Capella University x The Women's Economic Council - Improving Website Accessibility

The Company

The Women's Economic Council (WEC) is a not-for-profit organization that is committed to helping Canadian women, especially marginalized women and those at risk of poverty, achieve their economic goals.

The Institution

Melissa Zgola is the faculty chair of Capella University's Department of Technology in Minneapolis, USA. This project was worked on by graduate level informations technology learners.

The Challenge

A recent website audit found that WEC's website could improve their accessibility for those with visual and auditory impairments. WEC was looking for a cost-efficient way to address these website issues, as quotes from IT professionals were found to be out of their budget as a not-for-profit organization. Melissa's IT Graduate learners happened to be learning Django and were tasked with assisting in implementing these accessibility upgrades.

The Outcome

Over 5 months, learners succeeded in improving the website’s accessibility and the team also delivering a report on how to sustain the website and troubleshoot in the future. The learners even offered to stay on with WEC as volunteers to support their efforts.

“Some of the suggestions and tools that they [the learners] gave us as an option to further support the organization were really spot on." Serah Gazali, Women's Economic Council Co-Manager

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