Opportunity Knocks!

Rochdale Boroughwide Housing (RBH) has added two new members of staff to its Money Matters Team - Sara Broome and Lisa Cavanagh.

Ms Broome is the Opportunity Knocks Project Manager and and Ms Cavanagh is the Administrator. Both were formerly employees of RoFTRA and are continuing their work on the Opportunity Knocks project with RBH.

Opportunity Knocks is a multi-agency project reaching out to all borough residents to provide information, advice and guidance in the community. It helps people break down barriers to allow them to look for jobs and/or get training.

Opportunity Knocks staff do this by going out onto Council estates and knocking on residents’ doors.

Parts of the Borough are classed as some of the most deprived areas in the country, with high unemployment and skill levels below the national average.

Ms Broome explains: “There are a lot of agencies out there to support residents in finding work and help them overcome any barriers such as lack of skills, language problems, disabilities or childcare for example. However, a lot of people don’t know these agencies exist or do not have the confidence to take up the help and support available to them. The Opportunity Knocks project overcomes these problems by bringing those services directly to residents’ doorsteps. Because we work with all the agencies in the borough, we are able to sort out a lot of issues “on the doorstep” quickly and effectively through a referral system.”