Overview
For over two decades, the Philadelphia Association of Community Development Corporations (PACDC) has led the charge for equitable neighborhood investment across the city. But their legacy website was holding them back it was brittle, difficult to maintain, and broke almost every time staff made a routine update.
Worse, it failed to reflect the massive real-world impact PACDC creates in local communities every day. PACDC partnered with Everyday Web to build a modern, high-performing WordPress website that is easy for internal staff to manage safely and proudly showcases their neighborhood advocacy across Philadelphia.
Problem
PACDC relied on an aging, technically fragile website that created constant internal fear of breaking page layouts during routine edits, while a cluttered structure made it difficult for community members and CDC partners to access critical policy and resource updates.
The problem included:
- Brittle & Risky CMS Infrastructure: Fragile custom code meant simple content edits caused layout breaks, discouraging staff from keeping the site updated.
- Unintuitive Navigation: A complex, outdated site architecture frustrated stakeholders trying to locate resources, events, and policy updates.
- Inefficient Job Board Management: Publishing dynamic community job listings required tedious manual work and constant developer troubleshooting.
These technical hurdles hindered effective communication, burdened internal staff with unnecessary operational friction, and diminished PACDC’s ability to showcase its neighborhood impact effectively.
Approach
Everyday Web re-architected PACDC’s web infrastructure on a modernized WordPress foundation, pairing modular content guardrails with a streamlined navigation system to empower staff and elevate stakeholder engagement.
The solution included:
- Familiar WordPress Foundation: Kept the platform on WordPress to leverage existing team knowledge, ensuring a seamless handoff and minimal training.
- Custom Post Types (CPTs) for Jobs: Created a dedicated CPT for job listings, making it effortless for staff to publish and manage career opportunities without breaking page layouts.
- Empowered Content Management: Replaced brittle custom code with modular layout tools and guardrails, giving staff full confidence to update pages independently.
By upgrading the core infrastructure while retaining familiar admin workflows, Everyday Web delivered a fully accessible, mobile-responsive platform that completely eliminated technical fragility.
Outcome
The modern WordPress rebuild transformed PACDC’s site into a fast, reliable, and accessible digital hub for Philadelphia’s community development ecosystem.
With robust CPT workflows and modular editing guardrails in place, internal staff can now publish dynamic content, share policy news, and manage job listings instantly with total confidence.
The results were immediate and measurable:
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PACDC now possesses a modern, accessible web platform that elevates its visual brand and effectively serves CDC members, partners, and neighborhood stakeholders across Philadelphia.
Before vs After
The Difference Everyday Web Makes
Legacy Web Infrastructure
- Brittle custom code causing layout breaks
- Confusing navigation for partners and members
- Slow, risky publishing for community job listings
- Outdated branding that failed to reflect impact
Modernized WordPress Platform
- Safe, modular editing guardrails for staff
- Intuitive, streamlined site architecture
- Automated Custom Post Types for job listings
- Modernized branding and full mobile accessibility