Yearly Archives: 2012
Santa smacks roof in Richmond
#VT – Some folks use their Front Porch Forum to ask neighbors for roofer recommendations… straight forward stuff. Others, like Tracy in Richmond today, have more fun with it…
Holey leak spot Batman, I thought it was Hurricane Irene but forensic evidence indicates that Santa Claus (more on that later) landed a little too hard on our roof. There are two clear hoof prints that have messed up a couple of our shingles and we have need a roof maven to come over and give us some service. In fact I was sitting in the throne room just the other day and had an epiphany. Actually it was something wet dripping out of the ceiling. What a paradox. The world was upside down for a minute. Oh well. If anybody does light roof work give my wife a call. She is in charge of the physical plant. 802.318.3467. Or horse back riding lessons. But i digress.
Ask neighbors for farmers’ market finds
#BTV #VT – Folks in Vermont use Front Porch Forum is lots of ways. Here’s one from today’s FPF in Burlington’s Old North End by a local newspaper reporter…
Dear neighbors: I’ll be sampling breakfast, lunch and snacks at the Burlington Farmers Market this Saturday… Would love recommendations from ONE East about which temptations I shouldn’t miss, which prices are most reasonable. Any and all suggestions welcome.
Guatemala help needed? Turn to Williston FPF!
#VT – Melinda shared the following with her Williston negihbors on Front Porch Forum recently…
My daughter is senior next year and working on her Grad Challenge project. She is traveling to Guatemala this summer. She needs to find someone with connections/experience with Guatemala or South America to be her Community Consultant… Unfortunately our planned consultant fell through and now we are scrambling to find someone in the next 2 days.
She posted the good news today…
Thanks to Front Porch Forum we found a community consultant to work with my daughter. In addition to the consultant my daughter now also has other people to interview as part of her project. It felt so good to have all help from so many neighbors. FPF is great!
Help FPF land $250,000 grant!
#BTV #VT – Update 3: Click to vote, enter “Front Porch Forum” in the business name field, AND leave city and state fields BLANK. Click SEARCH button. Then, next to FPF entry, click VOTE button. That’s it! Thank you!
Vermonters, Front Porch Forum members and friends… we need your clicks today. It only takes a minute! We’re in the running for a $250,000 grant that we’ll use to improve the FPF software, add more neighbors and features, and expand to serve more local communities. Will you help? As a small Vermont business, far from Silicon Valley and other capitals of commerce, we’re a long shot but we’ve seen FPF members move mountains before. FPF serves 70 Vermont towns and 1 in upstate New York… 38,000 households participate in this free community service. Let’s see how many votes we can muster! The more votes, the better. 1. Vote for FPF today.
- You must have a Facebook account.
- Go to the contest website and click LOG IN & SUPPORT.
- Enter your Facebook information as needed and click Log In.*
- Once logged in successfully, enter “Front Porch Forum” in the Business Name box (do NOT enter state or city info) and click the SEARCH button. Or search by state.
- When you find the Front Porch Forum entry, click the blue VOTE button next to FPF… that’s it!
- While you’re at it, consider voting for other cool small businesses that you support (you can vote once for as many entrants as you like).
- Voting closed June 30, 2012.
2. Ask your friends to vote for FPF before June 30, 2012.
- Spread the word via FPF, Facebook, Twitter, email, etc.
- Send folks to this blog post for details (http://bit.ly/FPFgrant) or directly to the contest site (http://www.missionsmallbusiness.com).
Wish you success. We LOVE FPF. It is the best mediumm for getting items of interest to the community.
– Barb, Alburgh FPF
- YES, to vote you must have a Facebook account and use it to register with the contest website.
- Once registered on the contest website, enter “Front Porch Forum” into the BUSINESS NAME field and leave the city and state fields untouched/blank… click the SEARCH button. Then click the VOTE button next to the Front Porch Forum entry.
*More details regarding voting… If you are logged into Facebook on your computer:
- When you click to “Support Small Business“, you will be logged into the Mission: Small Businessâ„ site via Facebook Connect
- A permissions screen from Facebook will appear
- The Mission: Small Businessâ„ site will utilize your Facebook credentials for sharing your actions on the site to the Facebook newsfeed
- No information will be posted automatically but you will have the option to share in your Newsfeed your Support, and your Vote on a local merchant
If you are not logged into Facebook:
- When you click to “Support Small Business“, the Mission: Small Businessâ„ site will prompt you to log into Facebook
- Once you log in with your Facebook credentials, you will see a permissions screen from Facebook.
- The Mission: Small Businessâ„ site will utilize your Facebook credentials for sharing your actions on the site to the Facebook newsfeed
- No information will be posted automatically but you will have the option to share in your Newsfeed your Support, and your Vote on a local merchant
Burlington community engagement survey results
#BTV #VT – Burlington’s Community and Economic Development Office (CEDO) just released the results of a new survey that shows that “sense of community” is highly valued by Burlington citizens. About 44% liked their neighborhood because of friendly neighbors and a strong sense of community. And 10% said that an even stronger sense of community would improve their neighborhood more.
The average respondent (588 total) uses Front Porch Forum, is an English-speaking homeowner age 30 to 60, lives with one other adult and no children, works full-time, and has an annual household income greater than $50,000.
Some other tidbits…
Q: How did you find out about your Neighborhood Planning Assembly?
38% Front Porch Forum
22% Word of mouth
5% Newspaper
35% Other
Q: What do you like about your neighborhood?
52% Proximity to amenities
44% Friendly neighbors/strong sense of community
Lots of other options
Q: What would you change about your neighborhood?
13% Less traffic and speeding
11% Nothing
10% More connection to neighbors
Lots of other options
Q: Are you subscribed to Front Porch Forum?
93% Yes
Q: Which (other) social media do you use?
92% Email
69% Facebook
33% YouTube
21% Twitter
17% Google+
4% None
1% LinkedIn
Several others listed
Q: How did you find out about survey?
69% Front Porch Forum
10% CEDO e-newsletter
4% NPA
4% Friend/co-worker
3% Facebook
2% email
2% Bulletin board
1% Twitter
1% Service provider
0.2% Business
Q: Languages spoken in household?
99% English
6% French
4% Spanish
16 other languages selected by respondents
Q: Rent or own your housing?
30% Rent
70% Own
Q: Number of adults (18 or older) living in household?
20% 1
66% 2
9% 3
3% 4
1% 5
0.4% 6-7
Q: Children under 18 in household?
68% 0
14% 1
14% 2
2% 3
1% 4
Q: Your age?
1% Under 18
18% 18-29
34% 30-44
32% 45-61
13% 62-74
3% 75 and over
Q: Your employment?
58% Work full-time
16% Work part-time
11% Retired
5% Student full-time
4% Unemployed
2% Self-employed
1% Disabled
1% More than 1 job
1% Attending school and working
1% Stay-at-home parent
0.4% Student part-time
0.2% Sabbatical
Q: Your annual household income?
13% Less than $20,000
12% $20,000 to $30,000
10% $30,000 to $40,000
10% $40,000 to $50,000
14% $50,000 to $65,000
9% $65,000 to $80,000
15% $80,000 to $100,000
15% More than $100,000
Who’s organizing your block party?
#VT – People increasingly use their Front Porch Forum to organize block parties, group yard sales, and community potlucks. That’s great! Here’s an example…
I am a young professional who just moved into the area from Southern Vermont. My boyfriend and I live in South Starksboro and are interested in getting to know community. Does anyone have suggestions?
Also, I would love to find somewhere to volunteer and meet people. Are there upcoming events, community groups or organizations that could use an extra hand?
This posting was followed today by the wonderful response below…
I would like to propose a potluck at our gardens and invite other ‘New’ neighbors as well as ‘Old’ neighbors. How about Sunday June 24 at 4. Any other suggestions neighbors?
AWOL kitty discovers beach bum lifestyle…
#VT – Thanks to Front Porch Forum one of my neighbors responded to my post and reported seeing our cat, Colby, at the neighborhood beach this past weekend. I went down this morning and called his name and low and behold, he came out from behind the hedges…
Thank you Lucie for responding to my post.. My family, particularly my 4 year old granddaughter, is very grateful to you.
We are so very happy to have him home again.
Posted by Cathy today on her Colchester FPF.
About Blog
Ghost of Midnight is an online journal about fostering community within neighborhoods, with a special focus on Front Porch Forum (FPF). My wife, Valerie, and I founded FPF in 2006... read more
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