On Feb. 18, the Cupertino City Council unanimously adopted a resolution in support of creating a 211 referral phone number to serve the residents of Santa Clara County.

According to Mary Davey, chairwoman of the Silicon Valley 211 Steering Committee, the Federal Communications Commission set aside 211 in July 2000 as a nationwide referral number for information on social, welfare and health services.

If the campaign is successful, people will be able to dial 211 in any part of the country for immediate assistance on a variety of social issues, such as homelessness, spousal abuse and health issues.

"This is an educational, single-purpose number people can call for a range of human services. FCC initiated 211 in an attempt to stop the frustration of people during social crises," Davey explained.

Serving as a critical link between the public and social service providers, 211 can also refer callers to emergency food, shelter and other services in the event of a major disaster, such as an earthquake or terrorist attack.

However, for medical or other emergencies requiring the help of police or the fire department, 911 is still the number to call.

According to Davey, so far 211 is available in 20 states, and it will reach 50 percent of the population by the end of 2005.

On Feb. 13, the California Public Utilities Commission voted to implement the 211 referral line, thus authorizing individual counties to proceed with local planning efforts.

In Santa Clara County, the planning efforts in consolidating existing information and referral lines and gathering funding began about a year ago under the leadership of United Way Silicon Valley.

"We've formed a collaborative organization to bring 211 to the county. Our goal is to implement the system by April 2005," Davey said.

As 911 is, the 211 service will be free to callers. Supervisors of Santa Clara County are expected to consider partially funding the $1.7 million cost in the 2004 budget.