UC Agriculture and Natural Resources (UC ANR) has released a report summarizing questions and answers from its February 2026 Town Hall, focusing on digital accessibility compliance. The session addressed concerns about templates, website accessibility, training resources, and the timeline for meeting federal requirements.
Participants asked if templates would be available for meeting and workshop flyers. The response indicated that “Templates include event fliers, letterhead, one-column fact sheet, two-column fact sheet. Powerpoints coming soon.”
Questions were raised about the compliance of IWP pages. UC ANR clarified: “Not yet. The IWP team will be reviewing compliance tips with programs/locations as they meet with the reps. IWP pages are inherently better at accessibility, but broken links on pages and pdfs, using tables for layout, using header tags incorrectly, not using alt attributes for images, not including title attributes for iframes, etc. will make items inaccessible.”
For inquiries regarding contact information for the Digital Accessibility Task Force, it was stated: “lforbes@ucanr.edu and cjakober@ucanr.edu.”
On whether old sites and content need to be compliant or just new content moving forward: “The expectation is that old content will be reviewed and either archived or made compliant as soon as feasible. Start with your most trafficked content for remediation.”
When asked about Zoom settings used by ANR staff: “Zoom’s native application already meets the WCAG 2.1 AA accessibility requirements. ANR’s Zoom has also been configured to enable automated captions. The content shared in Zoom meetings must be made compliant by the presenters.”
Regarding access to SiteImprove training videos: “There is a short video on Box. Video on how to use Siteimprove. Request access to Siteimprove from IT.”
To clarify guidelines ahead of an April deadline: “Stop making non-compliant content and work to remediate existing content. UCOP has a great website for breaking down accessibility work https://www.ucop.edu/electronic-accessibility/standards-and-best-practices/index.html”
Staff also questioned future training opportunities on accessibility before a March 15th deadline: “We have not engaged DeQue for additional trainings. If someone from your unit attended the sessions, the expectation is that they will share the information with their network. We recommend taking the trainings that are referenced in the Town Hall PowerPoint presentation if you did not attend the DeQue trainings.”
Office hours hosted by task force members are planned after onboarding a new project manager; meanwhile staff can join UC Davis office hours or monthly UCOP sessions.
Concerns about linking to open access journal articles were addressed with this guidance: “The liability for accessibility rests with the site that hosts the content, but if you are concerned about potential accessibility non-compliance you can add a disclaimer next to the link: These materials are not maintained by UC ANR and may not meet current accessibility standards…”
Staff cited challenges meeting ADA requirements due to understaffing; leadership responded: “We are asking that people stop publishing non-compliant content after March 15…The WCAG 2.1 AA requirement is a federal requirement…”
Training resources suitable for volunteers were highlighted as public-facing except those specific to Siteimprove.
Regarding posting PDFs from other organizations or journals: “Hosting non-compliant PDFs from outside sources will violate the policy unless you put it in the archive and include this statement…We are committed to ensuring access for all users and will provide accommodations promptly upon request.”
Questions about template availability were answered by noting Word templates have been uploaded where requested; PowerPoint templates would follow by March 1.
Staff whose training is scheduled after deadlines were encouraged to use available on-demand resources.
A single landing page consolidating trainings and templates exists at https://ucanr.edu/site/anr-website-accessibility
If tools such as Survey Tool lack compliance features currently, IT is prioritizing updates starting with publicly available platforms.
Best practice suggests promoting community partner events via HTML rather than posting non-compliant flyers.
Word document templates recently added are considered compliant; any conversion to PDF should involve checking for ongoing accessibility issues.
UC Agriculture and Natural Resources applies University of California expertise across California through research centers in diverse ecosystems and local offices in every county [source]. The organization delivers science-based practices aimed at improving well-being statewide [source], maintaining living laboratories while supporting communities through outreach initiatives [source]. Glenda Humiston serves as vice president of UC ANR [source].