Linn County has launched a new online community resource hub in a cross-departmental collaboration. This resource hub is the next iteration of the community resource sheets that Linn County Community Services has updated and shared with the community for more than 20 years. The online resource hub helps people find information about many critical needs, such as affordable housing, childcare, employment, food resources, health needs, legal assistance, and transportation.
Historically, these resource sheets were provided only in PDF form in partnership with more than 20 different community organizations that updated the resources annually. The new hub complements the existing sheet format while allowing for faster, more accurate updates directly from the broad spectrum of human resource organizations from across the community.
The new platform is interactive, allowing residents to search the entire database to identify resources that best meet their needs. There is also functionality that allows users to search by map to locate resources close to them. The new hub also allows community resource providers the ability to update their available resources on a regular basis instead of once a year.
“Through disaster response, we recognized that there was a significant need for a more modernized resource hub to distribute ongoing resource information in addition to the need to be able to revise resources information quickly. The ability to map resources in connection with disaster response activities will be very beneficial moving forward,” said Linn County Community Outreach & Assistance Director Ashley Balius. “When people are in crisis or when they are stressed, the last thing they want to do is search through 22 PDFs to try to find the right resources for them. This interactive resource hub with search and filtering functions will allow customers to identify the resources they need much more easily than in the past.”
PDF versions of the resource sheets can still be downloaded from Linn County’s website to ensure accessibility. The new online database automatically updates the PDFs on the website when changes are made to the resources.
Visit the new online resource hub at https://www.linncountyiowa.gov/130/Community-Resources.