Groundbreaking online support directory for the Liverpool City Region is unveiled

08/03/2011

A NEW on-line directory providing a vital network of support for people in the Liverpool City Region will be officially launched this week.

MySignpost.org, which has been described as a ‘practitioner’s little black book’, is a one-stop shop featuring the details of nearly 3,000 services across more than 70 different categories, from out of school clubs to finance and debt support, and apprenticeship schemes to housing services.

The MySignpost website is the first practitioner resource of its kind in the region and it is hoped the concept may be replicated in other areas across the country.

The website includes a dedicated forum where practitioners can network, ask questions and share knowledge.

Employers and the wider community can also utilise the site, searching by theme or geographically to locate a wide range of services which span all aspects of work, learning and life.

The website will be officially launched at an event at St George’s Hall in Liverpool on Friday 11 March.

MySignpost was commissioned by the City Employment Strategy as a direct response to requests for a centralised directory of the training, employment and guidance opportunities available to the 1.5 million people who live across the six local authorities of Liverpool, Knowsley, Halton, Wirral, Sefton and St Helens.

Sue Jarvis, Service Director at Knowsley Council and Lead officer for the City Region Employment and Skills Partnership, has played an instrumental role in the project and said: “MySignpost is a revolutionary new on-line resource which will allow organisations and employment and skills practitioners throughout the Liverpool City Region to access up-to-date information on a range of support services to help people back into work at the click of a mouse.

Ultimately, this website will help to support more people back into work.” 

Mysignpost.org has also been commended by Chris Grayling, Government Minister for Employment, who said: “The MySignpost project is exactly the kind of initiative organisations should be involved in and I am sure it will prove to be very successful." 

Kim Griffiths, Head of Employment Services at Liverpool City Council, said: “MySignpost is a free directory of opportunities for practitioners across the Liverpool City Region - it is essentially every practitioners little black book.

It gives advisers all of the information they need across the six local authorities, so that ultimately clients have the best choice.”

Margaret Wilson, a practitioner at The Liverpool Jobs, Education and Training (JET) Service, added: “The MySignpost website is an effective way of promoting our services and keeping up to date with the all of the latest projects, training and initiatives available across the City Region, which in turn benefits our customers. I have found organisations I didn’t know existed and made some really useful contacts.”

John McDonald of Greengrape Solutions, the Liverpool-based consultancy commissioned to produce the directory, said: “MySignpost is the result of an extensive mapping exercise setting out which agencies are delivering what, to whom, and where and there is no other directory of this kind in the Northwest. We have had excellent feedback to date and we will be hosting a series of launch events across the Liverpool City Region in the early part of this year to showcase the features of the website.”

Visit the website www.mysignpost.org to find out details of events in your area.

Watch a video about MySignpost at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HGqBcA7rzaw

previous article next article