (matters).”
