City of Fort Collins Spotlights New Community Web Exchange

Dated Press Release
NOTICE: This press release was released 705 days ago!
(Release Date: Dec-17-2007)

Susie Gordon
Senior Environmental Planner
(970) 221-6265

City of Fort Collins Spot-lights New Community Web Exchange

The Fort Collins Community Exchange (www.fortcollinscommunityexchange.com) recently launched as an on-line bulletin board where citizens can get rid of their gently used goods and materials through barter, for free, or in exchange for other items. Fort Collins is famously home to innovators and inventers, many of whom also demonstrate a passion about environmental issues that are championed by the community, so it is fitting that this creative new website has debuted to offer local waste reduction opportunities.

Local businesswoman Lisa Ortiz-Olivas came up with the idea of the Community Exchange as a way to “reframe the concept of resources by providing a medium where members can match resources with needs”. The web approach has been growing in popularity for users throughout the country. According to Ortiz-Olivas, local exchange sites embody the “free-ness” of FreeCycle.org, the spirit of community, and the posting power of Craigslist.

Using a similar approach, the City’s Natural Resources Department has harnessed the power of the World Wide Web in recent years with a fall Leaf Exchange and even a site for those interested in sharing information on “red wiggler” worms for use in home composting projects (visit www.fcgov.com/recycling).

Ortiz-Olivas also invites community organizers and businesses to post announcements and calendar events to the Fort Collins Community Exchange. Users are able to personalize their profile, attach documents, and send private messages to other community members without utilizing their own email. For example, one category space is reserved for gardeners who want to exchange plants, seeds, materials, ideas, advice, and even home-grown produce. Other categories include a moving-box exchange, a book exchange, and a building materials / tools exchange.

The Fort Collins Community Exchange utilizes Open Source phpbb software and was set up as a free, no-advertisements forum. Ortiz-Olivas points out that unlike the “Yahoo groups” approach, the Fort Collins Community Exchange and its users are protected from spam and spam “bots”. The domain and labor involved in launching the site was made possible through collaboration between several foundations, including Stewards of the Earth and NOCO Hours. The Fort Collins Community Exchange can be found at www.fortcollinscommunityexchange.com. To contact Lisa Ortiz-Olivas, please call (970) 672-4722.