Posted on Sunday, September 9, 2007 by
Michael •
I was chatting with a local university professor today when he said something like “I’m hearing about Front Porch Forum nearly everyday all over town.” With 130 local neighborhood forums each having their own conversations, that’s a lot of fodder. It’s no wonder that FPF comes up at his faculty meetings, student office hours, cocktail parties, on the sidewalk in his own neighborhood, etc.
Not having a dot.com focus, he summarized FPF’s contribution as opening a community conversation in each neighborhood in the region, attracting a critical mass of neighbors to join in, keeping the tone civil and constructive in each one, and sustaining it all over time. No mean feat. Nothing about “citizen journalism,” “online social networking,” or “local search”… just meeting a real and largely unmet need… helping neighbors connect and build community.