Last year the world saw a social movement sweep the streets as people of all colors and creeds joined long standing Black Lives Matter activists to protest the horrific deaths of George Floyd, Brianna Taylor, Elijah McCain, and unfortunately so many more names of people who were killed as a direct result of racism in our culture, police force, and society. This movement spurned a whole new lexicon for dissecting our references to what has been historically “othered” in this country, and shedding light on the imbalance of privilege in the US.
There is no doubt that we at Culture Foundry felt the impact of this movement and a need to “do something now.” You can read about that in our CEO Hans Bjordahl’s blog post “Proclamation to Destination: Our Road from Black Lives Matter to Action”. The blog post you are currently reading is about the results of those efforts to turn conviction to action.
One thing we felt we could do was work to help the digital presence of a group or organization who needed that, but likely wouldn’t be able to otherwise afford our services. We have a history of working in the world of nonprofits, offering nonprofit discounts, and seeking clients who align with our core values as a company.
We were introduced to NNiRR, the National Network for Immigrant and Refugee Rights, via our awesome developer Zach Turner. NNiRR has worked to advocate, change, expand, and defend the rights of immigrants and refugees, regardless of immigration status, since 1986. From seeking justice for immigrants detained in the border, to speaking out against harmful border militarization and policies, the Network fights hard to stand up for those who are so often unheard and without representation due to fear or prejudice.
One of the most important needs for the NNiRR team was their frustration with their outdated CMS, which was not allowing them the ability to edit and create pages that would catch the eye. They were spending too much time fighting with a website, which was taking away from fighting for the cause they stand behind.
Our solution was simple: Get them an eye catching website, with easy editor capabilities, that would allow them to create and make pages with a combination of drag-and-drop tools, our custom design system, and a navigational reorganization.
NNiRR brought with them their own connections for creating the beautiful site you now see! Favianna Rodriguez, an incredible artist who draws inspiration from her background as a cultural organizer and social justice activist, lent her talents to NNiRR to utilize her gorgeous and inspirational art that you see throughout the site. The bright and vibrant colors fill the pages, and set the color palette for a website that you want to click through just to see more!
Under the hood, the NNiRR site now runs on WordPress, backed with the powerful Elementor tool, allowing them to quickly and easily edit and create pages on their site, tag and categorize news items, and dynamically add content and media. Gone are the constrained pagesand misconfigured URLs, and in their place now stands a site that doesn’t distract from the work that they are doing in the world. We hope the new site will support their work via its easy-to-find resources and information, mobile responsive designs and better organized menu content.
We are honored to be able to give back and hand over a website that will allow this organization to continue to do their important work with a new digital presence!