Warren County agencies create new online resource map
Effort will allow residents to find services more easily
WARREN COUNTY, N.Y. -- Where do you go when you need to find the location of the nearest medical center in Warren County? Or counseling agency? What about the nearest food pantry?
The Warren County Probation Department and Warren County Public Defender’s Office have worked together to create a new resource for residents and visitors that plots the location of hundreds of community service organizations on an interactive online Google map of the county and region, so these agencies and organizations are easy to find.
The Warren County Resource Map includes organizations across the county and many outside of the county as well.
Among those included are:
- Substance use treatment centers
- Medical providers
- Charities
- Schools
- Law enforcement agencies
- Counseling centers
- Food pantries
- Child care providers
The map includes a key with a list of organizations, as well as contact information for them, sorted in categories.
Both the Probation Department and Public Defender’s Office work with populations that are frequently in need of services, and the goal of the project was to help educate them and the public about the depth of services that are available, explained Amy Secor, Warren County Probation Department Probation Supervisor and one of the creators of the project.
Secor said the map was a goal established through the Warren County Y-ReConnects (Youth Reentering the Community through Opportunity, Networking, Navigation, Education, Collaboration and Transition Supports) Community of Practice Team for the purpose of connecting the community to a variety resources. The Y-ReConnects Community of Practice Team encompasses local agency stakeholders attempting to create and provide better outcomes for at-risk youth and adults.
“We have found that a lot of people don’t know about the resources that are out there, that there are many they may not be familiar with,” Amy Secor explained. “We want to give the public easy access to see what help is out there, kind of a one-stop shop that they can access on a computer or phone.”
Secor was aided with the project by Dillon Swertner, case manager for the Warren County Public Defender’s Office.
Swertner said: “Whether you’re in need of services or not, this Resource Map can help anyone at one point or another. With the ability to filter the results, you really can use this resource to help find specific services for an array of things such as housing, food and transportation, just to name a few. By cutting down the time it normally takes to search for individual services, we are giving the community the opportunity to access that same information quicker. I believe this will result in more people reaching out and getting the support they need.”
The organizations were plotted on a Google Map by Probation Department staff, with input from community leaders to pin as many as possible. As organizations open, close or change addresses, the document will be updated.
The map can be found on the Warren County Probation Department web page at https://warrencountyny.gov/probation, and click on the “Community Resources” icon.
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