A scheme to help people manage their money better and access employment opportunities has recruited seven local ambassadors to help reach people in the community struggling to seek support.
Better Off Finance offers Liverpool City Region residents who are currently unemployed a bespoke programme of support which will be provided at a local community venue, or at home if a participant prefers.
Each participant will be linked up with their own key worker who will support them to improve their financial capability through managing money and progressing into training or education opportunities to allow them to become work ready.
This is achieved through one-to-one support and group work.
To help this, Better Off Finance has appointed seven ambassadors who have all been through the Better Off Finance support scheme themselves.
This enables them to share their own experience, while giving them the tools to go into the community and represent the work the scheme is doing across the Liverpool City Region.
Speaking about the support the scheme was able to offer him, ambassador Michael Pope said: “This support helped me so much, when I didn’t have an income.
“I’m joining the ambassador scheme to spread the word about the support so people can benefit from it.”
Fellow ambassador, Nick Cliffe from St Helens, explained: “Having a key worker for a year was very helpful at a difficult time in my life.
“I’m becoming an ambassador so that I can promote the project that helped me and advise people in my local area who are struggling with financial worries.”
And Jodie Hill, another of the ambassadors, added: “I went to Citizens Advice overwhelmed with my debt. Once I received support I felt more in control of my finances.
“I’m looking forward to giving people the same encouragement I got and getting the word out about the programme.”
Better Off Finance launched in 2017, as a £2.4m programme funded by Building Better Opportunities via the European Social Fund and The National Lottery Community Fund.
It is delivered by a range of partners, including Citizens Advice and RAISE, an independent charity providing free advice and training around welfare benefits, debt, and money management issues, with Liverpool-based social enterprise The Women’s Organisation as the lead agency.
Since its launch the programme smashed its target of supporting more than 1,000 individuals and was extended by the Building Better Opportunities fund for a further two years.
Jo Mountfort, Better Off Finance programme manager, said: “We are absolutely delighted to be building on the successes of the project and launching this ambassador scheme.
“The feedback we had from some of the clients from the Better Off Finance programme is that they felt empowered and fired up to help spread the word of the project out in their communities.
“This scheme will help us steer and guide them to be able to do this in a supported way.”
She added: “The fact that they have walked in the shoes of their peers means that they really understand the needs, and we can’t wait to see how things develop.”
Better Off Finance support is available to people who are unemployed in the Liverpool City Region.
For more information on the programme contact the team on 0151 706 8111 or at hello@thewo.org.uk
