Case Study
ArcStone provided The Doe Fund with accessibility compliance and backend modernization while preserving their existing design.
The Doe Fund is a national nonprofit organization that provides paid work, housing, and training to people with histories of homelessness, incarceration, and substance abuse. Through their signature “Men in Blue” workforce development program and supportive housing initiatives, The Doe Fund operates evidence-based programs that combine immediate employment opportunities with long-term skill building, helping participants develop both practical abilities and personal stability needed for sustained success.
Serving thousands of individuals annually across multiple states, The Doe Fund’s comprehensive approach includes job training, housing assistance, substance abuse treatment, mental health support, and financial literacy education. The organization needed a digital platform that could effectively communicate their complex programming to diverse audiences while ensuring that all users—including those with disabilities—could access critical information about life-changing services and opportunities.
Our Role
- WordPress Backend Modernization (Kadence Migration)
- Accessibility Compliance Fixes (WCAG Standards)
- Technical Infrastructure Updates
- Staff Training & Support
- Performance Optimization
- Content Management Improvement
The Challenge:
The Doe Fund’s existing WordPress website had critical accessibility compliance issues that needed immediate attention to ensure equal access for all community members, including individuals with disabilities who represent a significant portion of those experiencing homelessness. The platform also suffered from backend usability problems that made content management difficult for staff, creating inefficiencies that diverted resources from direct service delivery. Additionally, outdated technical infrastructure posed ongoing maintenance challenges and security vulnerabilities.
While ArcStone recommended a complete redesign to maximize accessibility and user experience improvements, The Doe Fund chose to preserve their existing visual design to maintain brand consistency and avoid disrupting stakeholder familiarity. This decision required a surgical approach that would address critical compliance and usability issues without compromising the visual identity their community had come to recognize, while achieving meaningful improvements within budget constraints that allowed maximum resources to support direct services.
Our Approach
ArcStone implemented a focused technical improvement project that addressed critical accessibility issues while modernizing the backend editing experience. We conducted a comprehensive accessibility audit and remediated key WCAG compliance gaps, including navigation contrast problems, heading structure issues that interfered with screen reader navigation, and zoom responsiveness problems. The technical approach prioritized the most impactful improvements that would provide immediate compliance benefits while establishing a foundation for ongoing accessibility maintenance.
The modernization process included migrating the site to Kadence block-based editing, dramatically improving the content management experience while maintaining the existing visual design. This backend upgrade eliminated technical debt and provided intuitive editing tools that reduced the time and expertise required for content updates. We also implemented PHP environment updates to ensure security and performance stability, protecting both organizational data and user experience for community members accessing services.
Throughout the project, we provided comprehensive staff training on proper content structuring and accessibility best practices, ensuring the organization could maintain compliance standards independently. This education component empowered staff to create accessible content consistently while understanding how content choices impact users with disabilities. The training emphasized practical, sustainable workflows that aligned with The Doe Fund’s operational constraints while supporting their commitment to serving all community members effectively.
Reviewing The Results
The Doe Fund now operates a website that maintains their familiar visual identity while meeting critical accessibility compliance standards and providing improved backend management capabilities. The accessibility improvements have eliminated barriers that previously prevented individuals with disabilities from accessing information about employment opportunities, housing programs, and supportive services, ensuring the digital platform serves the full diversity of people who could benefit from programming. Recent trends show positive digital performance with 22% growth in organic traffic and 77% increase in organic keywords, suggesting that technical foundation improvements are now supporting better search visibility and user engagement.
The modernized editing experience has streamlined content management workflows, reducing technical expertise required for staff to maintain current program information. This efficiency improvement allows more staff time to focus on direct service delivery while improved content structure helps ensure critical information about employment opportunities and support services remains current and accessible to community members who need them most. The strategic increase in quality backlinks (+79%) and referring domains (+42%) indicates growing digital authority and community recognition, providing a strong foundation for future digital growth.
77% More
Keywords
Expanded to 1,288 organic keywords, increasing visibility for workforce development services.
79% More
Quality Backlinks
Strategic increase in backlinks from 8.1K to 14.5K, building digital authority.
22% Recent Growth
Organic traffic trending upward with 22% growth, demonstrating strong digital foundation.