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HUD’s Web Clinics
Help Partners Build Web Sites That Work
by Candi Harrison,
HUD Web Manager
HUD’s
new Web Clinics for HUD Partners are helping to build the infrastructure
for electronic government. HUD - like many federal agencies - delivers
most of its services via nonprofits, public housing agencies, state
and local governments, and other entities. So, to meet the goal
of electronic government, HUD’s Web Team is out teaching those
partners how to create web sites that deliver the services HUD funds.
The goal: use HUD’s web site to tell citizens about HUD-funded
services and then link them to the service, provided through the
partners’ web sites.
The Web Clinics
address 5 basic topics.
- "What
can you do with the web?" uses HUD’s experiences
- including some of the ups and downs they encountered - to show
how public service organizations can use the web to meet the needs
of citizens;
- "Managing
your web site" goes over some common sense do’s
and don’ts for organizing a web site;
- "Marketing
your web site" offers low cost and no cost ideas for
getting the word out about a web site;
- "Creating
your web site" goes right to the heart of the effort
- it takes participants through a simple 10-step process to develop
the content of their web sites; and
- "Tips
and Tricks for Low-Cost Web Sites" tells them how to
get all their technical support for free.
Since February,
HUD’s Web Team has trained 300 people representing 245 organizations,
including 65 nonprofits, faith-based groups, and educational institutions;
72 PHAs and housing organizations; 33 government entities; and 75
other community groups and organizations. Evaluations speak for
themselves:
- "You
pulled the curtain away from Oz and made the web and website design
much easier." - Maricopa County Housing Department
- "A
nuts and bolts cookbook approach to designing a website - this
was great!" - Memphis Family Shelter
- "The
session went far beyond my expectations. Shows how modern government
agencies are and the move to focus on customers/citizens" - Interfaith
Housing Center (Chicago)
- "After
the workshop, I remarked to everyone how impressed I was...HUD
has morphed from monolithic bureaucracy to this great user friendly
entity. It seems the e-culture has really been very important
- if not key - to the change." - Safenet (Pittsburgh)
- "I
have had the web project on my plate for 8 months...(I didn’t)
know where to start...but after attending this clinic, I am literally
chomping at the bit to get back to my desk and get started."
- Cuyahogo Metropolitan Housing Authority
The Clinics
are just the beginning of HUD’s web partnership with these
groups. They can visit a chat room on HUD’s web site, just
for Web Clinic alumni. There, they can share successes, critique
one another’s web sites, or pose questions to HUD’s Web
Team. A companion software is being developed for Web Clinic participants
that will cue them through the steps to build the content of their
web sites and, at the end, create a very simple web site for them.
HUD’s
Web Clinics are paving the way for seamless citizen services, via
the internet. For a list of upcoming Web Clinics, visit: http://www.hud.gov/webclinic.html.
About the
Author
Candi Harrison
is Web Manager for the Department of Housing and Urban Development
in Washington, DC. You may reach her at (202) 708-1547 or Candis_B._Harrison@hud.gov.
July 2000
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