#VT - Gotta love it! Click local! From a new FPF advertiser today…
We are getting more hits to our website from Front Porch Forum than from Google at this point!
Learn more and contact FPF to get your ads running in Vermont.
Category Archives: Economic Development
Missing link in community building…
#BTV #VT - Over the past couple days, we’ve heard tremendous feedback about Front Porch Forum from people across dozens of Vermont towns. First at the NetSquared MeetUp about social media’s role in Burlington 2012 mayoral campaigns, then yesterday at the big e-Vermont conference. Wow! It’s incredibly energizing to listen to how FPF is perceived and put to use by community organizers, entrepreneurs, public officials, local media, students, small businesses, everyday folks, et al.
Here’s an example from a new steering committee member of a Burlington Neighborhood Planning Assembly…
My impetus to get involved with my community stems from my childhood in Montpelier where I knew my neighbors and neighbors all helped each other. FPF has been the missing link in community building for my adult life.
Tapping Tech 2.0: Transforming Vermont’s Economy
Good looking publication recently released from Vermont Technology Alliance, Vermont Technology Council, and Vermont Biosciences Alliance…
Tapping Tech 2.0: Transforming Vermont’s Economy
See pp. 16-17 for a write-up of Front Porch Forum.
Seeking roofer recommendation?
#VT - Thanks to you FPF neighbors who sent recommedations for roofers. It’s like having a local “Angie’s List.” (only better).
That was posted on Front Porch Forum by Chris in Burlington’s North End today. We hear that kind of thing frequently. FPF members get lots of good results when they seek recommendations… and, best of all, they get to meet neighbors along the way.
“Vermont’s Digital Development Starts on the Front Porch”
#VT – Wayne Hanson, reporting for Government Technology this week, writes about the success of the e-Vermont initiative, including this about Front Porch Forum…
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.”
e-Vermont Action in Moretown and Middlesex #VT
Stories from e-Vermont. First, from Middlesex…
e-Vermont partner Front Porch Forum provides towns and neighborhoods with a virtual town green and bulletin board. Residents who opt to sign in can easily post notes which get delivered to e-mailboxes throughout the community. Notices about upcoming events, stuff for sale or trade, lost pets, and wildlife sightings mix with discussions about town budgets, local elections, and favorite movies. FPF is also a platform for readers to connect with area businesses and service providers.
Duane Sorrell started his auto repair business in Middlesex last year and reached out on FPF to let people know he was opened. More than 500 of the town’s 700 households are FPF members. Within a couple of days Duane had a dozen new customers. Now people know about a local option for car service and the town has one more successful small business. Meet Duane in this brief interview:
And from Moretown…
The village center of Moretown sits along the usually friendly Mad River. But Tropical Storm Irene swelled it to a torrent, taking houses and bridges in its wake.
Just prior to Irene, this e-Vermont community was slowly building interest in its new town wideFront Porch Forum. Suddenly, it exploded with activity. In a few long days, Moretown residents and public officials shared 300 disaster-related postings among neighbors on FPF. Typically it would take five months to generate that many postings there. Also, even without consistent power or Internet availability in many places, the FPF member count increased by 50%. Indeed, FPF proved so valuable to residents that it was printed each day and posted at Town Hall for those who did not have online access.
In addition to 5-10 daily updates from public officials on FPF, neighbors rallied to help each other directly. Here’s one result shared by a Moretown FPF member…
“We’ve lost half a house but we’ve gained a community. I’ve never experienced being carried through a devastating event by large numbers of friends, neighbors, and complete strangers before. Thank you Moretown and out-of-town volunteers for your heart-breaking generosity.”
Did I really just do that? For five years?
#BTV #VT – I don’t think of myself as a blogger, yet this blog turns five years old today… guess it kinda snuck up on me. Hard to imagine I’ve written 1,150 postings over that time. I started blogging a month or two after launching Front Porch Forum, which now has 30,000 households participating, including half of Burlington.
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?