Irvington Community Association Steps Up Web Redesign
The Irvington Community Association (ICA) is moving forward with its website redesign project. I attended the latest Board meeting (10/13/2011), where the Board continued its support of the project, which will combine the existing ICA website with the Irvington Home Tour (IHT) website. The old sites were largely volunteer-created sites; their dated design, slow operation, and fragility signaled their death knell. The new site will be designed and coded by professionals, but most of the content will be provided by volunteers (much like my website). It will provide timely/material information on the neighborhood, community interest stories, and a calendar of community-based events. The estimated cost will be $20,000 over several years.
Board members, Brian Schaeperkoetter (ICA Secretary) and Barbara Christopher (ICA Director), will lead the charge on the project, which should take a few months. In preparation, they held several community-wide “visioning” meetings to determine what people want in the website. They prioritized the “wish list” and will hire a web design/implementation team. In addition, they will work closely with the IHT Board to integrate marketing, blogging, and e-commerce elements into the site. This will allow the IHT a better platform from which to operate. Hopefully, the new site will be operable in time for the 2012 Irvington Home Tour.
The ICA operates on grants, charitable giving, and fundraising events. The ICA generally receives a few thousand dollars in grants each year. The Charitable Giving position is currently vacant, so the ICA is looking to fill that chair (hint, hint). The Home Tour is the main fundraising event of the year with more than $30,000 net revenue in 2011.
The ICA allocates a large portion of those funds to a variety of community capital improvements (including park projects) and provides grants to non-profits and schools that are located in (or serve) Irvington. Public schools that meet the criteria are Irvington, Sabin, Alameda, Beverly Cleary (Hollyrood/Fernwood), and Grant. The new website will have information for non-profits and schools who want to apply for grants from the ICA.
There is a lot of work ahead for the redesign team, but I’m confident that Brian and Barbara will handle this job very well. They’ve both been involved in web design (either personally or professionally) and have the support of the ICA and IHT Boards. That’s a great combination for the new website. Best of luck, Brian and Barbara.
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