Campus West Connections, a partnership between the City of Fort Collins and CSU offering a variety of services from a facility at the corner of West Elizabeth and City Park Avenue, has been honored by the Alliance for Innovation.
The project received an Outstanding Achievement in Local Government Innovation Award at the Transforming Local Government Conference, held April 4-6 in Tacoma, Washington.
“We are very excited to be recognized for such an innovative partnership between the City and University,” said Jeannie Ortega, director of Off-Campus Life. “Our various departments have been working collaboratively for years. Now being co-located together gives us the space and time for greater synergy around proactive solutions that further enrich the quality of life for students and long-term residents in our community. To paraphrase Aristotle, together we really are greater than the sum of our parts.”
About the facility
Campus West Connections, located at 1335 W. Elizabeth, opened last September. Staff from several city and university departments are housed in the shared office space to provide resources and enhance the quality of life for students, renters and long-term residents in the neighborhoods near the university. At this location, stakeholders can meet with code enforcement, host neighborhood meetings, find information on off-campus rental history, register parties, pick up a police report, attend educational workshops and more. Departments with a presence there include City of Fort Collins Police Services, the City’s Neighborhood Services Department, CSU Police, CSU Off-Campus Life and the Student Resolution Center.
Innovation Awards were chosen from applications received by an Alliance for Innovation selection committee consisting of city and county managers, innovation officers and academic representatives from across the nation. The selection committee looks for local governments that have shown their dedication to stretching and improving the boundaries of day-to-day government operations and practices, implementing creative business processes and improving the civic health of the community.
