Young multilingual learners are a diverse group who are too often underserved and overlooked by the education system in California. In 2019, six foundations collaborated to create the Emerging Bilingual Collaborative (EBC) to tackle this challenge. Their goal is to ensure that young multilingual learners obtain high-quality education in environments that support them.
As a young initiative, EBC did not have a website to share who they are, what they stand for, or easily share information and resources. In addition, they envisioned a home base that could bring grantees together and provide networking opportunities for the many organizations and efforts they fund.
Can a website help grantees meaningfully learn from each other’s work?
VIVA took a three phase approach to supporting the EBC's first significant investment in its communications:
Phase 1: Discovery
In March 2023, EBC began by filling out a creative brief, answering questions about the tone, audience, content, and goals for their website. At the beginning of a communications project, a creative brief helps to organize all of the ideas and history surrounding the work. Together, VIVA and EBC build out the vision for their online hub.
Phase 2: Planning
Next, we set out to synthesize all of their work into a perfect look and message. We crafted a site map, outlining the site structure and key messages and a high-level content overview for each page.
EBC wanted their grantees to feel like they were in community, and they needed a website that facilitated them all getting to know each other. The messaging, tone, and content was all focused on encouraging grantees to collaborate and get to know the other people supporting California’s multilingual learners.
Phase 3: Content and Website Design
We designed the website on squarespace, to ensure that site maintenance would be intuitive so that the EBC team can focus more energy on what they do best. After a quick lesson on squarespace, the EBC was equipped with the tools they needed to strengthen their community, connect their grantees, and continue serving California’s diverse learners.
www.emergingbilingualcollaborative.org