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Inclusion / Exclusion Policy

Last reviewed November 2020

Community Information

FirstLink’s database of community resources focuses mainly on nonprofit agencies, health and human services agencies, and government resources. The database is comprehensive in nature and does not specialize in services of a particular subject area.

Inclusion Guidelines

The organizations/services in the database must meet the following criteria:

  • Government or nonprofit agencies providing a community service
  • Organizations which offer a service to the community at large, not just their own members
  • Self-help support groups
  • Faith communities which offer a service to the community at large, not just their own members
  • Elected representatives hospitals, health clinics, assisted living facilities
  • Organizations outside of FirstLink’s geographic parameters which provide a service not available locally, but whose services are available to the residents of the areas FirstLink serves.

Special interest and community groups

For profit businesses and individuals in private practice (such as physicians and psychologists) are considered on an individual basis and shall generally not be included unless they provide a service in the areas of behavioral health, consumer protection, education, health, legal, social service, or similar service and meet one of the following criteria:

  • They offer a free (or reduced cost) service to the community. In which case, the free (or reduced cost) service may be listed in the database.
  • They fulfill a need within the community that is deemed by FirstLink as unmet by other resources listed in the database.

Quality of Service

FirstLink does not evaluate the quality of services provided by organizations in the resource database. Call Specialists will remain a neutral party while referring, and will not steer a caller toward any particular resource. The Call Specialist will provide appropriate agencies, and relevant information, such as fees, location, services provided, availability of interpreters, etc. which might help the caller make such selections.

Services that have been operational for less than six months are determined on a case-by-case basis.

Whenever possible, the database will include organizations which represent a variety of viewpoints on any given issue in order to provide callers with a choice of options.

If complaints about an organization are made by callers, FirstLink will:

Inform the caller of the appropriate agency to handle the complaint.

If a significant number of similar and serious complaints are received about an organization, FirstLink reserves the right to remove the agency from the database.

Prior to removal, the Database and Resource Coordinator and/or management will track and investigate the complaint to determine the validity of the complaint.

Organizations deemed unlawful will be excluded from the database.

FirstLink’s Rights

FirstLink reserves the right to edit information to meet their format, guideline, and space requirements. FirstLink reserves the right to exclude an organization from the database whenever it deems necessary to retain quality service and to properly meet its mission; this includes deleting a service if they fail to update/verify their information on an annual basis after a multiple number of reasonable attempts have been made. FirstLink will strive to include as many nonprofit resources in the database as possible based on their awareness of the resource, and will include resources that meet the above criteria when inclusion is requested; however it should not be assumed that the database is a comprehensive list of all specialized organizations (i.e., government entities, faith communities, etc.).

Disclaimers:

Inclusion of an agency or organization does not imply endorsement by FirstLink, nor does exclusion imply non-endorsement. Information, accreditations, and certifications are self-reported by the service and not verified by FirstLink.