Privacy Policy

The short version

• No account is needed to look for help.
• We do not ask for your name, birthdate, income, immigration status, or health information on this website.
• Your saved list of resources and your ZIP code stay in your own browser — they are not sent to us.
• We count anonymous activity, such as which categories are searched and roughly which ZIP codes need which services, so we can direct resources where they are needed.
• We never sell, rent, or trade information about you, and we do not share it with advertisers or data brokers.

Who we are

This site is operated by United Way of Greater Cleveland (Cleveland, Ohio) as part of its 211 information and referral program serving Cuyahoga County. This policy covers this website only. Calls, texts, and chats handled by the 211 contact center are covered by 211's separate contact-center privacy practices; ask a navigator for details.

What we collect

We deliberately collect as little as possible. Concretely:

We do not use advertising trackers, social media pixels, or cross-site profiling tools on this site.

Sensitive information

This website performs no intake and no case management. It does not ask for, and you should not send us, details about your health, benefits, criminal record, immigration status, or family situation. If you need to discuss those things to get help, call 211 and talk with a navigator — that conversation is handled confidentially by trained staff.

Searching for a category such as domestic violence services or recovery support is recorded only as an anonymous count. It is not tied to you, your device, or your account.

How we use information

• To run the site and show you relevant, nearby resources.
• To understand community need in aggregate and report it to funders and partners — always as totals, never as individual records.
• To keep listings accurate and to work with agency staff who manage their listings.
• To protect the site against abuse and technical failure.

We do not use your information to make automated decisions about you, and we do not profile you.

When we share information

We do not sell or rent personal information, and we do not share it for anyone else's marketing. We share only in these situations:

• With technology vendors who host and operate the site on our behalf, under contracts that limit them to serving us.
• As aggregate, de-identified statistics in community reports.
• When required by law, valid legal process, or to protect someone from imminent harm.

Children

This site is intended for a general audience and is not directed to children under 13. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13. Young people can and should use 211 to find help; they simply are not asked to identify themselves here. If you believe a child has sent us personal information, contact us at [privacy contact email] and we will delete it.

How long we keep things

• Language and preference cookies: up to one year, or until you clear your browser.
• ZIP code and saved list: in your browser until you clear them — you can remove them any time from your browser settings or by clearing your saved list on the site.
• Anonymous usage counts: retained in aggregate for program reporting; raw event rows are purged on a rolling basis.
• Provider account records: for as long as the account is active, and for a reasonable period afterward for audit purposes.

Your choices

• Clear your ZIP code and saved list from within the site, or by clearing your browser's storage for this site.
• Block or delete cookies in your browser — the site still works; it will simply forget your language choice.
• Turn on your browser's private/incognito mode to leave nothing behind on a shared or library computer.
• Provider account holders can ask us to correct or delete their account information.

To ask a privacy question or make a request, email [privacy contact email] or write to [mailing address], Cleveland, OH. Because most site activity is anonymous, we usually cannot find records about a specific person — which is the point.

How we protect information

We maintain administrative, technical, and physical safeguards appropriate to the limited information we hold: encryption in transit, role-based access controls, row-level database security, least-privilege service accounts, and regular review of who can reach what. No system is perfectly secure, and we do not claim certification under any security standard.

If a breach affecting personal information occurred, we would notify affected individuals as required by Ohio's breach notification law (Ohio Revised Code § 1349.19), in the most expedient time possible and no later than 45 days after discovery.

Ohio and other laws

We are based in Ohio and follow Ohio law, including its breach notification requirements, and we look to the Ohio Data Protection Act (Ohio Revised Code Chapter 1354) as a guide for reasonable cybersecurity practices. Ohio does not currently have a comprehensive consumer data privacy statute, so this policy reflects what we actually do rather than a checklist. If you live somewhere with stronger rights — for example, a right to access or delete personal information — write to us and we will honor a reasonable request where the information exists.

This policy is not a claim of compliance with GDPR, HIPAA, SOC 2, or any certification program.

Changes to this policy

If we change what we collect or how we use it, we will update this page and its effective date. Material changes will be described in plain language at the top of the page.