ACCESSIBILITY STATEMENT.
Effective date: June 12, 2026 | Last updated: June 12, 2026
UGLY Start Outreach is committed to making our website accessible to everyone, including people with disabilities. We believe every person who wants to learn about our work, support our mission, or connect with our programs should be able to do so without barriers.
1. Our commitment
We aim to ensure that uglystart.org conforms to the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1, Level AA — the internationally recognized standard for web accessibility. These guidelines cover a range of recommendations to make web content more accessible to people with visual, auditory, cognitive, and motor impairments.
2. What we're doing
We work toward accessibility through the following practices:
Using clear, plain language throughout the site
Providing sufficient color contrast between text and backgrounds
Ensuring interactive elements such as buttons and links are keyboard-navigable
Using descriptive labels and alt text for images and form fields
Designing forms to be usable with screen readers and assistive technologies
Reviewing the site periodically to identify and address accessibility issues
3. Known limitations
We are a small nonprofit organization and may not have the resources to immediately address every accessibility issue. Some third-party content embedded on our site (such as payment processing pages through Stripe) is controlled by those providers and may have their own accessibility standards. We encourage third-party providers to maintain accessible platforms and will seek alternatives when feasible.
4. How to contact us about accessibility
If you experience a barrier on our website — or if content is not accessible to you in any way — we want to know. Please contact us and we will do our best to provide the information or assistance you need in an alternative format.
When reaching out, please describe the nature of the accessibility issue, the page or section of the site where you encountered it, and (if relevant) the assistive technology you were using.
We will respond to accessibility concerns within 5 business days.
5. Formal complaints
If you are not satisfied with our response to an accessibility concern, you may contact the U.S. Department of Justice Civil Rights Division or file a complaint with the U.S. Access Board (access-board.gov) if you believe our site does not meet applicable accessibility requirements.
6. Updates to this statement
We review and update this Accessibility Statement periodically as we improve our site. The date at the top of this page reflects the most recent update.
7. Contact
UGLY Start Outreach
Gastonia, North Carolina