More than 100 people across North Lincolnshire have been supported to boost their skills, secure a job or pursue further education, thanks to an innovative project.
Participants attended a celebration event last month at Café Indie in Scunthorpe, to recognise their achievements after completing the Building Better Opportunities programme.
During the project, learners benefited from one-to-one support to identify and address barriers to their progress, including mental health care, occupation-specific training, mock interviews and more.
The programme has been a resounding success, with 83 per cent of participants seeking or securing employment or taking up further education.
Michelle Munslow, Building Better Opportunities Manager at Humber Learning Consortium, said:
“This is a brilliant scheme that has transformed people’s lives. I would like to congratulate all the learners on their amazing achievements.
“Building Better Opportunities is all about sitting down with someone, understanding their skill set and personal situation and working with them to develop a personalised action plan.
“What form this takes is unique to each person – it could be that a lack of English is holding them back from securing a job – we will help them to join English language classes. Someone may have a skill in sewing garments – we will pay for sewing machines that enable them to support their family.
“The common thread is helping people to overcome the barriers they may face so that they can move into work and education on their own terms.”
Craig receiving his award at the Building Better Opportunities celebration event
Craig is just one of the participants who’s life has been transformed through the project. He said:
“When I first joined the programme I was in a bad place and couldn’t get myself out of the house. The team have been great with me. My key worker got me out walking every week and slowly my confidence started to build.
“After a while, they told me about some volunteering work with the council’s parks and green spaces team. I wasn’t a big gardener but I gave it a go, helping in the sensory garden at Sheffield Park. I thought ‘I’m enjoying this.’
“A few months later a permanent job came up in the team. Having never had a job or interview before I was really nervous about applying but my key worker guided me through the application form and even practised mock interviews with me.
“I was over the moon when I found out I was successful. Being part of this programme has completely changed my life.”
Building Better Opportunities is a partnership project organised by the Humber Learning Consortium, supported by North Lincolnshire Council and funded by the European Social Fund and The National Lottery Community Fund.
For free employment support, including CV writing, practice interviews and help accessing training contact Action Station North Lincolnshire today by emailing: action.station@northlincs.gov.uk or calling: 01724 296969.
