Help Using Our Site

How to find programs quickly and narrow your results

You can search for programs by using keywords, browsing (service categories, target population, organiztaion or location), advanced searching, or resource guides.

The following tips are to help enhance your search results, and get you quickly to the programs you are looking for.

Tips

• How to narrow search results
• How to sort results
• How to find a program at a location like a school or community center
• How to see program locations on a map
• How to print search results
• How to run a more complex search
• How to find a set of services and resource information for a specific population, i.e. early childhood

How to narrow search results

You can narrow the number of results you get from any search by using the filters in the blue lefthand box on the search results page.

• Select the name of the service type to see only the results that fit your original search criteria and that servcice.
• Select the target population to narrow your results to programs targeting that population.
• Or select an area within a particular zip code to see only programs that are located in a particular zip code.

How to sort results

By using the drop-down menu on the top of the results section, you are able to sort results by:

• Program Name, this will sort the results alphabetically by program name
• Organization Name, this will sort the results alphabetically by the name of the organization
• Most Recent, this will sort programs by the date they were added or updated in the system

How to find a program at a location like a school or community center

From the homepage or the browse section, you can search programs by the location where the program takes place. To do this:

• Select Browse Locations
• Select the location type, for example “Community Center”
• This will pull up an alphabetical list of all community centers
• Simply click on the center name, like Charles W Gilchrist Center for Cultural Diversity, for a list of programs offered at that location.

How to see program locations on a map

You can view all locations of a program and get directions to a particular facility.

• Select the name of the program from the search results page.
• This will give you detailed information for the program.
• Select the tab marked Program Map.
• If you click on the number of a location on the map, you can get directions.
• You can always return to your the search results page by selecting the Back to Search Results button.

How to print search results

A pdf version of the search results, showing all programs is available.

• Select the link marked “Print Results” above the list of programs.
• Note, you may have to temporarily turn off your pop-up blocker to view the pdf.

How to run a more complex search

In order to find programs fitting a specific set of criteria, you can run an advance search by selecting the Advanced Search link located next to the keyword earch box or from Search in the main menu.

You can search here by any combination of the following fields:

• Program Name
• Organization Name
• Target Population (for example, adolescents, disabilities or autism)
• Service

• Either service keyword (such as after school, tutoring or counseling)
• Or service category, subcategory, ore specific service
  • For example, select Mental Health from service category will yield results for all terms in this category
  • Select a sub-category of Mental Health terms, such as Counseling Settings
  • Or select a specific service, such as Group Counseling
• Location of Program
  • Etiher search by region (such as, Up County)
  • Zip Code (like 20877) and the radius within which you’d like to search or
  • City (such as Gaithersburg)and the radius within which you’d like to search
• Language Available (you can select one or more langugage)

How to find a set of services and resource information for a specific population

We have created Resource Guides or mini-directories for different topic areas. Here you can search instantly for a set of services on a specific issue area or for a particular population. View a list of all current Resource Guides.

For example our Early Childhood and Education Page includes

• Important telephone numbers, such as ChildLink
• A directory of programs categorized by topic or population served, such as Prenatal Care or Parenting Classes for New Parents
• Community information including Featured Resources (like School Readiness Tools) and Useful Websites (like the Montgomery County Early Care and Education Congress)