Sullivan County Launches One-Stop Portal For Resident Assistance

A 'one-stop-shop' of sorts has been created to help the Sullivan County Community when they most need it. The 'Unite Us' Portal has been developed to create an assistance tool for residents to ensure they get the help they need, when they need it.

Unite Us Creates United Service and Agency Access For Sullivan County Residents

The Sullivan County Department of Social Services, in an announcement on December 12th, shared that there is a new way for the county community to be able to access the variety of services available to them.

Unite Us is described as a 'software solution to bring sectors together through technology to drive the collaboration to identify, deliver, and pay for services that impact whole-person health,' but what does that mean for the residents of Sullivan County?

The free service provides one-stop access to support services community agencies and even state-wide partners from things like food and housing, to package delivery and so on. The Unite Us service will avoid residents from having to utilize multiple sites or forms, instead submitting one request for any of the available services.

The press release indicates that needed services and connections are typically established within a 48 hour time frame.

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Unite Us Program Roll Out in Sullivan County

The system was implemented as a test back in September across the county for the purpose of connecting residents that were looking for help with food and or housing. During testing, Sullivan Allies Leading Together (SALT) and the Sullivan Fresh Community Cupboard were able to deliver a package of emergency food assistance within an hour.

The Deputy Commissioner of Social Services for Sullivan County, Giselle Steketee, explains:

As of today, there are 23 different organizations serving Sullivan County that are connected to the platform, and we are working every day with Unite Us and partners in the community to add more organizations. This network also connects us to hundreds of agencies across New York State

The fact that this type of support is now offered through a 'single access point' is what stands out as the most important to county leaders. There are also future plans to continue to grow the Unite Us services, getting specific data on services that are needed but not currently provided.