What has been asked for, and what was done

Received Monday 14 September 2026

Advocacy becomes its own page, and the secondary colours

Relayed from the team, with the brand’s four colour-palette options attached (TheHopkinsInstitute_ColorOptions.pdf). Both items were actioned the same day.

• Partly complete Implemented 14 September 2026

  “Advocacy” becomes its own tab and page, split off from “Programs and Advocacy”. Content to follow this week.

  Split. The navigation now carries Programs and Advocacy as separate items — in the top bar, the mobile menu and the footer — on every page, and a build check confirms all six pages still match each other exactly. Advocacy has its own page at /advocacy with the same holding notice as its sibling pages until the copy arrives. Programs is back at /programs, matching its label again; the /programs-and-advocacy address it held for three weeks now redirects there, so nothing bookmarked or commented on is stranded. Marked partly complete only because the Advocacy copy is still to come.

• Partly complete Implemented 14 September 2026

  Secondary brand colours: leaning toward Color Palette Option 2 — slate blue #4C698D, teal #7BAAB0, dusty rose #DBB5AE, sand #F3E1CF.

  Applied on the review link so Option 2 can be judged in place rather than on a swatch sheet. It replaces the light blue accent that was an interim choice, and every accent role moves together: Muted Teal on the plum grounds and Slate Blue on the cream ones — the only two of the four that clear accessible contrast on those grounds. Every text pairing on every page was re-measured afterwards. Dusty Blush now colours the buttons — “How to Give” and “Read the announcement” — which all sit on the plum grounds, where it reads more clearly than Muted Teal did. Warm Cream is set up and ready but not yet placed; see the open items. Marked partly complete because the choice itself is still a lean rather than a decision, and it reverts in one step if another option is chosen.

Received Wednesday 26 August 2026

Illustration for the third carousel slide

A new image supplied in intake/client-updates/direct-from-client/8-25/.

• Complete Implemented 26 August 2026

  Replace the third carousel image — the photograph of Joe and Ruthie — with the supplied illustration.

  In place, with a WebP alongside the JPEG so it loads light. It suits the chosen palette unusually well: the artwork is already deep plum with white line work, so it needs none of the tinting the other two slides carry. The empty ground on its left is where the copy sits, which means the headline now clears both faces by composition rather than by adjustment. Legibility was measured on the rendered page rather than judged by eye — the worst point behind the headline reads 4.02:1 against the 3:1 that size of type needs. Two things changed with it, both for accuracy: the credit no longer says “Photograph supplied by the client · enhanced”, because this is not a photograph — it now reads “Illustration based on a photograph supplied by the Institute” — and the alternative text for screen readers describes an illustration rather than a photograph.

Received Tuesday 25 August 2026, 9:09 am

Mission copy, navigation labels, and pages trimmed back

Emailed as hopkins-client-updates-01.pdf. Eight items; the eighth — whether the AI artwork based on the carousel photograph can be used on the Joe and Ruthie page — was set aside for now at Carey’s direction and is not counted here. The other seven were actioned the same day.

• Complete Implemented 25 August 2026

  Replace the Mission copy with the supplied paragraph.

  Replaced, word for word. The only change from what was on the page is that “…amplifies community voices, the Institute…” becomes “…amplifies community voices. The Institute…”. Worth a second look: that full stop leaves “Through research that drives solutions, investments that build capacity, and advocacy that amplifies community voices.” as a sentence without a main verb. It has been set exactly as supplied rather than quietly corrected — say the word if the comma should come back.

• Complete Implemented 25 August 2026

  Drop “History” from the Mission and History tab.

  The navigation item now reads Mission, in the About dropdown, the mobile menu, the footer and the contents strip on the About page — a build check confirms all five pages still match each other exactly.

• Complete Implemented 25 August 2026

  Drop the “History” section on the History and Mission page.

  Removed. It was a held-open placeholder waiting for copy that had not been supplied, so nothing was lost. That also closes one of the items previously listed as awaiting a reply.

• Complete Implemented 25 August 2026

  Change the Programs tab to “Programs and Advocacy”.

  Renamed everywhere the label appears, and the page title with it. The web address was changed to match on 25 August: the page is now at /programs-and-advocacy. The old /programs address redirects there rather than failing, since it had been live on this link for five days and a comment pinned to the old address would otherwise have nowhere to land.

• Partly complete Implemented 25 August 2026

  Add an “Advocacy” section on the Programs and Advocacy page.

  The section is built and in place, but no copy came with the request, so it is a labelled holding block rather than invented text — the same treatment the History section had. Send a paragraph or two and it drops straight in.

• Complete Implemented 25 August 2026

  Drop the subheadings on the Research, Programs and News pages, and the one under Calendar on the News page.

  All four removed. Each page now goes straight from its title to its content.

• Complete Implemented 25 August 2026

  On the landing page, drop the material from “Newsroom and Research”.

  The whole section is gone, including its four cards, which were dummy articles standing in for content that does not exist yet — the same reason the “More from the Institute” tier came out on 20 August. The launch article now runs straight into the giving band. Read as removing the section rather than emptying it: a heading with nothing under it would have read as a fault.

• Complete Implemented 25 August 2026

  Colour version: go with Plum.

  Plum is now the only palette on the site. The switcher that offered the alternative has been removed and every page is pinned to it, so the review link renders exactly what the finished site will — nothing here can be viewed in the retired colours. All text pairings re-checked against Plum in both light and dark grounds. This was the last item blocking a final draft.

Received Thursday 20 August 2026

Carousel, mission, staff and the giving band

Supplied as H-I-client-edits.txt in intake/client-updates/direct-from-client/, headed 20 August 2026 and actioned the same day.

• Complete Implemented 20 August 2026

  Carousel, the Joe and Ruthie photograph: move the copy off Ruthie’s face.

  Moved. The block was six lines deep on a narrow measure and anchored to the bottom, so on a shorter screen it climbed the frame and ran across her eyes — at a 700px-tall window it sat directly over her glasses. The measure is wider now, which makes it about three lines and keeps it in the bottom band, clear of both faces at every height tested. The type size is unchanged: the line count was the problem, not the scale. On phones the photograph and the copy were already separate, so nothing there changed.

• Complete Implemented 20 August 2026

  Mission: drop the last line of the mission statement.

  Dropped. The mission now ends “…trusted, local, and culturally relevant information.” Nothing else in the paragraph was touched.

• Complete Implemented 20 August 2026

  Staff: add after Regina — Leah Goodlie-Brown, Director of Strategic Communications and Engagement.

  Added, second in the row, directly after Regina. The section now holds four people and the grid was rebuilt to suit: four across on a wide screen, two on a tablet, one on a phone, with every portrait the same size and the names aligned across each row. Leah’s portrait is a marked slot like the other three, so the photograph count in the open items below is now five.

• Complete Implemented 20 August 2026

  Under “Support the Institute”, replace the current copy with “Invest in the future of community and ethnic media”.

  Replaced on the home page. The same “Support the Institute” band also closes all four supporting pages, so the line was matched there too — leaving two different sentences under one heading would have read as an oversight. Say the word if only the home page was meant.

Received Tuesday 11 August 2026

Subheading copy

Relayed in session. Four subheadings in the About dropdown and the standfirst on the Research page. Recorded in intake/client-updates/2026-08-07-subheading-edits.md, including three small copy fixes noted below rather than made silently.

• Complete Implemented 11 August 2026

  In the About dropdown, replace the four subheadings: History and Mission → “What we do”; Joe and Ruthie Hopkins → “About the Institute’s namesakes”; Leadership and Staff → “Who we are”; How to Give → “Support our mission”.

  All four replaced, and identical across every page that carries the navigation — a build check confirms the five pages still match each other exactly. Two small fixes, noted rather than made silently: the request read “Under Mission and Replace”, which was taken as History and Mission, since the four items map one-to-one in order; and “Namesakes” was set lower case to match its three siblings, all of which are sentence case. Either can be reverted.

• Complete Implemented 11 August 2026

  On Research, replace the current subheading with “Solutions-driven studies on the business of community and ethnic media”.

  Replaced. This retires a line written at design stage that was flagged as invented, so the page now opens in the Institute’s own words. The stray space in “Solutions -driven” was closed up. Research is a top-level item with no dropdown, so this was read as the standfirst under the page title.

Received Thursday 6 August 2026, 4:16 pm

Concept selected, and content for the other pages

Sent by email with one attachment, Secondary Website Content.docx, reproduced in full at the foot of this page. All four items below were actioned the following day.

• Complete Implemented 7 August 2026

  Go with Concept A. Concept B is not selected.

  Broadsheet is the live design. Concept B is kept on the review link as a superseded record, greyed back, and is no longer maintained.

• Complete Implemented 7 August 2026

  Do not include the “MORE FROM THE INSTITUTE” section on the landing page — there will not be content for it before launch.

  Removed, along with its six placeholder cards. The giving band now follows the article directly. Nothing else moved.

• Partly complete Implemented 7 August 2026

  Build the supporting pages from the attached document.

  All four are built and linked, and all nine navigation labels now reach a real page. About Us carries the supplied mission, both paragraphs on Joe and Ruthie, and the three named staff, word for word. Newsroom, Projects and Research carry the supplied holding message. Three things in the document are still open — see Waiting on the Institute below.

• Noted No action needed

  Go live 18 August 2026, with a final live draft by 14 August 2026.

  Recorded as the delivery dates. One item has to be settled before a final draft can be called final: the colour version. Everything else on the landing page is complete.

Received Tuesday 28 July 2026 and earlier

The original brief and landing page content

The founding content document, the emailed correction that followed it, and the two reference sites supplied with them.

• Complete Implemented 28 July 2026

  Correction to the newspaper’s name: it is The Pasadena/San Gabriel Valley Journal News.

  Applied everywhere the paper is named, on the landing page and the About page. The earlier wording no longer appears anywhere, and a build check now fails if it returns.

• Complete Implemented 28 July 2026

  Landing page content: the nine navigation labels, the three carousel slides, the tagline, the launch article, and the two stock photograph credits.

  All built as supplied. The nine labels were grouped into dropdowns because the same document asks for “Tabs/Drop-down menus” — every one of the nine is still reachable, and a build check confirms each resolves to a real page.

• Complete Implemented 28 July 2026

  Reference sites to draw on: the Brennan Center for flow and article layout, the Bunche Center for a warmer, darker feel.

  Both informed the design. The article-forward arrangement and the lower news grid follow the Brennan Center; the warmer grounds and darker bands follow the Bunche Center.

Waiting on the Institute

Eleven open items. None of them blocks the landing page except the first, which has to be settled before a draft can be called final. Every one is also flagged in place on the page it affects.

• Awaiting reply

  Is Colour Palette Option 2 confirmed?

  It is live on the review link now, but was relayed as a lean rather than a decision. On confirmation it becomes permanent; if another option is chosen, the accent changes in one place. All four values have been checked against the brand palette sheet and match it exactly.

• Awaiting reply

  Where should Warm Cream be used?

  Option 2 has four secondary colours. Muted Teal and Slate Blue carry the site’s accents, and Dusty Blush the buttons. Warm Cream only reads well on the dark plum grounds, so it suits something like a small highlight, but nothing on the site currently calls for it and it has not been placed rather than being placed arbitrarily. A note on where the brand expects it to appear is all that is needed.

• Awaiting reply

  Should the illustration credit say it was AI-generated?

  The new carousel artwork is credited as “Illustration based on a photograph supplied by the Institute”, which is accurate and does not call it a photograph. It does not say the image was AI-generated, because that is an editorial decision rather than a copy fix — and a disclosure norm that matters more for an institute devoted to trustworthy journalism than it would for most sites. Worth a decision before launch, not after.

• Awaiting reply

  Is that page called Programs or Projects?

  The original content document’s navigation says Programs, which is what has been built. The attached document heads the same page “Projects Page”. Both are Institute documents, so neither was changed without asking.

• Awaiting reply

  Five photographs are marked “[Photo to come]”.

  Joe and Ruthie Hopkins, and portraits of Regina Brown Wilson, Leah Goodlie-Brown, Brandon Brooks and Joe Kocurek. Each has a labelled slot at a matching crop, so the real files drop straight in.

• Awaiting reply

  Where should “How to Give” lead?

  It is the one link on the site with no destination. A donation platform, a fiscal sponsor’s page or a contact page would all work — the address is all that is needed.

• Awaiting reply

  Regina Brown Wilson’s name and affiliation.

  The original content document attributes the carousel quote to “Regina Wilson, California Black Media”. The attached document lists her as the Institute’s Director. Both are Institute documents and they differ, so neither was altered.

• Awaiting reply

  Footer details.

  Mailing address, public email address, telephone, social accounts, and the domain the site will launch on. Each is a marked slot rather than invented text.

• Awaiting reply

  Charitable status.

  Whether the Institute is an independent 501(c)(3), fiscally sponsored, or neither. Donors look for this line and it has to be accurate.

• Awaiting reply

  Is there a date for the public launch event?

  The Calendar section is built and waiting. One dated entry would let it be laid out properly.

• Awaiting reply

  Stock photograph licences.

  Two Dreamstime images are credited on the landing page. Confirmation that the licences are held would close this off.

The attached document, in full

Reproduced exactly as supplied, so this page is a complete record on its own. This is the text every word of the About page was built from.

Draft Content for Other Pages

“About Page”
Mission
The Hopkins Institute for Community and Ethnic Media will serve as California’s leading catalyst for strengthening community journalism. Through research that drives solutions, investments that build capacity, and advocacy that amplifies community voices, the Institute will help ensure that every Californian has access to trusted, local, and culturally relevant information. In doing so, it will not simply preserve community media—it will help shape its future. 
Joe and Ruthie Hopkins
[Photo to come]
As beloved publishers of The Pasadena/San Gabriel Valley Journal News for over thirty years, Joe and Ruthie Hopkins demonstrated the transformative power of community media. The Hopkins through their newspaper not only informed the public, but also advanced civil rights, promoted civic education and supported community activism.  
The Hopkins Institute honors their legacy by promoting models of sustainability to better ensure the survival and flourishing of community and ethnic media. 
Leadership and Staff
	•	Regina Brown Wilson, Director [photo to come]
	•	Brandon Brooks, Project Manager [photo to come]
	•	Joe Kocurek, Communications Director [photo to come]

Other Pages
Newsroom Page
Please check back for updates
Projects Page
Please check back for updates
Research Page
Please check back for updates