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Untangling the Web for Canadian Forces Families

Imagine you’re a military spouse who knows your family will be posted to a new location soon. You’re looking for some help setting up your family in a new location, and you’ve heard that a Military Family Resource Centre (MFRC) is a good place to start. So, you type “MFRC” into Google, and what do you get? A whopping 52 300 hits for different websites, with no clear place to begin.

The Chief Military Personnel and Director Military Family Services (DMFS) are committed to taking that mind-boggling number of websites and making them more sensible to families. DMFS is developing a common look and feel template to be used for all Canadian/MFRC websites to make them more identifiable and easier to navigate. All family members will be able to go to a single point of entry on the web, which will be a recognizable starting point.  From there they can learn about available military services and connect with the C/MFRC that they need information on.   

The common look and feel project was one of the main items for discussion at the MFSP Marketing Advisory Committee meetings held 7 and 8 April 2009 in Montréal. Although not the primary role of the committee, their insight served as an excellent starting point for the development of options on the new web template for use by C/MFRCs.  

“Raising awareness with families is key,” said Gaynor Jackson, Esquimalt MFRC Executive Director. “Not all families are going to need a C/MFRC, but they need to know how to find us if they do.”

As site visitors select any C/MFRC location, they will see the same website template used for all locations. The template will provide a common colour palette, top banner and left navigation bar to give families a sense of consistency and familiarity as they move from centre to centre.

The committee stressed that although the template will make structural and organizational changes to C/MFRC websites, the sites will continue to be populated with locally produced content. Centres will be able to tailor the left navigation items for the “second click” level to provide the clearest path for accessing their specific local programming information.

“Coming from a small centre, this is really great,” said Michelle Greene, St. John’s MFRC Executive Director. “We’re going to get a better website that’s easier for families to find, and for us to use.”

The Chief Military Personnel has tasked DMFS to roll out the new web template for all C/MFRCs commencing 1 September 2009. DMFS intends to pilot the new look and feel template with a variety of centres, some of whom may currently be in the process of a web update. C/MFRCs who are currently in the process of a major look and feel update should contact their Field Operations Manager to discuss the opportunity to join the new web template pilot when it begins.

DMFS will update C/MFRCs as work on the common look and feel template progresses, so check back with us for more information.