2008Annual Report

Bringing people and services together

Info Line, Inc. (Info Line) was incorporated as a private nonprofit corporation by the State of Ohio on June 4, 1975 and is governed by the Board of Trustees (2008 Board of Trustees featured on Financial page). The Board of Trustees regularly meets five times per year.

The initial service provided by the agency was Information and Referral. The agency’s mission was to link people in need of services with the most appropriate providers of those services. Information and Referral service is free of charge to the local callers. This program has grown to become Summit County’s 24-hour Information and Referral service answering 70,000 incoming calls annually through its 10-digit telephone number and an easy-access three digit 2-1-1 dialing system. Info Line has been accredited by the Alliance of Information and Referral systems (AIRS) and 19 staff members are Certified Information and Referral Specialists. Info Line maintains a computerized resource directory of over 1,100 agencies and services for the Summit County area.

In addition, Info Line serves as the Clearinghouse for Emergency Food in our county. Info Line refers over 15,000 families to over 60 pantries for a 3-day emergency supply of food. Through a grant from the Community Technology Fund of Ohio, Info Line has developed a clearinghouse database for client tracking and is bringing computers into the food pantries so that they can access this information and provide services to clients in need more efficiently.

The target population for Information and Referral are all individuals and families living in Summit County who need access to community resources and services. While we serve anyone needing information, the vast majority are seeking services that would be described as basic life necessities such as food, housing, clothing and medical care.

Throughout its 33 year history, Info Line has been sensitive to the needs of the community and through strategic planning with the Board and community leaders, has continued to develop additional programming in line with the current mission statement of improving the quality of life of all people who live and work in Summit County by enhancing their access to and use of the human service delivery system in our community. Additionally, the organization assists in community planning by identifying gaps, overlaps and duplication in services.

Info Line has continued to meet this mission by utilizing advanced computer and telecommunications technology. Current programs were developed (see timeline) and continue to be beneficial programs designed to meet the needs of Summit County residents and agencies.

Time Line of Current Programs:

1975 Information & Referral

1979 LifeLine

1983 MedAssist

1986 After-Hours Answering Services

1990 Child Care Connection

1999 Project Connect

2003 2-1-1

2003 Homeless Management Information Systems

2008 Community Voice Mail

History

About Info Line

Programs2-1-1 Information and Referral & Senior I&R: 2-1-1: In 2008 2-1-1 Information and Referral and Senior I&R: 2-1-1 responded to 70,000 requests from individuals and families and connected them to resources throughout the community.

Child Care Connection: Child Care Connection has been actively expanding its outreach efforts to educate the community about the services that are provided to families, child care providers and the community. Child Care Connection also continues to expand the quality improvement services provided to the early care and education community through programs that include: Step Up to Quality, First Steps Infant Toddler Program, and the After school Initiatives, Quality Enhancement.

Lifeline: Lifeline provides quick access to help, 24 hours a day. Lifeline is an easy to use medical alert service designed to reduce the risk of living alone. In the event of a fall or emergency, help is available at the push of a button. Info Line serves over 1500 clients through the Lifeline program.

MedAssist: Emergency and on-going prescription expense assistance for uninsured Summit County residents. MedAssist exceeded all of its goals for 2008 and leveraged over $4 in pharmaceuticals for each $1 contributed by United Way. The total market value of medications secured for Summit County residents in 2008 as a result of the program was $1,114,083.

Project Connect: A support program for nonprofit organizations to upgrade their technology capabilities and utilize their resources more effectively.

Homeless Services Team: The Homeless Services Team is made up of two programs, Homeless Management Information (HMIS) of Summit County and Community Voice Mail Summit (CVMS).

HMIS: Community collaborative which tracks services provided to homeless and low income clients throughout Summit County to determine efficient allocations of resources and effective coordination of services. There are 14 agencies with 41 programs currently entering data into HMIS.

Community Projects HMIS participate in:Akron/Summit County Continuum of Care for the Homeless: Info Line’s Vice President of Services serves as the chairperson of this community collaborative of agencies that work together to shape policy and procedure for addressing homeless issues in the Summit County region.Point-In-Time Count is an annual one-day count of sheltered and unsheltered homeless persons in the Summit County community. The PIT Count held on January 29, 2008, resulted in the best outreach effort to date with over 733 people being counted. Project Homeless Connect: This “all day” services fair for the homeless population in our community is held in the spring every year. In 2008 Project Homeless Connect served over 500 people in an effort to connect guests with housing, health care services, jobs, food, hair cuts and more.

Community Voice Mail Summit: CVMS partners with social service agencies in the community to provide free voice mail to phoneless clients in order to give them a constant point of contact as they transition out of crisis. CVMS have partnered with 10 agencies with 14 programs in the first six months of operations.

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MedAssist: In July, a forty-four year old Kenmore resident contacted MedAssist for help with a critical medication. Three months earlier she had lost her job and health insurance; however before her insurance ran out, she wisely obtained a three month supply of her medication. Although she was again employed full time, she was not eligible for insurance through her employer until December and could not afford to pay $1,800 each month for the injectable anti-coagulant that she needed. With her doctor’s assistance, MedAssist enrolled her in the manufacturer’s patient assistance program the same day she called for help. Through December 2008, she received nearly $11,000 worth of medication at no charge, keeping her health stable and allowing her to keep working. MedAssist also referred the patient to a low cost health care program to use until she became eligible for insurance in December.

MedAssist

Lifeline

Child Care Connection

Lifeline: A 98 year old female with a medical history of high blood pressure and strokes had been a client of Info Line’s Lifeline service since 2001. Info Line received a “help needed” signal from the client. Although we could not hear her clearly, we could tell she was in distress and immediately called a responder. Her neighbor found the client inside with a broken arm. Upon speaking with the responder, Info Line called Emergency Medical Service (EMS) and the client was transported to the hospital.

Info Line also immediately contacted the client’s daughter to let her know her mother was being transported, and she arrived at the hospital before her mother. The daughter shared with us that it was so comforting to her mother to see her family when she arrived at the hospital emergency room and to know she was not alone. After this incident, the client moved into a nursing home, but Lifeline helped this woman remain independent in her own home until age 98.

Child Care Connection: A child care center in Summit County contacted Child Care Connection to receive assistance with the new voluntary tiered quality rating system in the state of Ohio called Step Up to Quality. We spent 12 months working with the program, its director and staff to improve the quality of care provided and meet the benchmarks set by the Step Up to Quality program to become star rated. A team from Child Care Connection achieved the following in 2008 :

Nationally recognized environmental rating assessments in the infant, toddler, preschool and school age classroomsTechnical assistance and mentoring on best practices caring for children in each classroomSupport and mentoring for developing systems to successfully complete mandated licensing requirementsProfessional development training and support for staff and directors to meet the qualifications in the Step to Quality BenchmarksThe program was eligible to participate in the TEACH program which offers financial support for teachers to achieve their CDA

(Child Development Associates Credential) and work toward their degree in early care and education.

As a result of the star rating the Child Care Connection program received Quality Achievement dollars that will help them continue to support the quality programming that is being provided to the children in their care.

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Programs Making a Differance

Information & Referral: A 62 year old female called Info Line for help paying her water bill. She said that she just received her SSI check, but someone in her family got into her checking account and her money was all gone. Social Security was in the process of investigating the account to reimburse her but it would take 60-90 days. Info Line referred this customer to the Tallmadge Richardson Trust. They were able to help this woman with $179.00 to pay off her water bill.

Information & Referral

Financials2008 Year-End

RevenueGovernment agencies ........................................... 2,708,509 Service income .............................................................519,128 United Way ...................................................................415,170 Foundations .................................................................139,986 Other ................................................................................ 88,488 TOTAL ......................................................................... 3,871,281

ExpensesStaff resources .......................................................... 2,067,282 Operational expenses ........................................... 1,027,255 Direct assistance to clients .......................................488,593 Depreciation .................................................................133,195 TOTAL ....................................................................... 3,716,325

AssestsCurrent AssetsCash and cash equivalents ......................................174,966Accounts receivable ...................................................480,350Prepaid expenses and other assets ......................... 36,200TOTAL CURRENT ASSETS .........................................691,516

Non-Current AssetsFurniture and equipment, at cost...................... 2,073,927Less: Accumulated depreciation ..................... (1,656,966)TOTAL NET NON-CURRENT ASSESTS ..................416,961Other assets .................................................................... 15,961TOTAL ASSETS ......................................................... 1,124,438

Liabilities and Net AssetsCurrent LiabilitiesAccounts payable ......................................................... 83,528Accrued expenses and payroll withholdings ...... 96,299Deferred revenue ......................................................... 70,734TOTAL CURRENT LIABILITIES ..................................250,561Long term liabilities .........................................................4,424

Net AssetsUnrestrictedOperating ......................................................................452,492Equipment ....................................................................416,961TOTAL NET ASSETS ....................................................869,453

TOTAL LIABILITIES AND NET ASSETS .......... 1,124,438

Stories from the Heart

Karen Talbott,Chairperson John Falvy,

Vice-Chairperson Tom Hastings, Treasurer Annette Ruby, Secretary

John BurkleyRobert Merzweiler

Dick NortonLaura Musarra

Robert Norman, M.D.Jay Porter

Lois Stevens

Board

of Tru

stees

Every year I receive 30 or more Annual Reports from organizations in our community. Some have been beautifully crafted with professional photos, graphics, art work and cleaver layouts. Others are more modest in design and presentation. All of them include the standard basics: Mission Statement, description of the programs offered, statistical accounts of the year’s most noteworthy accomplishments, a financial statement, list of key organizational leaders, etc. But what is most important about what an organization has done in any given year can never fully be communicated through statistics, balance sheets, pie charts, pictures, or descriptions of services. It is in the actual stories of people whose lives have been changed as a result of our efforts that we begin to understand the true value of our organization. This annual report includes the requisite statements, figures and lists. More importantly, it includes a few stories of people who are better off because of what we do. These stories are what we are all about. More to the point, they are the “why” we do what we do. They give hope to those in need, inspiration to our dedicated staff and volunteers, and real return on investment to the community.

This report also offers readers information about some rather useful resources that may help them with their own professional and/or personal challenges (see Resources).

After you have had a chance to read through this report, let me know what you think about the work we do here at Info Line, what other information you would like to know about us, and what else Info Line could be doing to help people in our community improve their lives. My phone number is 330-762-5627. By the way, much more detailed information about our organization is available online at www.infolineinc.org.

Thanks for your continued interest in Info Line.

Richard StahlPresident & Chief Executive Officer

Other Informative Resources

US Census BureauInformation about social and economic conditions in the country, including employment, housing, manufacturing, trade, and many other topics.www.census.gov1.800-923-8282

Ask the Nurse Support 24/7:www.callcarenet.net1.800.809.7000

Guide to Finding and Evaluating Health InformationMedical Library Associationwww.mlanet.orgTel., 312.419.9094

Poison Control:http://www.aapcc.org/DNN/1-800-222-1222

EPA- Human health and the environment informationwww.epa.gov

Value of Volunteer TimeIndependent Sector Research Article: The estimated dollar value of volunteer time is $20.25 per hour for 2008http://www.independentsector.org/programs/research/volunteer_time.html

City of Akron Customer Service Centerprovide up-to-date information of City depart-ments and contact info, Calendar, Attraction, and News Releases: www.ci.akron.oh.us 3-1-1 or 330-375-2311

Bus schedulesMETRO RTAwww.akronmetro.org1-800-227-9905

Main Library:Akron-Summit County Public Library www.akronlibrary.org 330-643-9000

Local

Summit County Government information and service site about property, development, services (i.e. vendor and dog license), courts... and more.www.co.summit.oh.us 1-800-582-2699

Ohio Government information and service site, find legislators, Ohio’s laws or codes, get certificates, register vote, file state taxes, and more.www.ohio.gov

Ohio Government Get direct access to searchable information from the United States government, state governments, and local governments. Get a US Passport, Replace Your Vital Documents, File taxes, SSN, Employer ID number. Includes Libraries US GovernmentGraphics and Photos, US Government Forms, Money and Taxes and more www.USA.gov 1-800-FED-INFO (1-800-333-4636)

County, State & National

Tim Hite, CRSInfo Line Resource Coordinatorthite@InfolineInc.orgDirect Phone: 330-315-1402

Other Information

Contact Info Line for 2008 Call Statistics

Info Line, Inc.703 South Main Street • Suite #211 • Akron, Ohio 44311

330.762.5627 (Administration) • 330.253.1137 (Fax)

Web Site: www.infolineinc.org

Follow Info Line on Twitter: http://twitter.com/infolineinc