Naples, FL (November 5, 2020) – The Naples Children & Education Foundation (NCEF), founders of the Naples Winter Wine Festival, in partnership with the Community Foundation of Collier County and Richard M. Schulze Family Foundation, today announced the “soft launch” of a specially designed application to serve the community’s most vulnerable populations.
Collier CARES (Community Application for Resources and Emergency Services) is a free and bilingual mobile and web application designed for the purpose of connecting people in need with critical resources and services available in Collier County. In the first phase, only the website is available: https://colliercares.org/cc/home
Collier Cares App home screen
Over the past year, NCEF convened community leaders, stakeholders and service providers to identify the critical needs of the local community, which influenced the design of Collier CARES. The goal of Collier CARES is to connect families immediately with relevant resources and services to meet their needs.
“NCEF is proud to partner with our fellow community leaders, stakeholders and service providers in Collier County to ensure that no family is without access to help when in need,” said NCEF Chief Executive Officer Maria Jimenez-Lara. “This program is especially important as our community continues to deal with the economic and physical impacts of the global health crisis.”
Providers will list their services, including the location, hours of operation and key elements of their service, on Collier CARES, ensuring information is accurate and updated in real time. Families in need will then be able to search for services based on 12 categories, including Education, Food, Benefits, Jobs, Crisis, Mental Health, Health/Wellness, Shelter/Housing, Transit, Legal, Substance Abuse and More.
To be listed on the app, organizations must meet certain eligibility requirements as follows:
- Accepting Non-profits, For-profits and Government Agencies
- Non-profits must be a registered 501(c)3 organization with a federal EIN
- Non-profits must have an active listing in the Community Foundation of Collier County’s Nonprofit Directory
- Must provide services in Collier County, Florida
- Must provide services at no cost or on a sliding scale
- Medical providers must accept state subsidized health insurance
The Collier Cares App is available for Android and iOS.
For additional information on how to onboard your organization onto Collier CARES, please visit colliercares.org or email admin@colliercares.org.