Alliance of Local Service OrganizationsCommunity & Human Services · Website Design

Safer homes and streets in Chicago

ALSO’s rebuilt website finally shows what the organization has always known: that community violence and domestic violence are connected, and so is the work to end them.

Services

Website Design & DevelopmentUX DesignOngoing Maintenance

Launch

November 2025

Key deliverables

30-page custom rebuild · dedicated Impact page · interactive “Communities We Serve” map · filterable events & trainings calendar · volunteer application

About ALSO: ALSO, the Alliance of Local Service Organizations, works to end violence in Chicago through an approach that is intensely local and nationally recognized: street outreach and community violence intervention, domestic violence services, and support that helps people clear old records and move forward with their lives, alongside national training and technical assistance.

Alliance of Local Service Organizations website design by Elevation

Alliance of Local Service Organizations website interior page design

Alliance of Local Service Organizations website section design

The story

The Challenge

ALSO’s website was very old, and it flattened a layered organization into a wall of text. Key national programs, like the Underserved Technical Assistance Project and community outreach intervention work, were buried; there was no page that showed results; and the four audiences the site needed to reach (individual donors, private and government funders, peer organizations, and the Chicago public) all landed in the same undifferentiated experience. For an organization whose credibility rests on outcomes, the invisibility of impact was the biggest cost.

Our Approach

We created a custom WordPress theme for ALSO featuring a variety of critical page templates: a dedicated Impact template that puts results up front, a Community Violence & Street Outreach template that explains the model, and an Our Story template that connects the domestic-violence roots to the citywide work. An interactive Communities We Serve map grounds the mission geographically; a filterable calendar organizes events and trainings for practitioners and neighbors alike; a 20-field volunteer application and QGiv-embedded donations turn interest into action. A thorough UX analysis uncovered four distinct user personas, ensuring that everyone from funders to neighbors find their path.

Why It Worked

Organizations that do many connected things often ship websites that feel like many disconnected ones. The fix was structural: name the connection (violence prevention, in all its forms), show the evidence (the Impact page), and give each audience a door. The complexity became the story instead of the obstacle.

The Results

Visible

ALSO’s impact finally has a home: a dedicated page built to show results, not just describe programs

Surfaced

Flagship national programs surfaced instead of buried

Four doors

Clear pathways for donors, funders, partners, and community members

Maintainable

A WordPress platform with ongoing support behind it

Alliance of Local Service Organizations website spread designed by Elevation

Alliance of Local Service Organizations website detail design

The connection, made visible.

Community violence and domestic violence are connected — and so is the work to end them. The rebuilt site names that connection in its structure, from the Our Story template linking ALSO’s domestic-violence roots to its citywide work, to the Communities We Serve map grounding the mission in Chicago’s neighborhoods.