A number of community partners seek to ease access of obtaining services through ‘No Wrong Door' collaboration.

The path to finding the appropriate resources for education, child care, nutrition or housing services can sometimes be a bewildering jumble of doors.

A network of community partners in Morrow, Umatilla and Union counties is opening the door for families who are trying to navigate through the process of seeking information and assistance. Through the implementation of a “No Wrong Door” system, families will be able to access community resources from any starting point. The system ensures any of the doors they choose will be the right one.

A person seeking assistance will no longer need to know what services they may qualify for in order to access the supports they need. By completing a short application, people will be linked to a recruiter who is knowledgeable of all child and family services including, but not limited to, preschool opportunities, parenting education, child care, health and human services, housing and transportation.

By accessing the No Wrong Door icon on any partner agency’s website or visiting the office of a community partner participating in the No Wrong Door process, a family will be contacted within two business days. After the initial contact, appropriate services will then be determined as quickly as possible.

Partners in the project include the Blue Mountain Early Learning Hub, Umatilla County Public Health, Umatilla-Morrow Head Start, InterMountain Education Service District, WIC, Child Care Resource and Referral, Healthy Families Oregon, the Oregon Parenting Education Collaborative, Nurse-Family Partnership, Pioneer Relief Nursery, Oregon Child Development Coalition, Eastern Oregon Head Start and Morrow County Public Health.

“The program will allow families to access community resources or to allow those assisting a family in accessing resources to do so efficiently and effectively,” said Cade Burnette, co-coordinator of the Blue Mountain Early Learning Hub.

The approach is not intended to replace the intake process of specific agencies that are already in place, Burnette said, but rather to act as a safety net to ensure all families have easy access to the resources that they may be eligible for.

For more information, call Burnette at 541-564-6878.