A new tool is helping the United Way Alberta Northwest roll out the most up-to-date program and service data for those in need during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The not-for-profit organization is taking advantage of HelpSeeker.org to create an online directory that covers COVID-19 and other health and social services available in the Grande Prairie region. It includes real-time data from a wide variety of service providers.
United Way Alberta Northwest Executive Director Jamie Craig says those who are making services available can add their own information on the website and edit on the fly.
“The service providers can then update their own information, so when an end-user is searching for services it is real-time data they’re looking at,” she explains.
“We are trying to get those agencies to go onto HelpSeeker and update their programs should they have adapted or have added new programs because of COVID-19.”
Craig says because programs are forever changing because of funding requirements, old information can remain online well after it should be updated. She hopes the new system will alleviate some of that confusion for people.
“There are so many organizations that, as a funder, I didn’t even know existed, so this is really helpful for us. We are receiving a large sum of money from the federal government for the COVID-19 Community Response Fund that we are supposed to disperse out to our region, and I can’t do that without knowing who is doing what.”
For more information, visit Helpseeker.org and search by postal code to find services available in Grande Prairie.