Clover Grants Homegirl Café a Donation and New Website

Newbury Park, Calif. – (Feb. 1, 2011) – Clover, the small business Web design platform built for real people — not programmers — today announced its partnership with Homegirl Café, the award-winning, Los Angeles-based eatery, a division of the nonprofit Homeboy Industries, employing formerly incarcerated and gang-affiliated men and women to launch the restaurant’s first stand-alone, professional marketing website. In addition providing the new turnkey website at www.homegirlcafe.org, Clover also made a $1,000 donation to the organization.

“Many thanks to Clover for offering Homegirl Café this beautiful new website and the accompanying donation,” said Father Greg Boyle, founder of Homeboy Industries, the parent organization of Homegirl Café. “Our restaurant, catering business and Homegirl Gardens project now have a beautiful web presence that our employees can easily update. This resource is a huge step in helping to spread the word and impact of Homegirl Café to our community.”

The Homegirl Café team is hoping the site drives not only business, but also donations. In a recent survey conducted with Harris Interactive, Clover found that nearly half (44%) of respondents agree that a professional website is a major factor when deciding whether to donate to a non-profit organization.

The new site for Homegirl Café features background info, photographs, menus, event information, , and details about the Homegirl Gardens project and Homeboy Industries, all in a beautiful, accessible interface. The real value of the site lies in the backend, Clover’s intuitive content management system called the Greenhouse, originally created by Clover’s co-founders Jim Elliston and Ben Rugg. The technology was developed with a 65-year old administrator in mind, making Clover ideal for non-profit organizations typically staffed by few full-time employees, part-timers or volunteers with little to no programming or design experience.

“Once in a while we come across an exemplary non-profit organization that speaks to our values, and that could use some help with their web presence,” said Jim Elliston, co-founder, Clover. “Homegirl Café is a well-run organization with a touching mission and delicious food, and we’re delighted to help them drive business in 2011 with a new site.”

For more information and a demo of Clover’s non-profit offering, please visit www.cloversites.com/non-profit/.

About Clover

Clover provides professional websites for real people – not programmers. In 2008, founders Jim Elliston and Ben Rugg created Clover to fill a gap in the web design industry. Since then, thousands of small businesses and entrepreneurs around the globe have used Clover to create professional, affordable marketing websites on their own, without the hassle and cost of hiring a programmer or designer. For more information visit www.cloversites.com.

About Homegirl Café and Homeboy Industries

For more than 22 years, Homeboy Industries has helped at-risk and former gang-involved youth become contributing members of our community through a variety of services in response to their multiple needs. Free programs – including counseling, education, tattoo removal, job training and job placement – enable young people to redirect their lives and provide them with hope for their futures. More information is available at www.homeboy-industries.org.

Homegirl Café, established in 2004, employs 32 young women and men, teaching them all aspects of the restaurant and catering business. The Café is one of four social enterprise businesses sponsored by Homeboy Industries to help youth become job-ready and move beyond gangs.