New Site Helps Military Families Find Autism Resources for Their Kids
Moving is an unavoidable part of military life, and service families often find it challenging to rebuild their lives in new communities. Those challenges are intensified when a family has a child with autism.
Recognizing this hurdle, the Organization for Autism Research (OAR) sought OmniStudio’s assistance in designing a microsite to provide targeted information and a resource directory for military families with autistic children.
Dubbed Operation Autism (www.operationautismonline.org), the microsite—a separate but related site to OAR’s main Web site (www.researchautism.org)—required a unique look and feel, and had to cater specifically to the needs of military families.
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| OAR’s Operation Autism microsite helps military families find resources for their children with autism. |
“The Operation Autism site was a little bit more focused than our own site, because we were looking to reach parents of children with autism in the military community,” said Mike Maloney, executive director at OAR. “We wanted to take the autism information we developed over time in our own Web site and research guides, and target them toward military families and make them relevant to them.”
Omni had designed OAR’s main site in 2006, and it was a natural extension of its work to tackle Operation Autism. “Rather than change into something it’s not, OAR wanted to fill a niche that it and other organizations hadn’t yet—providing access to autism information for military families,” said Jim Jacobs, Omni’s vice president of Interactive.
“Omni designed a user-friendly resource directory that allows military families to easily search for, identify, and learn about schools and other resources around military duty stations,” said Russell Chettiar, Omni’s senior Web producer.
In addition to the resource directory, the site includes standard tools and functionality that Omni builds into all its Web sites, such as a blog, a news section, general contact forms, and Google analytics for tracking traffic to the site.
Originally, OAR planned to release a book of resources for military families touched by autism and create a small Web site to promote the book. But the project has evolved, and the site, which is in a soft-launch phase in anticipation of the book’s release, has become a valued resource on its own.
Omni One of Region’s Top 25 Design Firms
For the third year in a row, the Washington Business Journal, the Washington region’s leading business publication, named OmniStudio one of the area’s “Top 25″ graphic design companies in its Jan. 22, 2010 issue.
The Washington Business Journal recently featured Omni’s ReachOut pro bono project in its Good Works section. They recognized Omni for our communications and design work for D.C. charity New Futures, which provides scholarships to at-risk youth and young adults seeking financial self-sufficiency through post-secondary education.
Omni Brings Back its Brown Bag Lunch Series!
Omni is pleased to present the first three workshops in its 2010 Brown Bag Lunch Series. This series is an exciting venue for professionals to increase their knowledge about common and not-so-common communications, interactive and design issues.
Best of all, these sessions are free! You bring lunch, and we’ll supply drinks.
Our spring seminars, held from 12:30 – 1:30 PM, include:
| Social Media 101
Harness the power of social media with a better understanding of Facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube and Twitter. Designed for social media novices, we’ll explore the most popular social networking sites and address how you can use social media sites to publicize your nonprofit’s activities and position your organization in the social media sphere. |
Friday, March 19 | |
| From Tweets to E-blasts, Tell Your Story Briefly but Powerfully
With e-communications, you only have a few moments to catch your audience’s attention. How do you stand out from the crowd? Make your message short. Make it powerful. Whether you’re writing e-blasts or e-newsletters, learn to write with brevity and authority in this hands-on workshop. Bring your paper and pen! |
Friday, April 23 | |
| Understanding Content Management Systems and How to Choose One
Finding the right content management system (CMS) for your organization is critical, and Omni’s interactive experts will share their insights into selecting a superior CMS. We’ll focus on two highly regarded CMS products—Drupal and WordPress—while outlining the key decisions clients must make before selecting a new CMS. |
Friday, May 14 |
For more information, or to RSVP for a class, please email ekessler@omnistudio.com. There is limited seating, so it’s first come, first served.
Need More Information?
If you have any questions about what OmniStudio can do for you, write to Eileen Kessler at ekessler@omnistudio.com. Thank you for your suggestions, comments and continued interest!
