Nonprofit upgrades communication tool for hearing-impaired children

CHS.jpgHOUSTON, April 18, 2011 – The Center for Hearing and Speech, the only full-service resource in Houston that teaches children with hearing loss to speak rather than use sign language, says its news website, www.centerhearingandspeech.org, is getting results that exceed expectations. Developed by Schipul – The Web Marketing Co. (www.schipul.com), the organization’s new website makes it easy for visitors to discover the services they are looking for while projecting a positive, friendly image.

In Houston, more than 133,000 children have a hearing impairment. As the region’s central resource for pediatric hearing loss and oral communication, The Center for Hearing and Speech serves 2,500 children annually from 185 different ZIP Codes.

“We have so much to offer that it can get complicated pretty fast, so our goal was to present a lot of information in a way that was not overwhelming, and to highlight the happy faces of the children and families we serve,” said Renée Davis, executive director with The Center for Hearing and Speech. “The Schipul team really understood what we wanted to accomplish and the results speak for themselves.”

Schipul used the open source Drupal content management platform to power the new website, which makes it easy for the Center’s staff to add and edit content themselves without going through a third party. This makes the site more dynamic, encourages repeat visits and encourages people to get involved. The Center credits its new website for helping to significantly increase participation in recent events, such as the Houston Via Colori® street painting festival, which is one of the organization’s major fundraisers.

The new website makes fundraising easy as well, with highly visible “Donation” buttons that give visitors the ability to securely submit a monetary donation online and charge it to their credit card. Additionally, the new website integrates the Center’s social media activities on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube, which offers a more 3-dimensional connection between the organization and the communities it serves.

Schipul’s Drupal Site Design packages include installation, module enhancements, Drupal upgrades and custom Drupal themes. Schipul’s customizable line of Drupal-powered websites extends and complements the Tendenci® online management software it develops and markets.

About Schipul - The Web Marketing Company

Schipul – The Web Marketing Company developed and builds on the Tendenci Web marketing application, a powerful online tool with over a half million people logging in during the past year and millions of users overall. Schipul is headquartered in Houston with an office in Silicon Valley, and provides marketing services on the Internet to more than 300 organizations from a variety of service industries in local, national and international markets. Schipul’s clients include the Houston Zoo, Housing Authority of the City of Los Angeles and Plasma Cars, among many others. Additional information about Schipul is available at www.schipul.com and www.tendenci.com.