reference
The numbers worth knowing before you need them
Four short numbers cover almost everything, and knowing which is which saves the worst ten minutes of someone’s year.
Short answer
In Fargo–Moorhead: 911 for danger, injury, fire, or a crime in progress on both sides of the river. 988 for a suicide or mental-health crisis, by call or text. 211 for food, housing, utilities, and referral. 511 for road conditions and closures, run separately by North Dakota and Minnesota.
Save them now, not later
The moment you need one of these is the moment you are least able to research it. Put them in your phone tonight, and put roadside assistance in there too while you are at it.
Where Help Me sits
Nowhere on this list. Help Me is everyday, non-emergency neighbor help. If your situation belongs to any number above, use the number. That is the entire point of publishing this page on a help app’s website.
The list
Danger, injury, fire, or a crime in progress. Works in Fargo, West Fargo, Cass County, Moorhead, Dilworth, and Clay County. Stay on the line and give a location a dispatcher can use.
2. 988 — suicide and crisis lifeline
Call or text for a mental-health or substance-use crisis, or when you are worried about someone else. Veterans press 1.
3. 211 — information and referral
Free and confidential help finding food, housing, utility assistance, and health services. North Dakota and Minnesota operate separate services.
State traveler information for closures and no-travel advisories. Check the state whose roads you are driving before a winter trip.
Fargo, West Fargo, and Moorhead each run their own department and non-emergency line for reports that are not in progress.
NDSU, MSUM, and Concordia each have their own public safety office for incidents on campus property.
Questions people actually ask
Does 911 work the same in both states?
Yes. 911 works on both sides of the Red River. Almost every other service follows the state and county you are in.
What if I am not sure it is an emergency?
Call 911 anyway. Dispatchers would rather sort it out than lose time.
Keep going
resources
Official help, listed on purpose
Police, 911, 211, campus safety, food, shelter, and county services in Fargo, Moorhead, and West Fargo. Help Me is not these pages.
safety
Help Me is not 911
Help Me is for everyday, non-emergency help in Fargo–Moorhead. If you are in danger, call 911. Here is how to tell the difference.
emergency
Emergencies: 911, then the right local desk
Call 911 in Fargo, West Fargo, Moorhead, and Dilworth. Campus police and 211 are next. Help Me is not emergency response.
211
211 in North Dakota — FirstLink
Dial 211 in North Dakota for food, shelter, heat, and referrals. FirstLink answers 211 at myfirstlink.org or 701-235-7335. Not Help Me.
crisis
Mental health help — official crisis lines, not a neighbor chat
Mental-health crisis in Fargo–Moorhead: 988, 911 if in danger, FirstLink, campus counseling. Help Me is not a crisis line or a therapist.
answer
Is Help Me an emergency service?
No. Help Me is not 911, campus police, or dispatch. For danger, injury, fire, or a crime in progress, call 911 in both North Dakota and Minnesota.
Help Me is a community app for adults in Fargo–Moorhead. It is not a K–12 student program, not a youth chat, and not campus police.