Dear Friends and Neighbors: I have lived in this wonderful community of Richmond for the past twenty seven years. It’s been a wonderful place to raise my two children Adam and Beth. Beth is now grown, a college student, and I continue to partially support her during her college years.

As most of you know, I lost Adam in Iraq four years ago and the town was wonderful. I thank everyone from the bottom of my heart for the support and kind words, especially allowing me to place a bench at the Round Church Park in remembrance of him, which will bring me back to visit often. I hope that when soccer and little league season starts, you will all remember that Adam played soccer and baseball here in Richmond. I hope that when you see a log drifting down the Winooski River on a hot summer day, you will remember that Adam, Anthony  and Dylan would float down the Winooski River. I hope that on the 4th of July, Memorial Day and Veteran’s Day, when you see all the flags, it’s because of Adam that they can be replaced at no cost to the town.

Beth and I must leave this wonderful community now. I have sold my home and will move to a place that is almost as peaceful. Everyone say’s that I raised two wonderful children but the fact is, the families of Richmond also helped. This is truly a wonderful community, Beth and I will miss this place immensely.

Again, thank you from the bottom of my heart.

Kathrine

PS: To Bridge Street Café, could you please bring back the messy whessy? That was Adam’s favorite meal just because he liked to say Messy Whessy.

And more evidence of Vermonters’ capacity to support their neighbors was shared on the Charlotte FPF…

I noticed a very kind comment from someone in Charlotte (who I can only hope is on Front Porch Forum) posted about an essay I wrote for Salon.com.

It brought up a nagging guilt over the fact that I never said anything close to a proper thank you for everything so many people in our town — those who know me and those who don’t — did for our family when my husband was dying of cancer. I can only plead overwhelming grief, exhaustion and the fact that every resource I could summon was directed at keeping our teetering little boat afloat. And then so much time passed.

But I was raised with better manners. So I hope you’ll now accept my utter gratitude for the meals, the shoveled steps, incredibly, the beautiful bulbs planted in our yard so that we would have a bright memory of Kevin in spring. For that and so much of the organization of these things I especially thank my dear friends Liza and Tom Wright. But there are so many more. We do, as the commenter noted, live in a loving community and I feel enormously lucky for that.

The feelings expressed in the essay were never meant to ignore or diminish any of these considerable gifts. There are clearly things the best intentioned neighbors cannot fix.

Warmly,

Lee Ann

Thanks to the work of many in our community, Free Speech TV is bringing its 24/7 independent news, analysis and documentaries to Burlington Telecom. Starting March 1st, we’ll be able to tune in to FSTV on BT’s newest channel (122) on its “basic tier.”

But first, we need to rally to finish the task of making Burlington the first city in the country to offer a fulltime FSTV channel on cable. FSTV has until the end of February to raise a one-time $10,000 to cover its start-up costs.

Here’s some more good news: We raised half the money before we even launched this page.

A group of us founded the Friends of Free Speech TV in Burlington, and we’ve already pledged $5,000 as a Founding Friends Challenge Fund. That means that for every dollar you pledge here, we’ll kick in another dollar to match you. If we can raise just $5,000 by the end of February, FSTV will receive the full $10,000 it needs to launch its new channel in our community.

When: Thursday, February 16, 2012: 8:00 am to 4:00 pm
Where: Vermont Technical College, Randolph Center
Register: Visit http://evermontworkshop.org for details and to register

Join community leaders from around the state to share ideas and learn how online tools are being used to create jobs, reinvent schools, attract visitors, improve civic involvement, and enliven Vermont communities. The workshop is sponsored by the e-Vermont Community Broadband Project.

Anne Galloway of VtDigger.org will be the keynote speaker. Session topics include mobilizing community resources for emergencies, a hands-on lab exploring online tools for business, a showcase of how technology is expanding the classroom for 4-6th graders, a look at conducting town meetings in the digital age, and ways to increase public Internet access in your town (and why).

Registration is $20 and includes course offerings, refreshments, lunch and the chance to win a Kindle reader and other prizes in our raffle drawing.

For more information about the day go to evermontworkshop.org. Pre-register online, by phone 802-859-3090, or by e-mail joanna@snellingcenter.org.

As America’s cities become larger and life gets more complicated, some long for a return to a small-town lifestyle, where they are greeted by name, and the front porch — overlooking a picture-postcard main street — is a place to talk to neighbors. While this rosy view of rural living may not exactly square with reality — especially in hard economic times with high unemployment — the urge to enjoy a more rural lifestyle is attractive to many.

e-Vermont, a consortium of seven different organizations, has come together to improve the economic outlook of rural Vermont through technology, while at the same time preserving what’s most attractive about a region better known for its maple syrup, skiing and mountain vistas than Internet connectivity and job growth…

As for those conversations on the front porch, there’s a forum for that called “Front Porch Forum.” … “it’s a platform for neighborhood conversations, with the goal of things spilling over from online conversations to in-person conversations. Needless to say, public officials take a keen interest in that, not just to follow what’s going on but to have an engaged citizenry.”

Typical items on the forum might be someone selling firewood, eggs or a canoe. Missing pets are frequent items, as well as local government issues such as a proposed tax hike to pay for heating repairs at the school, which may be on the agenda for the next town meeting…

Susan Clark, a resident of Middlesex, is a sixth-generation Vermonter who co-authored All Those in Favor: Rediscovering the Secrets of Town Meeting and Community. She wanted more frequent connections with her community than the once-yearly town meetings. So when she heard about Front Porch Forum, she became a community volunteer…

Clark said that in keeping with the benefits of face-to-face meetings, Front Porch Forum isn’t anonymous, and the person’s street… is also listed… And unlike social networking sites like Facebook, she said, “Front Porch Forum wants you to know what’s going on in your community so you’ll get out from behind your computer and go out and go to the yard sale or the town meeting or the school play or the concert or any of those things.”

Clark said that the forum helps connect the public with local government, but she cautions against loading a forum with such things as planning commission documents at first. Wait until they are hooked on community events and items of personal interest, she said.

When Duane Sorrel, of Middlesex, moved to town he found out about Front Porch Forum at a town meeting. Sorrel, in a YouTube video, said that when he posted his information, he got a dozen customers for his automotive business in the first two days. “My favorite post,” he says in the video, “is ‘lately there’s been bears eating chickens.’ That’s been pretty interesting.”

“… without a diary, their travels would ‘be no better than a flight of birds through the air,’ leaving no trace.” John Adams to his grand sons, George (14) & John (12), as they sailed for London 1815 – John Adams – David McCullough p. 617-4

I woke up this morning thinking about FPF and its predecessor maplecorner.com, seeing these as our collective community diaries that record where we have been and help us work together where we are going. Thank you everyone for broadening our community, giving us a way to better understand each other.

FPF is expanding beyond Burlington… we now serve one-third of Vermont.  More than 32,000 members participate in rural areas, suburbs, and cities.  Imagine this level of engagement in every part of Vermont and beyond!  Let us know if you’d like to help bring FPF to your town (just enter your address on our home page and complete the form).

Three cheers for the tens of thousands FPF members in Vermont… and here’s to vibrant neighborhoods in 2012!

Today’s Burlington Free Press had a thoughtful article on a declining middle class, as exemplified by a Jeffersonville family… My impressions:

1) Good for my Cambridge village neighbor Mike Moser for providing factual background and context for the story. As someone involved in helping Vermonters discuss important policy issues, I have found that the more relevant facts I have, the better. Sounds obvious but it is remarkable how easily I go straight to interpretation and opinion when what I really need is more information.

2) As I read it I said “thank God for my job” because just three years ago that’s where I was, working three iffy jobs to unsuccessfully scrape together enough money to pay the bills. My family and church communities were helpful in every way when I asked them, but what I really needed is what I finally got – a good paying job. This job gave my wife a good last two years of her life in more ways than one. Sometimes I think that government and non-profits would help people more if they would focus more on simply letting the job creators do their thing. Local applications of this might be – sorry if I offend – saying “no” a little less reflexively to new business proposals. I know there are tradeoffs, but as we weigh the pros and cons in our own minds and in forums like this, perhaps the life-saving creation of a few good jobs should count a little more.

3) As I read it I also said “thank God for the safety net” beyond church and family that provided health care and yes even food at the most difficult times. I made perhaps 10 visits to Lamoille County food shelfs back in the dark old days, swallowing my pride because it was my job to provide, and when my labor wasn’t enough, then my willingness to ask would have to suffice. It was hard, but it was made easier by the welcoming attitude of the staff, as well as by their willingness to make distinctions between food for the really needy (basic, locally donated foods bought with donated cash) and the less-in-demand grocery store perishables, and then finally the federal commodities. What also made it easier was, frankly, going to other towns. I simply don’t know if I could have gone to a Cambridge food shelf. It was so much less humiliating to go to Morrisville, and that has nothing to do with their attitude and everything to do with my vanity. It is a big step to go from feeling compassion for one of “them” to actually being one of “them”. I apologize if I sound politically incorrect, but that is how it felt. So I would recommend that food shelves not be in the least bit territorial. If someone lives in another town, there is a reason they go elsewhere, unless of course they just don’t know. One can say “you shouldn’t feel that way” but – I did, and I suspect others might also.

So, what can we do to help our underemployed neighbors? In a nutshell, here are three things I can think of, maybe you have ideas too: be more open to local job creation; buy services locally; and support the local safety net. FPF is a great tool for doing all three, but it’s up to us as individuals and as a community to go the extra mile, as a great man once said.

By the way, more than 40% of Cambridge households are FPF members.

Thanks to the blog’s many regular readers.  Our frequent back-and-forth (mostly off-blog) about the quickly heating up “neighbor conversation” online space is fascinating.  Dozens of start-ups are now aiming to help neighbors connect.  We’re glad for the company.  I invite more of them to contribute to the field by frequently blogging about what they’re learning.  Hosting sustainable neighborly online discussions across many neighborhoods is not trivial!

Many of the pundits who focus on adjacent spaces — hyperlocal journalism, social networking, daily deals, etc. — are slowly waking to the staggering potential of online neighborhoods.  We’ve seen it first hand in our super successful pilot.  Neighbors, local businesses, public officials, nonprofits… they all flock to Front Porch Forum and put it to excellent use.

There’s monster demand across North America for connection to place and neighbors.  The opposite — which too many of us experience now — is untenable… living with a neutered sense of community, being surrounded by strangers for years on end, not knowing what’s going on in the neighborhood, not feeling a sense of ownership of your place.  Ugh.

Here’s to the next five years!

P.S.  What’s with the name Ghost of Midnight?

Thanks to the Patterson Foundation’s New Media Journalism initiative for its support of this event and more.  Janet Coats and Kathleen Majorsky of Patterson focus on FPF on their blog today…

Front Porch Forum (FPF) is an online space that serves small towns and neighborhoods in just about a third of Vermont. Each FPF helps improve Vermont’s local community ecosystem. Hosting these neighborhood conversations leads to face-to-face interaction and ultimately improved community.

When a neighbor posts to the conversation on their local FPF, their name, street name and email address appears in their post.

“Neighbors go from being strangers to actually knowing these people through the conversations,” says Wood-Lewis.

Wood-Lewis and his family moved to Vermont in search of community, but found it difficult to come by through traditional means so they created FPF. It was created to help Wood-Lewis and his family meet the neighbors and understand what was going on around them. Its impact on communities exceeded their expectations, but it is this impact that inspires Wood-Lewis to continue to invest in FPF’s growth.

“We are motivated by the results we see. It has made our neighborhood a better place to live and raise our kids. It’s made our city a better place. It empowers people to do the great things that people do given half a chance to be good neighbors,” says Wood-Lewis.

When Hurricane Irene tore through Vermont at the end of August, FPF played a major role in local disaster relief. People started to self-organize through FPF. Residents would list their needs on FPF and groups of neighbors would gather supplies and make their way to those in need.

“We saw this happen again and again,” says Wood-Lewis, “It’s really powerful.”

More than half of Burlington, VT participates in FPF…  it’s incredibly vibrant and popular. The desire to know the people who live around us and to be plugged into neighborhood news is strong and growing.

This “neighbor conversation” area is a quickly emerging online space with many start-ups and existing dot.coms jumping in. It’s a close cousin to hyperlocal journalism. More here:http://to.pbs.org/oDcZAI

http://frontporchforum.com/supporting-members

Every year, members like you help fuel FPF so that we can continue to help neighbors connect and build community.  More than 30,000 local households have joined and shared hundreds of thousands of postings with their neighbors through FPF!

Whether it’s flood recovery efforts, group yard sales, car break-ins, sharing perennials, election debates, block parties, town notices, or other topics, our small band of committed staff work day and night to keep this all going.

If you enjoy and value Front Porch Forum, please become a supporting member today at:

http://frontporchforum.com/supporting-members

Your contribution is critical to keeping FPF going strong — and will be enormously appreciated. We look forward to serving you and your neighbors in the coming year.

Your FPF team,
Michael, Nina, Linda, Jamie, Lynn, Gisele, Jeff, Regina, Suzie, and Jan

P.S.  We also accept checks, payable to…
Front Porch Forum
PO Box 64781
Burlington, VT 05406-4781
802-540-0069

FPF is not a charity and contributions are not tax deductible.  Ad sales to local businesses cover part of our expenses, and your supporting-member contributions help close the gap.