Category Archives: Civic Engagement
How best to heat your old home? Ask the neighbors…
#VT – Stephanie posted this to her Cambridge neighbors via Front Porch Forum a couple days ago…
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!
How many people use FPF in Burlington?
#BTV #VT – More than 9,600 members are active in Front Porch Forum now in Burlington, out of the 16,000 households that comprise the city. In 2011, they shared 26,000 postings with their nearby neighbors via FPF. Amazingly, HALF of FPF members spoke up and contributed to their FPF neighborhood conversations. In one survey, 93% reported feeling “more civically engaged since joining FPF.” About 100 elected and appointed public officials participate too.
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!
12 Words for 2012 FPF Raffle!
#BTV #VT – Enter the 12 Words for 2012 FPF Raffle and win a $100 prize! Enter before noon Jan. 12… just submit a posting to your FPF that contains EXACTLY 12 words and you’ll be in the running for one of these great prizes…
- $100 Gift Certificate to Outdoor Gear Exchange
- $100 Lake Champlain Chocolates Gift Basket
- 12 Pints of Ben & Jerry’s Ice Cream for Each of 5 Winners
I’ll post some of the entries here later… see submissions from past years here. Happy posting!
UPDATE: Here are the lucky winners!
$100 Gift Certificate to Outdoor Gear Exchange
Stephen Handley, Bristol FPF
• To work I can not go. Head to Sugarbush – they make snow.
$100 Lake Champlain Chocolates Gift Basket
Diane Fuchs, Essex Junction FPF
• Forget the 2012 diet resolution– volunteer more hours in your community instead!
12 Pints of Ben & Jerry’s Ice Cream for Each of 5 Winners
Elga Gemst, Moretown FPF
• 2011: Swimming in kitchen with refrigerator. 2012: Lying on beach with book.
Jo McKay, Jay FPF
• My baby is eating solid foods. Now we need a high chair.
Jen Quavelin, Burlington FPF
• I’m thankful to live in a town where lively public discussions flourish.
Charlotte Comar, Pownal FPF
• No fishermen on Barber’s Pond – Ice too thin… ‘fraid to fall in.
John Craig, Jeffersonville FPF
• With the light always on, Community breaths through the Porch of Vermont.
Wow… we’ve got more than 1,800 entries… read more below!
- Sweat lodge on Decatur, neighbors welcome, nudity required, toasty buns heck yeah!
- Forget the 2012 diet resolution– volunteer more hours in your community instead!
- How to turn a dishwasher into a snowblower? Give her a shovel.
- Spaces between your fingers were created so that another’s could fill them!
- Nasty snow storm coming our way, seat belts on, cell phones away.
- Vermont Strong – Hope for those still struggling from Irene – Peace to All
- Occupy Burlington is still alive and well! Visit www.occupyburlington.org for more info!
- Gadzooks! My mother voted for Gingrich! Why not Huntsman as Obama’s veep?
- You’re a Vermonter if your car trunk doubles as extra freezer space.
- Tomorrow is my Birthday, so I yell “Hooray, I’m almost ten today!”
- Front Porch Forum here to stay put your check in mail today.
- Scanty snow and deep freezes; kill the deer ticks under the leaveses.
- Read Front Porch Forum every day. Hear about local happenings right away!
- Bed and breakfasts? Places to stay? Seeking rooms for the wedding day.
- My baby is eating solid foods. Now we need a high chair.
- Excellent Sony KV24FS120 TV, too large for me, is yours for free.
- Books, movies, magazines, and free wireless Internet all at your local library.
- Oh what fun it is to read Front Porch Forum today, hey!
- Run for local office. Pick up petitions at your local town office
- I have promises to keep; And miles to go before I sleep
- Is there fluoride in our town water? Who can tell me please?
- I spent my childhood praying to have children and they are amazing!
- Twelve words does it take for a twelve word entry to make.
- Brrrr, chilly outside; please keep all pets warm … bring them INSIDE!
- No fishermen on Barber’s Pond – Ice too thin… “˜fraid to fall in.
- find, sell, give, ask, inform; vent, warn, live, your Front Porch Forum
- Words are elusive. Twelve to play the Front Porch game? Embrace Brevity!
- Wanted to borrow: An infrared camera to do my own energy audit.
- Best bumper sticker: ” I am from Vermont, I do what I want!”
- Our rat, Pepper, has died. Free fish tank for your small critter.
- Currently looking for an occasional babysitter for our thirteen month old son.
- Fabulous babysitter, evenings or weekends. EHS sophomore, great with kids. References available.
- Mint repels mice. Store towel soaked in mint oil in glove compartment.
- Several free bunnies looking for a home. Call or email if interested.
- Looking for cheap used mandolin, an instrument to learn on, nothing fancy!
- I’m thankful to live in a town where lively public discussions flourish.
- I love black turkeys on white snow beside a mint green stream.
- two bassets want pals to chase, one dachshund wants to play ball
- Wishes for a peaceful and healthy 2012 to all of my neighbors!
- To work I cannot go. Head to Sugarbush – they make snow.
- This 12 word contest sure is attracting a lot of interesting entries.
- With the light always on, Community breaths through the Porch of Vermont.
- Front Porch Forum My news of the Neighborhood. Well done. Thank you.
- Let’s promise to be kind to one another in the New Year.
- Littered trash beware, South Burlington residents care. You will be evicted, deposed.
- I am seeking help with snow removal; seeking snow first, removal second.
- Used mind for sale; fair condition; sometimes wanders randomly; best reasonable offer.
- I wanted the pygmy goats but I need new goat shed first!
- Get fit by joining snap fitness gym it is local and awesome.
- Twelve words is not enough to say what I want to say.
- My tires don’t inspire buyers. Should price be higher? Plight is dire.
- Conquering dark solitude. We dance grinning, hand in hand, enjoying the band
- Snowshoe! Sled! Skate! Ski! But how? Winter, O Winter, where art thou?
- In our house, a happy quorum: Read/Post/Love “Front Porch Forum”.
- Moving is fun ooowhee! Come one, come all, to see what’s free!
- Finally reached my diet goal. With my luck, I’ll win the chocolates.
- Broadband… please; Teacher contract renewed; Lost animals found; MORE SNOW! Community United.
- Failure is simply the opportunity to begin again, this time more intelligently!
- Never look down on someone else unless you are helping them up!
- Twelve words that’s it. To challenge our wit. Really a tight fit.
- When it snows, our lawn looks just as nice as the neighbor’s.
- My kids are ice cream and LCC crazy; I must post this.
- Wanted: Random Acts of Kindness. Offer a helping hand to your neighbor.
- The Wolf Full Moon hiding in Middlesex behind the low hazy clouds.
- We have been car free since Labor Day! It’s great. Thanks, CarShare!
- I miss the Alchemist. I love Cork. Looking forward to Prohibition Pig.
- Broken straps, Replaced free. Tubbs snowshoes, Lifetime guarantee. Deep snow, same deal?
- Wanted: atmospheric water vapor frozen into crystals and falling in white flakes
- Town roads. To pave, or not to pave: that is the question.
- Seen today at intersection of Common Way and Greenbush: three legged fox!
- Even if you fall on your face, you are still moving forward.
- Angel Dog is not a family movie. Do not rent for kids.
- This is my first post! I work for Girl Scouts. Wanna volunteer?
- Wanted: atmospheric water vapor frozen into crystals and falling in white flakes.
- Hey all Bristol folks, remember to shop local, close to our homes.
- The snowy owl made it to Vermont, maybe there will be twelve?
- That’s how it is with Fred; people like to eat his bread.
- The sleeping cats hug the heat vents dreaming about the summer sun.
- A little peace on Earth, and big piece of pie for dessert.
- Sometimes I wonder: what would I Do if I couldn’t eat cheese?
Integral to day-to-day life of community…
Dennis posted the following today on the Cambridge #VT FPF…
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.
One neighbor’s interesting news is another’s static
#VT – Neighbors in Jericho are debating the paving of some dirt roads on their Front Porch Forum this past month. Many good points are making the rounds. Elected leaders are reading FPF. This is good stuff.
Many of the postings are also making their way to sister town Underhill’s FPF. We heard from an FPF member there the other day complaining about clogging up his FPF with this dirt road conversation from neighboring Jericho.
FPF online community manger Linda posted in response…
One neighbor’s interesting news is another’s static! The feedback is helpful…
And today, from Underhill FPF member Karl…
More feedback, Linda: Jericho roads are important to Underhill drivers. This paving debate is intrinsically interesting and directly pertinent to us. Far from “clogging” the forum it’s animating and informing the forum. More to the point, much of the beauty of FPF is its lean, succinct presentation; it takes a fraction of a second to skip what doesn’t interest us. Even more to the point, the point of FPF isn’t only to get the news, it’s also to participate in and partake of the community around us, to learn to think of ourselves as connected and responsible for each other. Please send us anything and everything we might care about, whether or not we’re eligible to vote on it.
Helping Cambridge Animals OR Online Conversation Leads to Offline Action
#VT A recent news article about apparent neglect of some farm animals in the Town of Cambridge led to a wide-ranging discussion on Front Porch Forum there. After expressions of shock and dismay, other folks added more information that helped clarify the particular situation. People discussed steps being taken by neighbors, a local vet, and state officials. And then today, Jena posted on FPF about a group forming…
Thanks so much for the emails! I’m excited by all the positive feedback for a community animal support group. Our 1st meeting is on January 3rd @ 6pm. To get to my house, turn off route 15 at The Cambridge Village Market… I’m looking forward to meeting all you kind hearted animal lovers:)
I’m eager to hear how this new group will help area animals that fall between the cracks of our faltering economy.
Occupy Your Neighborhood or Perpetually Indebted to Your Neighbors
#OWS #BTV #VT – Thomas Meany writes about anthropologist David Graeber’s new book, DEBT: The First 5,000 Years, in this week’s NYT Book Review. Graeber, considered by some to be the “house theorist of Occupy Wall Street,” is gaining traction. From the review…
In 1925 the French anthropologist Marcel Mauss published his classic essay “The Gift,” which argued that contrary to the textbook account of primitive man merrily trading beaver pelts for wampum, no society was ever based on barter. The dominant practice for thousands of years was instead voluntary gift-giving, which created a binding sense of obligation between potentially hostile groups. To give a gift was not an act based on calculation, but on the refusal to calculate. In the societies Mauss studied most closely the Maori of New Zealand, the Haida of the Pacific Northwest people rejected the principles of economic self-interest in favor of arrangements where everyone was perpetually indebted to someone else.
“Perpetually indebted to someone else”… this sums up so much of what I love about my community life in Burlington, VT right now. We have a critical mass of people who willingly have jumped into debt with each other… not monetary debt, rather favor debt.
I was raised to value making my contribution to others while taking great pains to avoid accepting the same from others. So were lots of folks here. But that’s a recipe for setting yourself apart, for isolation. As my family has learned to accept favors from those around us, it’s made our contributions to others that much more meaningful and personal.
Now, through Front Porch Forum, MealTrain, our church, school, neighborhood and other means, we ask and offer favors daily from hundreds of friends, neighbors and acquaintances. Each request works against isolation and lays down another thread in the web of community that supports our life. This is a crucial asset… as much as our house, my job, the kids’ college savings.
My brother and his family are planning a holiday visit to see us in Vermont this month. We could all jam into our house, but I know they would sleep better if we had more space for the two families. Hotels are expensive and distant… B&Bs too. So, I put the word out to neighbors and got several offers of empty houses that we could use on our block. These neighbors are traveling out of state and are glad to share their home while they’re away. We’ve done this a dozen times over the past few years… offering or asking for empty-house guest lodging. Make that hundreds of times if we include other favors… meals, rides, tools, advice, kids stuff, labor, baby/pet sitting, on and on.
This is incredibly generous and trusting of all involved… but it’s also keeping each of us “perpetually indebted to our neighbors” in a way that makes our community stronger with each exchange.
Have you heard?
From #VT State Rep. Tom Stevens today…
Have You Signed up for FPF?
Hey Waterbury and Duxbury recipients: Have you found your way to Front Porch Forum yet? Huntington has been using this service for some time now, and it is a real treat to have it finally come to Waterbury and Duxbury. Since the service was turned on in early November, over 200 of your neighbors have joined.
FPF is an excellent way to stay in touch with your neighbors, sell something gathering dust in your garage, find a babysitter, and ask for a hand post-flood. Check it out… FrontPorchForum.com
We’ve also recently expanded to Cabot, East Montpelier and Stowe. Click here for a map and list of Vermont towns served by FPF.
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.”
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
Post Categories
- Uncategorized
- PDF2009
- Calendar
- Northeast Kingdom
- podcast
- Peer Rental
- Localization
- Big Tech
- Events
- PDF2007
- Web Traffic
- Google AdSense
- Pay It Forward
- Elections
- berkmansunlight
- Maps
- Video
- Upstate New York
- Coupons
- Wildlife
- Mobile
- Viral Marketing
- Raffle
- Crisis Response
- Donations
- Lost & Found
- Real Estate
- College Students
- Gratitude
- Social Responsibility
- Orton Family Foundation
- Start ups
- Make It Your Own Awards
- Best of FPF
- Online Civility
- Clay Shirky
- Newspapers
- Humor
- How To Use FPF
- Online Classified Ads
- Peer Reviews
- Politics
- Community Management
- Economic Development
- Local Reviews
- Case Foundation
- Borrow and Lend
- Neighborhood Watch
- Good Government
- Small Business Advertising
- Citizen Journalism
- e-Vermont
- Democracy
- Local Search
- Knight Foundation
- Burlington
- MacArthur Fellows
- Civic Engagement
- Social Media
- social capital
- Social Networking
- Vermont
- Neighborhood
- Community Building
- Local Online
- Front Porch Forum