Date: October 8, 2024
During the third quarter of 2024, SIPA made significant progress toward ensuring equitable access to all Coloradans, in accordance with Colorado’s legislative requirements (HB21-1100 and HB24-1454). SIPA continues to prioritize, evaluate, remediate, and improve every digital touchpoint within our services, programs, and activities to provide equal access to information and services for all Coloradans.
SIPA created an Accessibility Planning Tool to identify and categorize areas for reviews, remediation, and ongoing improvement. The Accessibility Planning Tool is a flexible tool SIPA can leverage to integrate accessibility holistically throughout our culture and processes. The Tool is structured to help SIPA ensure our website is accessible to all users, including those with disabilities. This framework also allows us to report, measure, and track the progress and growth of our website accessibility.
Progress has been made within each of the five focus areas included in the tool, as outlined below:
Evaluation
An initial inventory of technology (including all internal and external facing websites) was created to be prioritized for testing. Testing is currently underway.
An accessibility roadmap was created, including timeline, goals, roles, responsibilities and policies as needed for SIPA’s organization.
Training
Several members of SIPA’s team have participated in virtual and in-person training sessions and are encouraged to participate in continued trainings as they become available.
Communication & Effort
SIPA created the Accessibility Statement, which is prominently posted on our website. SIPA has provided contact information and support for receiving accessibility feedback and accommodations requests.
Governance
SIPA updated the Accessibility Statement and Accessibility Request Form to ensure both are inclusive of industry best practices.
SIPA is in the process of hiring a Digital Accessibility Specialist. This role will play a crucial role in ensuring that SIPA’s digital content is accessible to all users, including those with disabilities. SIPA intends to hire a candidate with extensive experience with WCAG 2.1+ Levels A and AA standards and the remediation of various digital properties, including websites, applications, systems, document repositories, and intranets. SIPA has interviewed several qualified candidates and is in the final phases of interviews.
SIPA has developed an accessibility plan and strategy for immediate remediation action and a long-term plan.
SIPA reviews its internal policies on a rolling annual basis. Each policy will be reviewed with a focus on Accessibility and updated accordingly. Since July 1, 2024, one policy has been reviewed and approved. Three other policies are currently under review.
Procurement
SIPA has procured services and software to assist in remediation activities and training. SIPA has updated the language within our Master Services Agreements and other contract documents to address accessibility compliance with our suppliers. SIPA is currently reviewing and updating our Contract Management policy.
Going forward, SIPA will focus on continued testing and remediation, training of SIPA team members to promote a culture of accessibility, and regularly updating the Accessibility Planning Tool to ensure alignment with emerging standards and technologies and compliance with Colorado’s legislative requirements.
This Report summarizes SIPA’s continued progress and will be updated quarterly through July 2025.