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.”

I wanted to post a huge thank you to the female driver who stopped in front of our home on Jan, 21st around 430 pm  and helped my father up our drive to the door.

You are a special person who ever you are and I am Thankful you drove by : This could have been a 911 situation. Again, My Thanks!!!  If you read this please email me, I would like to thank you in person.

And a huge thank you to the poster, Julia, as well, for sharing this tale… an inspiration for many others, I’m sure.

Patrick Kitano at Streetfight.com comments on that news, along with Nextdoor, Outside.in, Topix, and Facebook today… an interesting piece.

Indeed, the “neighbor conversation” online space is heating up tremendously, with at least a couple dozen start-ups and digital media giants trying to crack the code of neighborhood-level traction.

Three out of five Burlington, VT households connect with their neighbors through our offering, FrontPorchForum.com.  Amazingly, in 2011 HALF of them posted.

Most of us want to be more  connected to the people and place around where we live… this is a huge opportunity.

Last night I stupidly decided to try driving up the steep side of Lincoln hill rd through the deep snow. When I got to the steepest section my little car started spinning out, so, with no traction to turn around I began to head backwards down the hill. The snow was piling up on my back window, and with the inability to see I ended up losing control and somehow ended up in a 180 degree spin, sliding sideways towards the ditch. Luckily I was able to stop before I was completely in the ditch, but I was in a very precarious position. If I had released the e-brake, Im pretty sure that i would have slid into the stream below.

As I sat wondering what to do, I saw a flashlight bobbing down a nearby driveway. A young lady approached me with a shovel, and her father followed with his own shovel. They were obviously well practiced in the art of saving unassuming drivers from Lincoln hill in the winter, and got right down to business. They good-naturedly dug me out of the snow and pushed my car back onto the road, saving me from slipping into the woods. I didn’t even catch their names or thank them properly, because before I knew it I was heading down the middle of the road, safe and sound.

If it wasn’t for their neighborly concern, I would have had a ditched car and a very unpleasant night.

It’s people like that who help people like me get through the winter! I love Vermont.

Followed up today by…

I think this is what people mean when they say we are Vermont Strong.  I am proud to live here, too.

Our Dream - A compilation of dreams and lines written by Mrs. Earle-Centers’ 5th and 6th grade students at Calais Elementary (written after watching Dr. King’s speech in 1963 in Washington, D.C.)

I have a dream that one day everyone will have a friend.
I have a dream that one day people who are poor will get homes and food.
I have a dream that one day all humans will be equal in money, and in health—that no one will be hungry or forced to work to death.
I have a dream that everyone will have food and water and that no one in this world will starve.

I have hope and faith we will be able to help endangered animals, give them homes and treat them well.
I have a dream that people will stop abusing animals.

I have a dream that one day everyone will be safe.
I have hope and faith that we will be able to adopt kids that need help, be there for them and give them care.
I have a dream that all kids will get their own rights and learn to have some kind of freedom.

I have a dream that one day all people will be nice to each other.
I have a dream that one day, everyone can just be friendly, not mean or hurtful.
I have a dream that we will stop the flow of harmful words.
I have a dream that one day we will stand up against bullying and that bullying will stop.
I have a dream that that the people who were getting bullied will be happy.

I have a dream that everyone, no matter what race, will be friends not foes.
I have a dream that one day there will be no nuclear bombs or nuclear power of any kind.
I have a dream that one day this nation will make peace with other nations.
I have a dream that one day this whole world will be in peace, and that angry wars will come to an end,

I have a dream that one day everyone will show the people of the world that they care about what they need.
I have a dream that one day our nation’s weak will be strong, and the strong will be stronger.
I have a dream that our nation will carry on together and with strength.

I have a dream that one day everyone will get along.

So, I doubt if we are the ONLY household having issues with using fuel oil. It has gotten to be outrageously expensive to heat with… What are other/cheaper options? Do you know if Jeffersonville has Natural gas? Is switching to propane any better? Just wondered what other old homes are using these days to cut heating cost. Thank goodness for our fireplace insert! Using 100 gallons every week and a half is killing us.  Thanks for ANY info!

And now today she adds…

Wow! Thank you to everyone with different opinions for heating alternatives! I was bombarded with so many emails I couldn’t keep up. I see many of you have pellet stoves and rave about them… that is wonderful. I am going to heed the advice to check the age and function of our current furnace, and definitely find out about the home energy audit. It has been a long time since new insulation has been done also… so I suppose were in for a costly chore, but worth it in the long run.  Thanks again everyone you were very helpful!

Ask a question, get an answer… that’s the way it is with FPF.  Or, in Stephanie’s case, get LOTS of answers.  And get to know some neighbors a bit better along the way.  The Cambridge FPF covers all 1,500 households in that town and has 840 members.  And it’s finally getting cold this winter!

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!

It would be enormously helpful if you would post this announcement to your neighborhood Front Porch Forum — to date, FPF has been the BEST source of prospective families, so it really does make a difference.

We see this all the time from dozens of area nonprofits, political campaigns, small businesses, and various groups.  Give it a try to help your cause/event/organization/etc. spread the word to tens of thousands of Vermonters!  If your supporters aren’t yet on FPF, send them to FrontPorchForum.com to sign up.

Of course, you’re also welcome to purchase highly effective FPF ad space.

#VT – My “seeking snowshoe” post received many responses and we were able to get out and enjoy the fresh snow because of our generous neighbors. Happy New Year to all – we are lucky to live in such a great community!

That was posted by Laura on the Huntington Front Porch Forum today.  Happy New Year indeed!

When, a couple of years ago, a small group of us got together and submitted Cambridge’s e-Vermont application we didn’t realize how integral Front Porch Forum would become to the day-to-day life of our community.

We’ve had a few controversies but there seems to be a self-correcting mechanism in the common sense of FPF subscribers. “It was on the Forum”, has become a fairly common response in town when asked how someone learned of a new business or community service. The Cambridge Front Porch Forum now reaches into more than half of the households in town and I expect that the number of households served will increase yet again when our long promised 100% broadband coverage becomes a reality by next summer. Our Cambridge FPF membership seems to have reached a critical mass and new members join almost daily even though there has been no organized membership drive, that I know of, since last year’s 4th of July celebration. Word of mouth seems to be working! Congratulations to all Cambridge Forum subscribers for making it a valuable community resource and thanks to our local businesses who utilize the Forum with restraint to offer special value opportunities to our community.

Music to my ears!  Thanks for sharing, Dennis.  We see the points made above happen again and again in other FPF towns, namely…

• People don’t realize how much value FPF will bring… six months into it they are amazed.
• After an early effort to prime the pump, word-of-mouth keeps new members walking in the virtual door.
• FPF typically has the occasional controversy, but it doesn’t go so far as to poison the conversation and drive people away.  I’m glad this appears to be “self-correcting”… we’ve worked hard for years to refine our process with this end in mind.
• Universal broadband availability isn’t necessary for FPF to get started and make a big impact, AND with widespread broadband adoption FPF becomes even more valuable to local folks.

UPDATE:  From another Cambridge FPF member…

A bunch of people were gathered last night in Jeffersonville, and the subject of FPF came up to great kudos for the work you are doing.  In fact, some lamented on behalf of friends who live nearby and do not have FPF.