A front door worthy of Upper Manhattan’s Esperanza
After years with a site leadership hesitated to touch, Esperanza Center got a bilingual, video-forward website that turns visitors into applicants, donors, and neighbors.
The story
The Challenge
Esperanza Center’s site was old and outdated, and for a long time leadership had been hesitant to change anything. When the organization was ready, the wish list was practical and human: bring the community to life with video instead of static pages, make it effortless to reach the Center from anywhere on the site, let job seekers apply directly (with applications landing straight in HR’s inbox), and move donations off PayPal to a smoother Stripe experience.
Our Approach
We built the site around three user journeys — neighbors seeking programs, job seekers, and supporters — with UX personas guiding a 12-page bilingual structure. Video became a first-class design element rather than an afterthought, a streamlined gallery replaced sprawling photo pages with one strong image per program, and a persistent “sticky” contact button keeps help one tap away on every page. A custom job application form routes submissions directly to HR, and Stripe-powered donations replaced PayPal.
Why It Worked
Community organizations win on trust, and trust is built in small frictions removed: the button that’s always there, the application that actually reaches a person, the page that speaks your language. The new site sweats those details so the Center’s people can focus on the neighborhood.
The Results
An experience that reflects the community the Center serves
Employment applications flowing directly to HR: the website as a hiring channel
A modernized giving flow on Stripe
Contact within reach from every page, and a video-forward design that shows the mission instead of describing it
Room to tell the story continuously.
Beyond the redesign, a new blog, team bios, testimonials, and a sponsor listing give the Center space to keep its story current in English and Spanish, with Google Maps directions for the neighbors who want to walk in.
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