Need assistance? Use this new social services website

CAMDEN - Need food, clothing, or child care assistance? How about housing, counseling or legal advice? Residents in South Jersey can now go online and ask Aunt Bertha.

The Camden Coalition of Healthcare Providers launched a new online social service tool to connect people with nearby social services. The site, camdenhealth.auntbertha.com, was designed over the last several months in partnership with the Austin, Texas-based public benefit corporation, Aunt Bertha.

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Visitors enter their ZIP codes on the user-friendly site and are then directed to available social services, including food pantries, housing agencies, health centers, legal services, transportation, goods, monetary assistance and more. Users can email or text listings to others, save programs in a favorites folder, and write reviews. Information is available in multiple languages through Google Translate.

The site includes eligibility criteria and the location of each service. Aunt Bertha updates the information every six months after identifying free and reduced cost programs online, and through tax forms. Calls are made to verify the information. Social service providers can also report a change or suggest programs to add to the site.

Often, knowledge about local resources is known only by individual providers, said Dr. Jeffrey Brenner, founder and executive director of the Camden Coalition. The coalition has a contract with Aunt Bertha, and pays a monthly fee for the site.

“Aunt Bertha is so powerful because it combines the institutional knowledge of providers across Camden and makes that knowledge publicly available,” Brenner said.

Camden County and Hopeworks recently introduced a web tool to help families find social services and resources for youth in Camden County.

Kim Mulford: (856) 486-2448; kmulford@gannettnj.com