City funds searchable upgrade to Community Resource Network; database aims to help agencies locate services for vulnerable residents
Get AI-powered insights, summaries, and transcripts
Sign Up Free
Summary
Using $20,000 in ARPA funds, Portsmouth funded an update to the Community Resource Network to create a searchable, filterable web database of local human‑service organizations. The searchable site converts a 100‑page resource guide that lists roughly 225 agencies into an indexed tool intended primarily for service providers; 66 agencies have
City health staff and a longtime community organizer demonstrated a new, searchable Community Resource Network website funded with $20,000 in American Rescue Plan Act funds to help human‑service agencies and city departments locate services for vulnerable residents.
Health Director Kim McNamara explained the COVID Recovery Task Force had identified the Community Resource Network — a 100‑page guide listing about 225 agencies — as a critical but hard‑to‑search resource that many local agencies use to refer residents to services. The ARPA funding paid for a web upgrade to make the directory searchable by need category, location and agency name so frontline staff can find referrals more efficiently.
Susan Turner, founder of the Community Resource Network and formerly a Families First enrollment counselor, demonstrated the site and explained the project’s goals. Turner said she began compiling the resource guide in the late 1990s and that the digital upgrade allows agencies to maintain their own entries and update contact information in real time. She showed sample searches by category (for example, senior services) and by geographic radius, and displayed that entries include contact information, a short description of services and a map locating agencies within the chosen radius.
Connor Goden (health inspector) and other staff helped reach out to agency partners to populate the new system; Turner said 66 organizations had completed entries in the first month after the upgrade and the team planned follow‑up outreach to the remaining agencies in the guide.
Kim McNamara said the tool is intended primarily for agency‑to‑agency referrals and city staff use rather than as a public‑facing triage system at this stage, in part to avoid overwhelming small nonprofit partners with direct public inquiries. She thanked councilors for approving the ARPA funds and recommended continued city support for outreach and training so agencies can update entries themselves.
The council voted to receive and place the project on file as an informational item and praised the long‑running volunteer effort that produced the original resource guide.
Ending: Staff said they will continue outreach to remaining agencies and add functionality as agencies opt into the searchable system; the database will be a living tool for providers and the city’s human‑services network.