Redesign · Go-Live

Launch Status Board

Week of Sat Aug 15 – Sun Aug 23, 2026 · updated Sun 6:15 PM

Where every launch workstream stands right now. Compiled from WordPress page activity, the #development daily async standup, and #general. Nobody is asked to file a separate report.

Target Sep 1, 2026 Countdown 9 days All 20 pages built Content on track Live site untouched

⚠ Cutover rehearsal on the sandbox · Aug 23 — five findings

A full cutover was rehearsed on sandbox.wevise.org, a clone of the Aug 22 production snapshot. Production was not modified. One of the five findings would have broken the Sep 1 launch.

Launch blocker — the new footer will not render. Footer template #4296 “Footer 2026 (redesign)” has _elementor_template_type = wp-page rather than footer. The elementor_library_type taxonomy reads footer and drives the library UI, so footer template #4296 appears under Footers and accepts display conditions; the meta drives which document Elementor uses for the footer location, so the conditions are set, valid and inert. Flipping the shell on the sandbox produced the new header and no new footer, with every check appearing correct. wp post meta update 4296 _elementor_template_type footer plus a clear of Elementor’s transients and element cache fixed the footer on the sandbox — diagnosis and fix both verified. Still outstanding on production. Zoe · before Aug 28.
The “Login” nav item points at a host being retired. Menu #23 links to https://app.wevise.org/login, and Jon confirmed Aug 23 that app.wevise.org is retired at launch — so the new navigation ships a dead link on every page from day one. Needs a destination decision, not just a deletion. Zoe + Jon.
Two apparent duplicates in the new navigation. Of menu #23’s 16 items, “About Us” appears twice with both entries pointing at page #664, and “Donate” and “Donor” both point at page #3853. Plausibly a deliberate top-level-plus-dropdown pattern, so this is flagged rather than asserted as a defect. Zoe to confirm.
Coaching Corner is 4.96 MB of Elementor JSON. _elementor_data on the Coaching Corner draft (#4378, transplanting into #2719) measures 4,959,796 bytes against roughly 20 KB for the other fifteen transplanted pages. Valid JSON, so weight rather than corruption — almost certainly images base64-encoded into the layout instead of referenced from the media library, and parsed on every uncached render on a 1 GB instance with no page caching. Not a launch blocker. Chris, whose page it is, with Zoe.
The homepage and About Us use the same image. Reported by Jon on Aug 23 on seeing the rehearsed site. A content issue rather than a configuration one, and on Zoe’s pages — reported rather than edited, per the standing rule. Zoe.

Open

Launch blocker — fix _elementor_template_type on footer template #4296 on production

Zoe · before Aug 28 · meta reads wp-page, so the new footer cannot render; fix verified on the sandbox Aug 23

Decide where the navigation’s “Login” item should point

Zoe + Jon · before Aug 28 · app.wevise.org is retired at launch, so menu #23 ships a dead link on every page

Confirm the duplicate entries in menu #23 — “About Us” twice, and “Donate” plus “Donor”

Zoe · before Aug 28 · may be a deliberate top-level-plus-dropdown pattern; flagged, not asserted

Homepage and About Us use the same image

Zoe · before Aug 28 · reported by Jon Aug 23; content issue, reported rather than edited

Coaching Corner (#4378) carries 4.96 MB of Elementor JSON

Chris + Zoe · not a launch blocker · valid JSON, so weight not corruption — likely base64 images that belong in the media library

Retag the stale Lightsail clone (35.165.10.6) — both boxes currently read “production”

Jon · Aug 25 · misleading names are an incident hazard

Re-render the rebuilt Support Chicago TechPath band on both Donate pages

Jon · due Aug 25 · uses the same light color token that caused the invisible heading on Our Stories

Decide the site-wide link color — body links at 2.93:1

Jon · due Aug 25 · theme-level setting, affects every page including outside the launch

Heading-order cleanup on six remaining pages

Jon · Aug 28 · card titles two levels below their section

Alt text for media-library images the new site uses

Jon · Aug 28 · 386 of 431 lack it; most heroes are decorative so exposure is small

Tap targets 1px under the 24px minimum

Jon · Aug 28 · one line-height adjustment fixes the set

Verify Volunteer page content with HR

Jon + HR · due Aug 25 · blocking Zoe · the last outstanding content item

Confirm remaining page content so Zoe can implement

Content owners · blocking implementation

Assign Chris’s scope on the redesign

Jon + Zoe · before the Aug 28 port

Planned

Keyboard focus outlines + mobile menu — now testable on the sandbox

Jon + Zoe · before Aug 28 · both live in the new shell, which the sandbox now runs — these no longer have to wait for launch day. Still unverified

Full QA + regression review of all 20 drafts

Jon · tonight, after the team logs off · independent of Zoe's own rundown

Port pages to live URLs + publish net-new pages

Zoe · Aug 28

Set up 301 redirects (Redirection plugin)

Zoe · Aug 28

Full QA sweep — links, forms, mobile, a11y, analytics

Zoe + team · Aug 28

Go live — activate shell, swap nav, smoke test

Zoe · Sep 1

Post-launch monitoring — CTAs, donations, broken links

Zoe + Ross · Sep 1–30

In progress

Page-by-page rundown against the Design Preview + content list

Zoe · started Aug 21 · her own pass to catch anything outstanding before the port

Volunteer (#4376) — design polish while content is pending

Zoe · edited Aug 21, 1:41 PM · content still blocked

Coaching Corner (#4378) build

Chris · edited Aug 19 and Aug 20

Completed this week

Both Givebutter giving forms aligned — same six tiers ascending, with descriptions

Jon · Aug 23 · verified against the live embeds · campaigns kept separate so Chicago gifts stay designated

Donate — Chicago TechPath: missing icons added to the Annual Report and Privacy Policy boxes

Jon · Aug 22 · this was the unattributed revision; both Donate pages are now parallel

Zoe: eight pages worked Saturday morning — incl. rebuilding the Our Stories newsletter section

Zoe · Aug 22, 8:58–10:26 AM · DPI, Our Stories, Code Your Dreams, Our Team, Blacks in Technology, Volunteer, Contact, Donate

Contrast method corrected — the Aug 22 “invisible band” was a false positive

Jon · Aug 23 · Elementor draws overlays as a pseudo-element the probe could not see; all pages re-measured and clean

Instance-level rollback created — production snapshotted for the first time ever, automatic snapshots enabled

Jon · Aug 22 · the production instance had never been snapshotted; until today, losing it meant rebuilding from nothing

Header logo enlarged — verified rendering at 240×53, all artwork

Jon · Aug 22 · was 180×66 with only ~34px of visible mark

Header logo enlarged — file was 49% padding; cropped tight and set to 240px

Jon · Aug 22 · visible mark ~55% larger, header no taller · needs an eyeball

Board roster confirmed current — Cyrus Kazi withdrew Mar 6, 2026

Jon · Aug 22 · the seven directors listed are correct; no page change

Zoe: seven pages polished late Fri — Our Stories, DPI, Our Team, Blacks in Technology, Donate, Northwestern, Code Your Dreams

Zoe · Aug 21, 6:54–11:23 PM · reads as responsive/rebrand polish; awaiting her standup to confirm

QA sweep of all 20 drafts — clean; and none of Friday’s accessibility fixes were overwritten

Jon · Aug 22 · no placeholders, no retired stats or signup links, editorial rules hold

WCAG 2.1 AA + responsive audit of all 20 drafts — 9 contrast fixes, homepage heading order, zero overflow at 375/768

Jon · Aug 21 · found two invisible-text bugs (countdown 1.10:1, Stories heading 1.09:1) · report

Our Stories blog page implemented; remaining new pages polished to the rebrand design

Zoe · Aug 21 · per her standup — the rebrand build pass is essentially complete

Donate “Impact & outcomes” card reworded — the “Coming soon” promise is gone

Jon · Aug 21 · outcome data is further out than the label implied; new copy states the reporting standard instead of a timeline

Donate — Chicago TechPath (#4370) brought level with the main Donate draft

Jon · Aug 21 · the clone had been missed by the Aug 20 transparency work: Annual Report + 990 now linked, Impact card reworded

Final 2025 Annual Report posted — Donate button relinked; homepage 78.7% label now carries the “excluding the legacy obligation” qualifier

Jon · Aug 21 · headline stats unchanged from the prior version; edits verified in page data

Chicago TechPath CTA corrected — “Be part of the first cohort” → “Be part of the Chicago cohort”

Jon · Aug 20 · the recruiting cohort is no longer the first; verified in draft #4316

Styling polish republished on six built pages — button font mismatch fixed, Join the Alliance box now displays properly on mobile

Zoe · Aug 20 afternoon · the 4 partner pages, Our Stories, Volunteer

Mentor video dropped — testimonials carry the page

Aruna + Ashley · Aug 20 · verified: no video embed left in draft #4312

Get Mentorship rebuild verified complete

Jon · Aug 20 · persona cards + "What to expect" in the page data; no leftover placeholders

wevise.org outage — diagnosed and recovered in 40 minutes

Ravi · Aug 20, 1:15–1:55 PM · origin refused connections; fixed by rebooting the Lightsail instance

Our Stories false alerts explained — detector now checks revision history

Jon · Aug 20 · timestamp bumps without a new revision no longer count as edits

Chicago TechPath — Cohort 1 evidence closed out

Jon · Aug 20 · mentor testimonial published; no quantitative outcomes claimed

Mentor + mentee testimonials placed on three pages

Jon · Aug 20 · Homepage, Become a Mentor, Chicago TechPath

Homepage impact stats replaced with audited figures

Jon · Aug 20 · 32 / 28 / 100% / 78.7%

Signup CTAs repointed to Airtable — re-audited, 2 misses fixed

Jon · Aug 20 · Get Mentorship was still on the old flow; 0 of 20 pages now

Signup link switched to Airtable intake (PLAT-263)

Zoe · Aug 18

Donate — Annual Report + 990 linked, transparency complete

Zoe · Aug 18

Our Team (#4328) — roster and photos finalised

Jon + Ross · Aug 17

Homepage copy signed off

Aruna · Aug 19

Change monitoring rebuilt on a clean machine

Jon · Aug 20 · pending-change ledger added

⚠ Blocked right now

Each of these has someone waiting on someone else.

Volunteer page content — now the last content blocker, owned by Jon + HR, due Aug 25. Zoe's Aug 21 standup repeats it: everything else is built and polished, and the Volunteer copy is still unconfirmed. She edited the page again this afternoon, but that was design polish; the content is not signed off. Jon has taken this on with HR and set a Monday date, which leaves three working days before the Aug 28 port. Her Aug 19 question to Sumit about the Sep 1 signup link also still has no reply in the thread. Neither is a Zoe problem to solve.
The navigation’s “Login” destination is an open decision, and Zoe cannot fix menu #23 without it. The item links to https://app.wevise.org/login and Jon confirmed Aug 23 that app.wevise.org is retired at launch. Deleting the Login item is one answer but not obviously the right one, so the destination is Jon’s call — and until the call is made, the new navigation ships a dead link on every page.
Varsha hit a defect in mentor onboarding (Aug 17) — the duration field cannot be selected, which stops the flow. Platform side.

New on the team

Chris Stewart — WordPress Developer. Front-end background across WordPress, Elementor, HTML/CSS, JavaScript and PHP. Working with Zoe on the redesign build, and already editing pages directly.
Alejandro Baran — Fullstack Developer. React, React Native, TypeScript and Python.
Zaira “Luna” Arzaluz — Product Manager, product team under Tasnia Kabir.
Sofia Cohen — UX/UI Designer, product design team under Morgan Clifford.

Sources: WordPress page revision history (author and timestamp per page), the #development daily async standup thread, and #general announcements. Platform tickets are tracked in JIRA and appear here only where they block launch work. Nothing on this page is self-reported for the purpose of this report.