To make pushamerica.org a section 508 compliant accessible Web site that is consistent with Push America's marketing efforts, is more efficiently organized and user intuitive, and is aesthetically pleasing while containing new features such as online donations, team member fund-raising assistance, and methods for promoting awareness for people with disabilities.
ACCESSIBLITY
The first part of the goal was to make our Web site accessible for people of
all abilities. This Web site was designed in accordance with Web Accessibility
standards (WWW Consortium's Web Content Accessibility Guidelines) and in compliance
with Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act (The Federal Electronic and Information
Technology Accessibility and Compliance Act).
Specifically, this Web site was designed with people with disabilities in mind. By following the standards listed above, we hope to assure this Web site may be viewed and operated by any and all visitors by whatever method they choose, be that through a standards compliant web browser or assistive technology such as screen readers or refreshable Braille displays.
CONSISTENCY
When looking at our marketing efforts and the people we support, we identified
Push America’s image as one of simplicity and integrity to our mission.
Push America exists to enhance the quality of life for people with disabilities
while providing life enriching service opportunities for Pi Kappa Phi. This
Web site was designed to accurately portray the image of Push America and always
keep our core values at the forefront of everything we do.
EFFICIENTLY ORGANIZED
When organizing this Web site a number of different questions came up: What
is Push America? How does Push America provide support to Pi Kappa Phi and people
with disabilities? How can people support our efforts and become actively involved?
What are the main programs Push America offers? How can our Web site support
growth of the organization furthering our mission? How can our Web site effectively
communiucate our message to a broad audience? Upon examining these questions
and the answers to them, we discovered a foundation on which to build and better
organize pushamerica.org. The organization of pushamerica.org is separated into
six different sections: Who We Are, How We Help, Get Involved, Events,
Donate, and Media.
To help you better understand the new pushamerica.org you will find below some detail as to what is in each section and where you can find information you may be seeking. You will also read about some of the new features now available.
WHO WE ARE
In this section you will find information on the history, evolution, and current
news of Push America. This section was intended to be for the general user to
gain a better understanding of exactly what Push America is and does.
HOW WE HELP
This section was created to provide a better understanding of how Push America
supports its mission. From construction to cycling and service leadership to
grants, you can find funding opportunities and learn more on all of the programs
that Push America offers to Pi Kappa Phi.
GET INVOLVED
Keeping with our approach to simplicity, we developed this section to do exactly
what it says. Pi Kappa Phi chapters across the country can utilize this section
as a resource to promote Push America’s mission and spread a message of
accepatance and understanding for people with disabilities natiowide. Undergraduates
have asked for more resources and with the redesign, we have kept that in mind
and are making strides to meet their needs. Chapters will also be able to communicate
and read about their Push America activities through pushamerica.org and the
News & Updates section.
Volunteers can find out what the needs of Push America are and how they can become actively involved and support our mission in their community. People can become more aware and have a better understanding of the issues faced by people with disabilities.
We also are striving to actively engage the 1,000 plus members of Push America’s Pi Alpha Society (Pi Kappa Phis who have participated in a team event).
EVENTS
Push America organizes many different events year round to support its mission.
This section highlights the different events, upcoming events and provides registration
capabilities for interested individuals. While most of the events are open only
to Pi Kappa Phis, the Ride to Read is a community event in which anyone can
become a participant.
The section is also home to Push America’s Team Events, Build America, Gear Up Florida and the Journey of Hope. Taking place every summer, you can follow Push America’s teams across the United States, find out how you can become involved in supporting the teams, and find out how you can join a team.
A new feature available to Push America’s team members is the access to their very own personal Web site profile pages. Push America’s team members will now have the ability to create a personal profile, send e-mails to potential donors, and track their fund-raising progress all through pushamerica.org. The objective of this feature is to provide team members with new convenient technology that will save them time and money while raising funds for Push America.
DONATE
Point. Click. Give. It is really that easy! In an effort to increase convenience
of giving, individuals can now donate to Push America by utilizing our secure
online system. When individuals donate online, a greater part of every dollar
goes toward our mission. If you have yet to give to Push America this year,
you can now conveniently do it before year end (December 31) at pushamerica.org
and save on checks and stamps.
MEDIA
To spread a message of acceptance and understanding for people with disabilities,
we recognize the media’s important role of informing the public. With
this section, we can communicate our news and activities specifically to the
media. We also have a page dedicated to informing the media on guidelines for
writing about disability and accurately portraying people with disabilities
in the news. Media kits will be available for download giving the media the
convenience of accessing accurate information to meet their reporting deadlines.
We hope you will find the new pushamerica.org to be a very informative and useful site and if you have any questions feel free to call us at 704-504-2400.
