Helpful Search Tips

Information and resources are at your fingertips with the power of 211 LA's community resource database search tools.

 

The Keyword Search

Use the search bar on the homepage or at the top of our website pages as a keyword search to find services. If you are searching for particular organizations by name, use the Agency Search.

The results returned will list all service in the community resource database that have any combination of the words listed (it is sensitive to spelling)

Tip: If you type women's shelter with no quotation marks, you will get results that contain either or both words - which will be a lot of results! If you only want results that have both words, put them in quotation marks - "women's shelter" to narrow results. The search is sensitive to spelling, but not to capitalization.

Tip: It's not google! The search is searching for keywords, so typing a sentence like "where can I find food?" will not work, but "food", "emergency food", "groceries" and other words or short phrases will work.

If you're having trouble finding results, try the Browse Resources search for predefined popular categories of resources, or use the live chat to be assisted by a trained Community Resource Advisor. 

 

Browse Resources 

Use the Browse Resources option under the Resources menu to explore popular search categories that start with broad general topics or populations and then let you narrow down to more specific topics. It's a quick and straightforward way to find many different popular resources. 

Tip: After your second step you'll start seeing results, but you can narrow further using the blue tags on the search results page. 

Tip: If you are using the Browse Resources search and then enter a word or words into the Keyword search, it will start a new search using those words. To continue searching other categories of the Browse Resources search, use the breadcrumbs to go back.

 

Search Filters and Views

Once you have some search results, you can use the filters to narrow and refine your search. There are lots of options to help you customize your search, and you can use as many or as few as you like. Some filters, like the zip code/location filter, will eliminate services outside of the radius you specify, while the "Gender" and "Who" filters don't eliminate results, but will prioritize those services that have services specifically for those communities.

Your search results will initially be in a list view, but you can switch to map view to see their locations using the map view toggle. You can also toggle from "Best Fit" results to "Closest" if you are looking for a physical service near a particular location.

Tip: Keep in mind that there are many services offered online or by phone, so distance may not always matter!  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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