PHOTO PROVIDED Cape Coral resident and Goodwill Industries’ website designer Charissa Comerota.

Goodwill Industries of South-west Florida Inc. has launched a new, easier-to-navigate and more descriptive website for Goodwill L.I.F.E. Academy, designed by Cape Coral resident and Goodwill’s Charissa Comerota.

Goodwill L.I.F.E. Academy is part of Goodwill’s mission to help people with disabilities and disadvantages overcome their barriers to employment and independence.

“The school is based in Fort Myers and the program is a Charter School – which can earn a student a special option diploma,” said Kirsten Britt O’Donnell, the director of public relations and marketing. “It’s a tuition-free school. Students with intellectual or developmental disabilities are eligible.”

The academy’s classes run the same schedule as the Lee County School District.

“There have been many success stories of graduates,” she said. “They have gone on to jobs at Goodwill and other community employers.”

The website serves several purposes, said O’Donnell. “It is easier to navigate, and we hope it will help us recruit students from Cape Coral, Fort Myers, North Fort Myers, Lehigh and all over Lee County. We already have eight new students enrolled for 2012/2013 school year and three of them are from Cape Coral.”

The new website was designed by the communications and development department at North Fort Myers -based Goodwill Industries of Southwest Florida.

The main designer is Goodwill’s Charissa Comerota, a Cape Coral resident.

‘Our goal was to be more visually appealing and user friendly, for students and their parents,” she said. “It has a calender of events and success stories, and we have a wonderful video that gives you more of an insight on the school itself and the students that participate in the school.”

Future plans for the site include faculty/staff biographies and more.

For enrollment information, visit the new school’s website at GoodwillLifeAcademy.org or contact principal Lynn Pottorf at 334-4434.

Goodwill Industries of Southwest Florida Inc. operates the Goodwill L.I.F.E. Academy. Other supported programs include Goodwill Job-Link centers, the Four Wheels For Work vehicle assistance program, the SWFL MicroEnterprise project and income-sensitive housing for people with disabilities.

Goodwill Industries of Southwest Florida Inc. is headquartered in North Fort Myers, at 4940 Bayline Drive. For information, call 995-2106 or go to goodwillswfl.org.