By JAN LARSON McLAUGHLIN
BG Independent News
Where do Wood County residents go when the cupboards are bare, the utility bill is overwhelming, an eviction notice has arrived, a family member is being abused, or a birth certificate is needed for a job opportunity?
For more than 20 years, a program called “No Wrong Door” has been linking residents with the services they need.
To make people likely to be approached for help in the community know where to send people for assistance, the No Wrong Door program holds two day-long trainings each year. And to make the information easy to use, the agencies and their phone numbers are squeezed onto one bright yellow page.
Listed by needs, the page offers numbers to call for help with autism, budgeting, child support, clothing, bereavement and criminal defense. The page lists numbers for 20 different food pantries in Wood County.
“We want to make sure that anyone who goes anywhere, there’s no wrong door,” said Shannon Fisher, with the Wood County Department of Job and Family Services.
The people behind the program attended the Wood County Board of Health meeting Thursday evening to explain No Wrong Door and the request that the health department assumes the contract for the program with Family & Child First Council, led by Michelle Coe.
The board voted to take on the administrative role for the program.
“It really is about building relationships and capacity,” said Erin Hachtel, of the Coalition of Homelessness and Housing in Ohio.
The yellow sheets can be found on the desks of many school secretaries, church secretaries, and front desks at social service agencies. The goal is to make it easy for those people to find the right resource for someone in need.
Health board member Richard Strow said he had never heard of No Wrong Door, and was concerned that people in need may not be aware of it either.
“I’m sure there’s an awful lot of other folks who don’t know about it,” Strow said. “How do we get the message out so people know how to ask about it?”
While the public may not be aware, the service agencies, churches and schools are familiar with the program, and share the information with people who seek help, according to Hachtel.
“Unless you need to call for help, you may not be aware,” she said.
No Wrong Door works hand-in-hand with partner agencies like 211.
“It’s about that person who’s answering the phone,” Hachtel said. “We want to get them to the right place.”
The goal, Fisher said, is to engage, direct and assure people facing crises.
More than 2,000 people have gone through the No Wrong Door training over the last two decades.
“No Wrong Door was the brainchild of agencies here in Wood County,” said Wood County Health Commissioner Ben Robison. Years since its creation, the program has spread to counties across Ohio.
And Robison has plans for growing the program here. The health department wants to do more than maintain No Wrong Door, he said. “We really want to lean into this.”
