Accessibility Statement

Our commitment

CodeNOW NYC is committed to making civic software accessible to everyone, regardless of ability. Accessibility is a core part of building software for New York City's nonprofits, agencies, and residents — public services should be usable by the public. We design, build, and test this site with that goal in mind.

Conformance status

We aim to conform to the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1 at Level AA. These guidelines explain how to make web content more accessible to people with a wide range of disabilities, including visual, auditory, motor, and cognitive impairments. We treat AA conformance as our baseline, not our ceiling.

Measures we take

To keep this site accessible, we:

• Run automated accessibility checks (axe-core) against the interface as part of our test suite
• Use semantic HTML, ARIA landmarks, and descriptive labels so assistive technology can navigate the page
• Maintain visible keyboard focus and ensure interactive elements are reachable and operable by keyboard alone
• Provide text alternatives for meaningful images and icons, and mark decorative graphics as hidden from assistive technology
• Design for sufficient color contrast and avoid conveying information by color alone
• Respect reduced-motion preferences and avoid content that flashes or auto-plays

Compatibility

This site is designed to work with current versions of major browsers (Chrome, Firefox, Safari, and Edge) and common assistive technologies, including screen readers such as VoiceOver, NVDA, and JAWS. It is responsive and intended to be usable at a range of screen sizes and zoom levels.

Known limitations

Despite our efforts, some content may not yet be fully accessible. The collaborative whiteboard and certain data visualizations rely on interactions that can be difficult to convey through assistive technology, and we are actively working to improve them. If you encounter a barrier, please tell us — your report helps us prioritize fixes.

Feedback and contact

We welcome your feedback on the accessibility of CodeNOW NYC. If you encounter an accessibility barrier, or need information on this site provided in a different format, please contact CodeNOW Support at [email protected]. We aim to respond within a reasonable timeframe and will work with you to provide the information or service you need.

Formal complaints

If you contact us about an accessibility issue and are not satisfied with our response, you may escalate the matter through the relevant accessibility-enforcement channels for public-facing services in your jurisdiction. We take all accessibility concerns seriously and treat them as defects to be fixed.