Connecting with Community
- Lori Gagen
- Jan 31
- 3 min read
Since the Community Learning Center (CLC) opened in Kendallville a few years ago, I have enjoyed opportunities to be a programmer, collaborator, and champion of their work, thanks to the various "hats I have worn" during that time.
The CLC has grown and matured, thanks to the unified efforts of the board, staff, and many dedicated programmers and supported partners connecting the community. As a witness to their journey, and because I have been a service provider to some of those programmers and partners, I have to assume the CLC's decision to work with Catchy Creations LLC for a website refresh was an easy one.
The CLC had a few specific goals in mind with the new website launch:
Rid the (WordPress) site of some bugs.
Keep the site simple and clean.
Maintain the same navigation where possible, so as not to confuse frequent site users.
Make it easy for staff to make content updates in-house.
Feature the AM Strauss Theatre, and other in-house venues.
Create spaces to add additional content to expand the usefulness of the site.
Automate communication tools.
With objectives in mind, I began from scratch to create a new layout in Wix Studio, an editor that allows full control over responsiveness to ensure sites work well on any device and screen size. The first step was to duplicate the existing site navigation (menu) to ensure the original links would not change. The old site had some layout challenges that I also addressed with a more uniform layout throughout. A few pops of animation added a litte more interest, too.
As I built out the site, knowledge of my client's work was tremendously helpful to determine which elements needed to be incorporated into Wix's Content Management System (CMS), a database that allows clients to fully control text, images, links, and more without risking changes to design. The CLC's new site has 21 different data "collections" that the staff at the CLC can maintain as simply as they would enter data into a spreadsheet. This means that as changes in staff, board members, rental spaces, programmers, hours, rate sheets, and more come about, content can be updated without paying a designer to make a change.
Wix is a robust development platform that also provides many integrations with other tech that are commonly used, including Constant Contact. By using the integration tools, the CLC's new "Subscribe" form automatically updates their Constant Contact database to ensure new subscribers will receive intended e-Newsletters. We also added an automation to ensure they receive notifications of any new blog posts published.
The blog, as well as expanded descriptions of dedicated partners, a Contact Us form, and other new elements set the CLC up to build their audience and stay connected going forward. They even took advantage of a new domain, amstrausstheatre.com, connected to their new site to help grow the audience for live performances in their historic auditorium.
The new CLC website is also made to better serve those with accessibility challenges. A free version of the UserWay widget was added and the site was audited to help meet accessibility design standards. This means making sure images have alternative text, colors and contrasts are appropriate, headers are in order for navigating by "Tab" and more. The widget can also be enabled or disabled on the site.
It became apparent very quickly how important engagement is for the community that uses the CLC. Within the first week of launch, 19 new users subscribed to receive e-Newsletters! The CLC is a wonderful community asset that serves all ages and abilities, making it a personal joy to be a part of. From start to finish, this site launch took only about three weeks.
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