SRF believes in stepping beyond information dissemination to link people directly to the services or support that they need.  One way that SRF has successfully done this is through telephone and Internet-based Information and Referral Systems.

Through our Acceso Hispano initiative, SRF manages a toll-free, bilingual hotline for Hispanics in the United States to provide information, orientation and referrals to the appropriate local or national services.  Our bilingual Information and Referral (I&R) Specialists answer calls and field email inquiries from Monday through Friday, 9am to 10pm, EST and are experts in building trust and providing support in a culturally effective manner.

We provide referrals to a wide range of services related to health, education, civic participation, violence reduction, immigration, science and the environment, finances, and much more. All information provided during the calls is kept strictly confidential, and it is our commitment to treat each caller with respect and consideration. If our I&R Specialists are unable to answer a caller’s query, we investigate the resources that exist to help them and then return their call. In the event that our call volume is unusually high, callers can leave a message and we promptly return their call as soon as possible.

Our I&R Specialists refer callers to services found in our database of over 17,500 pre-screened Hispanic-serving providers throughout the country.  Services in our database range from health clinics to boys & girls clubs, to small business advisors and lawyers.  We are currently working to make our service provider database available online, which will allow service providers to update their contact information directly via the Internet and enable people to freely search the database for relevant services in their community.  To learn more about our Service Provider network, please visit www.serviceproviders.accesohispano.org .

We respond to an average of 1,800 completed inquiries per month and have helped over 100,000 people since the hotline was established in 1996. All of our media campaigns and outreach efforts include our hotline so that our audience can contact us to be linked to the specific services they need, in the community where they live.

If you or someone you know needs help resolving an issue they face, please don’t hesitate to call our hotline at 1-800-473-3003 or email us at ayuda@accesohispano.org.

Visit our Acceso Hispano site to learn more about our hotline and other services we offer to the Hispanic community.