211 Long Island

What 211 Long Island does

211 Long Island is a free, confidential information and referral service that connects residents of Nassau and Suffolk counties on Long Island to local health and human services agencies. Its two core products are a 24/7/365 multilingual call center (reachable by dialing 2-1-1 or the toll-free 1-888-774-7633) and a searchable online database hosted on the CommunityOS platform containing detailed, daily-updated records on over 10,000 health and human services agencies and programs. The database is operated and maintained by Middle Country Public Library, which also conducts in-person training and demonstrations at libraries across the service area, while additional topical resource pages cover housing, health insurance enrollment, severe weather, AARP/VITA tax preparation, and transportation.

The service is offered at no cost to end users and is funded through institutional partnerships with United Way of Long Island, Suffolk County Government, and the Middle Country Library Foundation, with the current 211 Long Island entity formed in 2010 when Middle Country Public Library and United Way of Long Island formalized a partnership that had operated since 1993 as the Community Resource Database of Long Island. Go-to-market is community-led and event-driven: outreach is conducted through partner libraries, county channels, community events (such as health insurance and Medicaid enrollment assistance workshops), and a website at 211li.org that supports translation into over 100 languages via Google Translate.

The organization operates as a nonprofit with 251-500 employees, primarily call specialists staffing the 24/7 helpline alongside database curators and outreach staff. Because services are provided free to users and the entity is grant-funded rather than revenue-generating, the business model is one of institutional fundraising and stewardship rather than commercial monetization — there is no pricing model, no paying customer base, and no disclosed revenue or funding figures in the source data.

Name

211 Long Island

Legal name

211 Long Island

Website

https://211li.org

Company type

Private

Founded year

2010

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

251–500 employees

Short description

211 Long Island is a free, confidential nonprofit information and referral service that connects Nassau and Suffolk county residents to over 10,000 local health and human services agencies via a 24/7 call center and searchable online database, funded by United Way of Long Island, Suffolk County Government, and Middle Country Library Foundation.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Social Services Information and Referral

NAICS

Community Food and Housing, and Emergency and Other Relief Services (6242), Other Individual and Family Services (624190), Emergency and Other Relief Services (624230)

SIC

Services-Social Services (8300)

akta.pro industry

PRIMARYBPAGAEAB

Housing Assistance & Homeless Services

Business & Public Services/Nonprofit, NGO & Social Services/Social Services & Community Support (Food, Housing, Family)

SECONDARYBPAIANAC

Homelessness Prevention, Shelter & Supportive Housing Services

Business & Public Services/Public Sector & Government Administration/Housing, Urban Planning & Community Development

SECONDARYBPAGAEAF

Elder Services & Aging Support

Business & Public Services/Nonprofit, NGO & Social Services/Social Services & Community Support (Food, Housing, Family)

SECONDARYHLADALAK

Community Resources, Social Services & Transportation Coordination

Healthcare & Life Sciences/Elder Care & Long-Term Care/Senior Care Coordination & Case Management (Geriatric Care Management)

SECONDARYBPAIAKAK

Social Care & Long-Term Care Benefits Administration

Business & Public Services/Public Sector & Government Administration/Social Security, Benefits & Welfare Administration

Keywords

• Information and referral
• Social services database
• Human services helpline
• Community resource directory
• Health human services

Headquarters

HQ city

Centereach

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales, Others

Revenue model

1. Public Funding and Grants: 211 Long Island is supported by public funding from Suffolk County Government and private foundation support from the Middle Country Library Foundation. The service is provided free to all Long Island residents.
2. Partnership Funding: Financial and operational support from United Way of Long Island and other partners enables the maintenance and operation of the call center and database.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels4 records

Marketing channels4 records

Core offering

211 Long Island operates a free, confidential information and referral service for residents of Nassau and Suffolk counties on Long Island, New York. The service consists of a 24/7/365 telephone helpline (dial 2-1-1 or toll-free 1-888-774-7633) staffed by trained call specialists, and a searchable online database covering over 10,000 local health and human services agencies and programs. Callers and online users are connected to resources for food, housing, healthcare, mental health, substance abuse, employment, childcare, eldercare, legal services, and disaster response.

Product overview

211 Long Island operates as a free, confidential information and referral service consisting of two core offerings: an online searchable database and a 24/7 call center. The database contains detailed information on over 10,000 health and human services agencies and programs across Nassau and Suffolk counties, updated daily by Middle Country Public Library. The call center connects callers to services ranging from basic needs like food and shelter to specialized services including legal aid, substance abuse treatment, and eldercare. Additional resource services include housing support, health insurance enrollment assistance, severe weather information, tax preparation programs, and transportation resources.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• 211 Long Island Database

Quantifiable outcome

• Available 24/7/365 with over 10,000 agency records
• +1 more outcomes

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature2 records

Partnerships

Five partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• United Way of Long IslandcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerUnited Way of Long Island is a key partner in the 211 Long Island initiative. The 2010 partnership between United Way of Long Island and Middle Country Public Library established the current 211 Long Island service. United Way of Long Island provides ongoing support and is acknowledged on the 211 Long Island website as a core supporter. Prior to 2010, the database served the region for 17 years as the Community Resource Database of Long Island.
• Middle Country Public LibrarycoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerMiddle Country Public Library serves as the operational hub for the 211 Long Island database. The library maintains and updates the database daily and coordinates training and demonstrations. The partnership with United Way of Long Island established 211 Long Island in 2010. Contact for training: [email protected].
• Suffolk County GovernmentcoreGTM or Marketing PartnerSuffolk County Government is listed as a core supporter of the 211 Long Island Database. The county provides funding and institutional support for the service, helping ensure access to health and human services information for Suffolk County residents.
• Middle Country Library FoundationminorGTM or Marketing PartnerThe Middle Country Library Foundation is listed as a supporter of the 211 Long Island Database. The foundation provides financial support that helps sustain library-based operations for the 211 service.
• CommunityOScoreTechnology or IntegrationCommunityOS is the technology platform powering the 211 Long Island online database at 211ny4regions.communityos.org/longisland. The platform enables searchable access to health and human services agency information with geographic and language filtering capabilities.

Scale indicators5 records

Recent moves4 records

Expansion highlights4 records

Emerging players

• Health Leads: Health Leads is a national nonprofit that connects patients to community resources for essential needs like food, housing, and utilities. Comparable to 211 Long Island's mission of addressing social needs through resource connection, but focuses on clinic-embedded programs rather than open community access.
• Unite Us: Unite Us is a social care coordination platform that connects health and social service providers through a closed-loop referral network. Comparable to 211 Long Island in facilitating referrals to social services, but focused on provider-to-provider workflows and outcomes tracking rather than consumer-facing I&R.
• NowPow (Unite Us): NowPow, now part of Unite Us, was a community resource platform that matched patients to nearby services based on need, geography, and insurance. Closely comparable to 211 Long Island in maintaining a curated database of community resources with filtering by location and need type.
• Healthify (now WellSky Social Care): Healthify, now part of WellSky, provides a social determinants of health platform that screens for needs and connects patients to community resources. Closely comparable to 211 Long Island in resource database and referral functionality, but embedded within healthcare workflows rather than offered as a standalone community service.

Regional players

• Family Service League (Long Island): Family Service League is a Long Island-based human services nonprofit providing counseling, housing, senior services, and youth programs. Operates in the same geographic area with overlapping service categories, providing some of the very resources 211 Long Island refers clients to.
• Long Island Cares: Long Island Cares is a regional food bank serving Nassau and Suffolk counties, providing food assistance and related social services. Operates in the same Long Island geography and addresses overlapping community needs (food security, basic needs), though it delivers direct services rather than information and referral.
• 211 New York State: 211 New York State operates the 2-1-1 helpline and online database across other regions of New York State outside Long Island. Uses the same 211 model and community database infrastructure but covers upstate and other downstate regions, making it a sibling regional operator rather than a direct competitor.

Direct peers

• Benefits.gov: Benefits.gov is the official federal benefits portal that helps users identify and apply for government assistance programs. Comparable to 211 Long Island in helping residents navigate benefits and assistance programs, but focuses exclusively on federal/state benefits rather than the full continuum of community resources.
• findhelp (formerly Aunt Bertha): findhelp is a national social care network that connects users to free and reduced-cost programs for food, housing, healthcare, and more. Directly comparable to 211 Long Island in connecting residents to community resources, but operates at national scale with a modern digital platform used by health systems and payers.
• United Way 211 (national): 211.org is the national umbrella for the 211 information and referral network across the United States and Canada. Operates the same 2-1-1 dialing code and I&R service model as 211 Long Island, but at national scale, providing the structural backbone against which regional 211s are benchmarked.

Market position

Strengths1 record

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/211longisland
• Facebookfacebook.com/211LongIsland

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about 211 Long Island