Anatomy of a Statewide Website

Successful Models from

Across the Network

LSC TIG Conference

January 2007

Road Map

I. Where we’ve been -- and how far we’ve come Legal aid online The role of technology in delivering services

II. The SWEB landscape today

III. Successful models from around the network Content development and maintenance Marketing and outreach Integrating with delivery systems Capacity-building and sustainability

IV. What’s next?

Where we’ve been

In 1996…

World Wide Web, as we know it now, was barely 6 years old

Only ~10 legal aid organizations in the country had websites

Source: Ten Years on the Web, by Becky Levine, Allison McDermott and Hugh Calkins, Summer 2006 Management Information Exchange

Legal aid online circa 1996

Source: Internet Archive WayBack Machine

In 1996…

Pro Bono Net did not yet exist as an organization

Technology Initiative Grant (TIG) program had not been formed

Only about 25% of Americans had ever used the Internet (Source: Pew Internet and the American Life Project)

The term digital divide was coined in the mid-1990's

The idea that legal services clients might use the web was viewed skeptically at best.

Source: Ten Years on the Web, by Becky Levine, Allison McDermott and Hugh Calkins, Summer 2006 Management Information Exchange

Harris, R.M. & Dewdney, P. (1994). Barriers to information: how formal help systems fail battered women. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press.

“Frustrations of Ping-Ponging”

Efforts to obtain services for a client took a caseworker to 41 agencies and required 35 hours

Fast forward to 2006

In 2006…

An estimated 77% of Americans use the Internet 53% of Americans earning less than $30,000 use the

Internet (the fastest growing segment of users) Low income people tend to use Internet for self-

betterment (jobs, school) and expanding networks and information.

Source: Pew Internet and the American Life Project

Where are we today?

LSC TIG funding has supported 53 states and territories in developing statewide websites from Maine to Micronesia, from Florida to Alaska.

52 live sites for the public 6 live public sites in non- English languages 28 live sites for advocates 17 live sites with content for pro bono attorneys

Where are we today? In 2006, the LawHelp consumer sites (the

national site, together with individual state and program sites) received more than 2.7 million visits, a 32 percent increase over 2004. Lawyer and advocate support sites received more than 1.6 million visits

In 2005 OST public and advocate sites had a total of 2,728,122 visits a 42% increase over 2004.

Where are we today?Views about the potential of technology are changing…

“I believe this technology has greater potential to improve the efficiency and quality of our attorneys than anything I have seen since legal services got computers.”

- Longtime Legal Services Attorney in

West Virginia

Progress towards statewide website goals One tech platform supports all programs in each state Statewide collaboration by all major access-to-justice

players in each state Create pathway that millions of low-income people can

use to find help with legal problems Support networks of legal aid advocates Expand use of private attorneys – full representation Aggregate and share content statewide Platform for rolling out future innovations

What works?

Successful models from around the network

Content development and maintenance Marketing and outreach Integrating with delivery systemsCapacity-building and sustainability

What challenges remain?

ContentWhat is the best strategy you’ve employed to…

Keep content on your site current? Find new sources of content for your site? Identify individuals or organizations to assist with content

development or maintenance? Get people invested in content development? Develop mechanisms to keep content contributors accountable to

the process?

What is the biggest challenge you face in keeping content on your site current or developing new content?

Content models from the network Use "adopt a publication" program for advocates

(resources adopted when advocate is hired).

Make the upkeep/development of content for the websites part of the job description for new advocates.

Start small, concentrate on doing one area well. Logroll that for the next area.

Content models from the network Align yourself with the training activites and task

forces in your state. Capture any content they generate.

Content maintenance plan and protocols are key, but treat them as "living" documents.

Partner with law librarians to develop and maintain content as part of doing their own professional education credits.

Marketing and OutreachWhat is the best strategy you’ve employed to…

Market your statewide website to clients and/or advocates? Market your statewide website to community orgs? Leverage existing networks / supports to help promote your

message? E.g. staff and stakeholders Integrate website marketing and outreach with overall program

marketing efforts? Do more with less?

What is the biggest challenge you face in marketing your website?

Marketing and outreach models from the network Use press releases not just when you launch – use them

strategically to promote major developments (e.g. launch of a new content area, when you receive funding or achieve a major milestone.)

Same goes for listservs - NAPBCO, LSTech, Brennan Center, local state listservs, LawHelp, CTC, Digital Divide, etc.

Develop an e-mail list -- use it to send “What’s New’ and other updates regularly.

Pitch stories or op-eds to local media at opportune times (tie-ins with national news stories, events, etc.)

Integrating with delivery systemsWhat is the best strategy/tactic you’ve employed to...

Help your program or A2J community view the statewide website as a core component of the delivery system (e.g. hotlines, intake systems, direct representation)?

Promote website tools to help support of service delivery? Get staff trained and involved in using the website? Strengthen relationships with existing content/marketing/staffing

partners, or reach out to new partners?

What is the biggest challenge you face in the website being viewed as a core component of the delivery system?

Integration with delivery systems What are the goals of your program? What tools do you use in your service delivery model to

reach those goals? Hotline Intake System (Centralized, state-wide, program specific) Brief Services Client and Public Education Direct Representation by Staff Attorneys Direct Representation by Pro Bono Attorneys

Where can the website improve your exisitng tools? What people / partnerships can help you get there?

Capacity-building and sustainabilityWhat is the best strategy/tactic you’ve employed to…

Strengthen relationships with existing content, marketing or staffing partners? Introduce new partners to the project and get buy-in? Identify and communicate what your statewide website needs (in terms of

funding, staffing, etc.) to be sustainable – and grow? Communicate the value of your statewide website project? Make the case for sustainability within your program or to external decision-

makers? Identify new sources of funding for your website?

What is the biggest challenge you face in terms of website sustainability?

Capacity-building and sustainability models Develop a partnership strategy for each major A2J

constituent (courts, bar, libraries, other?) Know (or assess) the costs of your statewide website

program. Take advantage of partnering and marketing support

built into templates – branding partner content, creating partner “channels” or topics (e.g. courts or consumer)

Look for “niche” funding – targeted opportunities around content or marketing

Integrate tools that will be used in as many parts of the delivery system as possible, e.g. doc assembly.

Thank you! Questions?