Ghost of Midnight

VPR: Front Porch Forum turning 10

From Steve Zind’s recent piece about FPF…

Nearly 10 years after it was created, the online community known as Front Porch Forum is a well-established statewide service.

It’s a unique model that hasn’t been duplicated on a statewide level elsewhere, but Front Porch Forum CEO and co-founder Michael Wood-Lewis says the business is viable without expanding beyond Vermont.

The free online community message board was started by Wood-Lewis and his wife Valerie when they were looking for a way to communicate with people in their Burlington neighborhood.

The business grew steadily. Then, in 2013, Front Porch Forum received a grant under the Vermont Council on Rural Development‘s Digital Economy Project that allowed it to essentially double its coverage area to include every town in Vermont.

Today the business has a dozen employees and is financially sustainable…

Listen to or read the full article here.