Advancing Women Professionals and the Jewish Community (AWP) is a national non-profit whose mission is to advance women into leadership positions in Jewish life; stimulate new models for shared leadership; and promote policies that lead to healthy, effective workplaces. As a catalyst, watchdog, innovator and agitator for over a decade, AWP has moved the needle on gender equity and, in the process, built a powerful network of allies and advocates.
AWP plans to close its doors as a formal organization in 2015, believing that its impact could be better sustained by shifting the responsibility for gender equity to its growing network. On the cusp of this major re-structuring, AWP turned to Cabengo, it’s long-term strategic advisor, to help define a digital strategy to support this next chapter of innovation and growth.
Cabengo worked closely with AWP’s leadership team to develop a digital strategy to support AWP’s transition. We recognized that, as AWP made the shift from organization to network, its digital life would become increasingly important. We began by understanding the needs of target users, researching the competitive landscape, developing the conceptual model, and defining measurable objectives.
The new site needed to help AWP re-position itself as a network of change agents; support and grow current initiatives; embed AWP’s intellectual and social capital into existing organizations; leverage AWPs networks; and broaden the impact of AWP’s work. On a practical level, the site needed to be easy for AWP’s lean, non-technical staff to maintain, and built with portability in mind.
We then helped  craft the narrative, define the content strategy, and design the user experience. We created a site architecture and information flow that transformed AWP’s own organizational narrative into a change model that others could adapt for their own use. We showed examples of progress and provided the tools and resources for individuals and organizations to take up the mantle. We introduced the real people who participate in AWP initiatives and created opportunities through social media for dialogue and engagement. And finally, through architecture, interaction design and editorial direction, we helped to position AWPs work as a model for women’s advancement and work place transformation in American society at large.
Cabengo designed and built AWP’s first website in 2006, an eternity in internet time. Check out the original site.