Wild Rivers Connect Joins the Community Website Partnership

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Wild Rivers Connect Joins the Community Website Partnership

From the beginning, Wild Rivers Connect (WRC) was a community driven concept, with its website (and Facebook page) the result of many months of surveys, focus groups and community outreach. This was the communication hub that so many organizations had identified as the highest need for themselves: the need to communicate with others, to learn, to share and to network, which WRC had hoped to provide through its social media and face to face networking gatherings.

Since 2013, when the WRC website was first launched, other communities have recognized the need for communication hubs in their communities. And even better, the concept of a network or networks of community communication hubs has recently evolved, creating hubs that utilize or build on many of the concepts first established by the WRC website.

The Community Website Partnership (CWP), supported by the Ford Family Foundation, is one such network. Indeed one of the principals of the former Human Systems organization, Mary Ward, who was instrumental in the formation of WRC, is also the force responsible for the launch of the CWP. CWP works to create inclusive, comprehensive, accessible, and sustainable community-owned websites for engaging residents, businesses, and/or nonprofits to promote community awareness, connectedness, and community building.

CWP unites nine different community websites in Oregon and Northern California and provides these groups opportunities for collaboration, a website template, back-end support for their websites, and training opportunities. These websites include: JeffCo Connects, Rural Klamath Connects, Applegate Valley Connect, Illinois Valley Web, RiverCal, McKenzie Community, Southern Oregon Coast Connects, Bandon Cares and now, Wild Rivers Connect. Like WRC, the websites offer tools for their community organizations: a directory, a calendar of events, a way to share news about what is going on in their communities, a volunteer matching tool, press release tools, and more.

WRC joined forces with the CWP both as an opportunity to upgrade their website to a more modern and useful one, but more importantly to receive support and training and to connect with other rural organizations with similar missions to our own. This opportunity comes with an updated WRC website that has a few new functions. Organizations can still use the site to create a listing in the directory (or claim an existing one in some cases), post events to the community calendar, and even submit a press release. But now they can also submit stories about their organization to be published on the website, or find volunteers for their organization or a special project using the new “volunteer listings” page.

Claim Your Organization’s Directory Listing or Create a New Listing

As part of the updated website, WRC has a new, more streamlined directory. The listings from the old website were transferred to the new one; however, ownership of those listings – as well as images – now need to be updated. This means that we need YOU to claim the directory listing for your organization, and once you’ve done that (and after we’ve confirmed your claim), to log in to your listing and add some pictures!

Claiming your listing (or creating a new one for your group if one doesn’t already exist) gives your organization the ability to edit and update the listing so it best represents your current group and mission. Having a listing in the WRC website is completely free, and can help you get the word out about your organization. For some organizations – those who don’t already have their own website – it is even a way to have a presence on the web.

Wondering how to claim you listing? Follow the steps below, and don’t hesitate to reach out for support if needed:

  • Click on this link to the WRC Directory.
  • Use the search bar to search for your organization.
  • Click on your organization’s listing.
  • Click on the yellow button near the bottom of the listing that reads “claim this listing.”
  • Follow the prompts to claim your listing.

This will send your listing claim request to our team to approve your claim. Once you have ownership of the listing, you will be able to update content and upload photos. (Note: it may take us a few days to confirm your claim before you can begin updating it, but if you’re concerned that we haven’t received your claim request, please feel free to email us at wildriversconnect@gmail.com to double check.)

Wondering what to do if your group doesn’t have a listing? Visit this link to add a new listing. 

New Feature: A Focus on Volunteers

One of the highlights of the new website is its volunteer matching tool. Organizations seeking volunteers, whether for an event or for a longer term volunteer position in their organization, can post a listing. This listing includes basic information about the organization and about the volunteer position, as well as a contact person.

So please, start posting your listings, and recommend the page to those who are looking to get involved in the community. When our team here at WRC sees a listing on the site, we will also share it to our Facebook page to help increase visibility.

To add a volunteer listing for your organization, visit this link (select “volunteer” before clicking the “next step” button!)

New Feature: Submit Your Organization’s News and Stories to the Website

Want to share news and stories with the community on the Wild Rivers Connect site? Now you can! Simply click on submit your stories and enter your story into the email form provided. Our team at WRC will review your submission, make any needed grammatical adjustments, and reach out to you for more information if needed. Once we have approved the post, it will appear on the WRC site and you will be able to share it from there to social media or via email. We look forward to reading you stories, so please, send them our way!

Conclusion

The team at WRC and the CWP are excited to share this updated site and new tools with your organization. We encourage you to take this opportunity to claim and update your directory listing, submit a news story or press release, post a volunteer opportunity or community event, or read about what’s happening in the community. Please don’t hesitate to contact us with questions.