Digital Accessibility Progress Reports

• Q2 2024 Progress Report
• Q3 2024 Progress Report

Note

Because this is the city’s first progress report, this report recounts many prior efforts and city progress preceding this report. Future reports will recount only updates from the prior report.

Definitions

• “Digital Accessibility Law” refers to those statutory provisions adopted by HB 21-1110.
• “ICT” refers to information and communications technology, as defined in the Rules.
• “OIT” refers to the Governor’s Office of Information Technology, State of Colorado.
• “The Rules” refers to the Rules Establishing Technology Accessibility Standards, found in the Colorado Code of Regulations at 8 CCR 1501-11.
• “WCAG” refers to the most recent version of the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines, success criteria Levels A and AA.

Overview

The City believes its external-facing webpages are substantially compliant. Throughout 2023, the City engaged in a thoughtful process for evaluating its webpages and remedying accessibility issues. These efforts included retaining and utilizing third-party software designed to evaluate the City’s web pages and portals.

Furthermore, as of the date of this report, the City has provided various means for alternative and additional accommodation if persons have difficulty accessing, reading, or utilizing the City’s web pages. These include, among other things, eliminating barriers by adding digital accessibility content to the City’s ADA webpage and providing contact information on various pages for assistance.

While the Digital Accessibility Law provided funding to OIT, it did not provide funding to local governments. Accordingly, the City is working toward full compliance without an increase in resources. Financial constraints prevent an "all at once” conversion to full compliance of all the City’s ICT, but the City is reallocating staff time and planning future allocations to address the issues.

Compliance Progress

Since the passage of HB 21-1110, the City has undertaken substantial efforts to ensure its ICT is accessible. These efforts include, but are not limited to:

Accessibility Program Steering Committee (Leadership)

Beginning in 2023, City leadership has regularly met to discuss digital accessibility compliance. These meetings provide technical staff with support from senior leadership, including:

• Executive Sponsors: City Manager Nuria Rivera-Vandermyde, Director of Innovation & Technology Jennifer Douglas.
• Steering Committee: High-level individuals from departments including Finance, City Attorney’s Office, Communications, Innovation and Technology, City Manager’s Office, and Human Resources.

Identified Workstreams and Workstream Teams

The City formed 16 different workstreams to address specific digital accessibility issues. These workstreams include areas such as vendor compliance, website accessibility, high-impact platforms, and training.

Digital Software and Applications Accessibility Assessment Team

Since January 2024, the City has had a team that evaluates the software and applications provided by third-party vendors for compliance with digital accessibility requirements. The team meets weekly and includes members from the Department of Finance, Innovation & Technology, ADA Coordinator, Risk Manager, and City Attorney’s Office.

Digital Portfolio

Existing application inventories have been updated, with over 300 applications being tracked. Ongoing conversations with vendors are helping address compliance deficiencies.

Investment in Tools

The City has procured tools like Popetech and Siteimprove to assess compliance, and enhanced licenses for Microsoft Office and Adobe Acrobat Pro to help staff produce accessible documents.

Educational & Community Participation

Program staff have attended training sessions by OIT, Colorado Government Association of Information Technology, and others. These sessions occur regularly, with staff reporting back on best practices.

Citywide Communications/Meetings

Digital accessibility has been frequently discussed in all-employee townhall meetings. In November 2023, a meeting was dedicated entirely to digital accessibility, with senior leadership speaking on its importance.

Digital Accessibility Champions

The City initiated an "Accessibility Champions" program where major departments designate a champion trained on digital accessibility to promote compliance within their department.

City Training Courses

The City created internal training courses on digital accessibility. These include:

• General Awareness Training: Self-paced training on digital accessibility basics, completed by over 1,600 staff.
• Email and Document Training: Courses on Microsoft Office and PDF accessibility, with 239 employees completing the pilot program.
• Specialized Training: Role-specific training for web content and Geographic Information System (GIS) tools.

Contract Template Revisions

The City revised its IT contracts to include digital accessibility terms, ensuring vendors understand and comply with these requirements. Accessibility is also included in purchasing criteria.

Conclusion

The City is committed to fostering inclusion and will continue to improve its accessibility efforts, addressing current and future barriers to ensure operations are accessible to everyone.

Q3 Digital Accessibility Update

The City continues to move its information technology towards full accessibility. All ongoing activities set forth in the City’s first report (for Q2, published July 1, 2024), continue to apply. In Q3, we made significant progress in improving the city’s digital accessibility efforts:

• Phase I Completion: We have successfully completed Phase I of our digital accessibility program and are now transitioning into the operational phase.
• Vendor Compliance: We are actively working with vendors to ensure they meet accessibility standards. For those not yet fully compliant, we are collaborating with them to develop a roadmap toward compliance as part of the renewal process.
• New Hire: We hired and onboarded a full-time Digital Accessibility Program Manager. This role reflects our ongoing commitment to accessibility and required careful budgeting to implement. The Digital Accessibility Program Manager will serve as a thought-leader throughout the City on matters relating to accessibility, and will provide needed expertise to appropriately assess the City’s many information technology products.
• Product Assessments: We assessed 36 products for compliance in this quarter. We also updated contract language to include accessibility requirements during renewals whenever possible. Many of these assessments resulted in needed additional contract language or promises for improvements from vendors. In cases where products were not yet fully compliant, we are working with the vendors to help them meet our standards, ensuring they have a plan in place to achieve compliance.
• Employee Training: We created and conducted both mandatory and optional digital accessibility training for new and current employees. To date, more than 2,100 employees have the training for awareness and understanding of HB21-1110. The City continues to prioritize digital accessibility training for those employees in the positions to make the greatest impact.
• Accessible Forms: We are continuing to convert paper and PDF forms into fully accessible digital formats using Formstack. Between July 1 and September 30, we have created 36 forms to replace PDFs that did not meet accessibility standards.