YAI Launches Integrated Web Site to Better Reach, Inspire and Move People to Support People With Disabilities in Maximizing Their Potential

Leading Technology and Online Best Practices Help the YAI Network Communicate
Hope and Opportunity for People with Developmental and Learning Disabilities and
Their Families
AUSTIN, Texas--(Business Wire)--
The YAI Network (YAI), one of America`s foremost non-profit organizations
devoted to creating hope and opportunity for people with developmental and
learning disabilities and their families, announced today the introduction of a
new Web site at www.yai.org. The new site provides visitors with a crisp and
clear presentation of the organization`s mission and opportunities to engage
with the network to support people with disabilities as well as access services
and information. The site is integrated with the organization`s online
marketing, advocacy and fundraising system to provide visitors, volunteers,
advocates and donors with a more personal and engaging experience. It also
enables the organization to communicate more effectively with audiences based on
their interest and level of involvement.

"The Internet and digital technology has changed the way our stakeholders
communicate, access information and manage their most important relationships,"
said Philip H. Levy, Ph.D., CEO and President, of the YAI Network. "The people
who guide our mission and spread our message have high expectations for YAI and
the valuable resources we offer. The new site will help us strengthen those
relationships, provide greater access to information and messages of hope as
well as allows us to use social media and digital technology such as video to
better transform the public`s perception of people with developmental and
learning disabilities."

The new YAI Web site offers members and other visitors a more dynamic, effective
and professional design. While YAI supporters and visitors have a common
interest in learning about the organization or supporting the cause, the YAI
site has a number of constituencies that come to the organization for
information, thus the site must be easy for families, service providers, agency
professionals and other stakeholders to easily find and access information. The
flexibility and power of the system allows the organization to provide timely
information such as the organization`s recent appearance on the YES Network with
the New York Yankees and ABC-TV`s The View. Other features include the
Developmental Disabilities in the News blog, the Spanish-language site, and the
YAI Autism Center with information on the organization`s upcoming Autism
Conference. The site also features YAI`s renowned training videos and provides
numerous opportunities for individuals and families to become a Friend of YAI;
subscribe to the innovative YAI Resource Center; learn about corporate volunteer
opportunities; and much more.

To better position the brand and engage and activate a variety of audiences, YAI
partnered with Fenton Communication and Convio to define, design, and deploy a
revitalized Web site with a strong focus on the user experience. The site`s
redesigned front-end is integrated with the Convio CMS, a full-featured content
management system for nonprofit organizations with advanced Web site needs and
multiple content contributors. The software provides a web content platform that
combines content types and content relationships and integrates with Convio`s
email marketing, fundraising and advocacy platform also used by the
organization. The Convio system is provided through the Software-as-a-Service
model offering a highly-scalable system that is available to the YAI staff
anytime, anywhere with little to no capital expenditure.

"YAI provides exceptional programs and services to people of all ages, from
babies to seniors, so it was important to design a user interface that reflects
that breadth of service," said Sharene Azimi, Vice President, Fenton
Communications. "It was also important to create a sense of optimism, because
YAI is all about helping people with disabilities achieve their full potential.
The resulting site is both practical for families in need and inspirational to
the larger community of funders and advocates."

Hilary Shore, Director, Design and Technical Services added, "YAI has done an
exceptional job of creating and launching an online experience that matches
their reputation as a highly acclaimed professional organization and engages
people in the cause. In this difficult economy YAI also saved money by using
in-house talent during the development process and will continue to see reduced
costs by leveraging Convio`s on-demand platform to remove the hassles, headaches
and costs of traditional on-premises hardware and software. YAI is able to
leverage the Internet to conduct business more efficiently by more effectively
providing tools to register attendees for conferences, sell materials through
its Training Store, better communicate with stakeholders and raise critical
funds to support the necessary services that people with disabilities count on
every day."

For more information on Convio, visit www.convio.com

For more information on Fenton Communications, visit www.fenton.com

About the YAI Network

The YAI Network is a group of seven not-for-profit health and human services
agencies that provide a comprehensive array of programs for people with
developmental and learning disabilities and their families.

YAI/National Institute for People with Disabilities, our flagship agency, was
founded in 1957 as the Young Adult Institute. The organization later changed its
name since it was serving people through all life cycles - infancy through
senior years. Currently, the YAI Network has more than 450 community-based
programs, serving more than 20,000 individuals with disabilities and their
families throughout the New York metropolitan area, including Nassau, Suffolk,
Westchester, Rockland, Orange, Sullivan, Dutchess and Ulster counties, and New
Jersey, as well as Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. The YAI Network is
recognized nationally for its conferences, training seminars and publications.

Convio
Tad Druart, 512-652-7826
tdruart@convio.com
or
YAI Network
Lynn U. Berman, 212-273-6199
Senior Media Relations Manager
lberman@yai.org

Copyright Business Wire 2009