FCC

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) assigned 2-1-1 on July 21, 2000, stating:
"We find that the Information & Referral Petitioners have demonstrated sufficient public benefits to justify use of a scarce public resource and we therefore assign 211 to be used for access to community information and referral services."

For the full FCC assignment of 2-1-1:
http://ftp.fcc.gov/Bureaus/Common_Carrier/Orders/2000/fcc00256.doc

For the news released issued by the FCC on July 21, 2000
http://ftp.fcc.gov/Bureaus/Common_Carrier/News_Releases/2000/nrcc0036.html

For the FCC Fact Sheet:
http://www.fcc.gov/cgb/consumerfacts/211.html