Women share life experiences during COVID

In the Life During COVID study, sixty mothers with school age children shared what life was like for them and their children during the COVID-19 pandemic. Participants completed mobile phone surveys every three days between February 2021 and September 2022. Surveys assessed participants’ daily needs, health, employment, children and schooling, and concerns about COVID-19. Thousands […]

Why are tax assistance requests lower in 2021?

Requests for help preparing tax returns are down. From January 1st to March 30th requests to 211s for tax assistance are 12% lower than the same period in 2020.

4-month trends: 2-1-1 requests during COVID-19

Going up: needs for low-cost housing, child care, health services, and COVID-19 requests. Coming down: food and unemployment requests. We examined requests for assistance in 12 need categories reported by 2-1-1s in 32 states since the COVID-19 pandemic began.

12 trends from the first 3 months of COVID-19

Three months into the COVID-19 pandemic, requests to 2-1-1s in the U.S. are trending up for child care, low-cost housing, landlord-tenant issues, legal assistance, health services and mental health services.

Do men and women call 2-1-1 for different reasons?

Americans calling 2-1-1 since COVID-19 are disproportionately women, but it varies a lot based on the caller’s needs. Nearly all requests (80-90%) for diapers and toilet paper, child care, and clothing and household items come from women.

One month ago: Biggest day in 2-1-1 history?

February 11th (i.e., 2-11) is recognized each year as National 2-1-1 Day. But if you’re looking for the most significant date in 2-1-1 history, it’s probably March 18th, 2020. One month ago today, 2-1-1s recorded the greatest number of requests in single day, 46,399, and that counts only the requests received by 2-1-1s in 24 […]

Where are food, rent and other needs rising and falling?

After 4 weeks of the COVID-19 pandemic, what changes can we see in Americans’ need for assistance with food, rent and other social needs? Data from 2-1-1 helplines indicate that it varies a lot by state. Requests for food assistance are still dramatically higher than normal in all states, but starting to gradually decline in […]

2-1-1s: More unemployment pain to come?

For two consecutive weeks, new unemployment claims have set record highs in the U.S. Based on data from 2-1-1 helplines across the country, that trend will continue. Typically, very few people call 2-1-1 about unemployment benefits, choosing instead to contact unemployment offices directly. But that has changed with COVID-19. Within 5 days of the pandemic […]