Civic Engagement | Ghost of Midnight

Neighborhoods much less important as social units

Posted on Sunday, January 9, 2011 by Michael • Comments are off for this post

Economist Juliet B. Schor writes in her new book, Plentitude: The New Economics of True Wealth, about the decline of social capital in the United States during the past few decades…

Neighborhoods have become much less important as social units, with people much less likely to interact with, or even know, their neighbors… Online community is growing and filling in some of the gap. But it doesn’t replicate all the functions of face-to-face interaction. (Full quote here… see “Economies of Reciprocity.”)

Schor discusses competing theories that may explain this… and looks at people, projects and places pushing back on this troubling trend. A compelling read.

#VT’s new Lt. Gov. pushes Civic Engagement

Posted on Friday, January 7, 2011 by Michael • Comments are off for this post

New Vermont Lt. Governor Phil Scott (Rep.) was sworn in yesterday and gave a speech centered on civic engagement. I invite our new Lt. Gov. to see how Front Porch Forum is helping Vermont neighbors connect and get involved locally… e-Vermont too. Some choice quotes…

… as many of you know, 46 percent of registered voters didn’t vote in November. That’s 209,000 Vermonters whose only choice on November 2 was not to show up. They decided it wasn’t worth it, or it didn’t matter, or it wouldn’t do any good, to make their voice heard. My experience shows that’s just not the case… I don’t think any of us fully realized until November 2 what that frustration had turned into; it turned into 209,000 people who had apparently given up… Civic involvement isn’t something that’s only relevant on even-numbered years.

All of us here in the Legislature need to reach out to those folks and welcome them in, even when we might not agree with their views. We need to open our doors. In order to live up to the intentions and the expectations of our accessible government, we ourselves need to be more accessible. That will mean different things for each of us. For me, that means literally opening my office door downstairs a morning or two a week and inviting you in for coffee and conversation. It means opening my virtual doors…

When I challenge Vermonters to get involved, I’m not just talking about the work we do in Montpelier. Because I really believe we all want to help each other; sometimes we just need to know how… one theme that I’ve stressed… is self-reliance, and its partner, volunteerism. In my mind, those are two sides of the same coin. Being self-reliant doesn’t just mean looking after yourself, although that’s important… But self-reliance also means looking after our neighbors, and giving them the support they may need to get to the next step in their lives.

That has a lot of implications.

That means buying local, and supporting the merchants on Main Street instead of the website in California.

That means helping Vermont’s manufacturers to identify suppliers and trading partners who are here within our borders or close by in our region.

That means making it easier and more affordable for more of us to eat local food, supporting our farmers, reducing transportation costs, and getting fresher and healthier things to eat.

That means investing in energy policies that help us become more independent.

Personally, I suspect that a great deal of the collective frustration that caused those 209,000 people to stay home on November 2 was the sense that our elected officials and candidates kept talking about the goals — creating jobs, jump-starting the economy, and helping our most vulnerable — but didn’t talk enough about how we would get there. Buying local and encouraging innovative local partnerships are part of my vision for how we do it…

Our challenge in Montpelier is to come up with solutions that will strengthen Vermont. Your challenge is to come up with solutions that will help your neighbor and strengthen your community. If we all work together, we will strengthen the legacy of the state that we love to call home.

Zumba, Beer and Neighbors in Huntington, #VT

Posted on Thursday, January 6, 2011 by Michael • Comments are off for this post

Oh… this makes my heart sing. Enid Wonnacott shows what FPF can do. Love it! Posted today on FPF…

I just want to express my gratitude for Front Porch Forum in Huntington. There were 67 very diverse participants at Zumba class last night (little kids, teenagers, new residents, old residents, people I haven’t seen in a long time, neighbors and people I didn’t even know live in our community).

You could never do that kind of organizing, that quickly, and that successfully without the kind of networking tool provided by FPF.

It was so fulfilling to look at all of those faces in the gym at Brewster Pierce having fun dancing together on a snowy winter night.

My next organizing feat? A pub in Huntington, so we can go and have a beer together to replenish the calories! Zumba will be held Wednesdays in January from 7-8pm at Brewster Pierce. There is a lot of interest in starting a second class a week, so I will keep you posted (because I can…).

This kind of experience plays out time and again across FPF’s service area. We provide the platform and it’s wonderful to watch what people build on it. Go Enid!

Bristolites Rally Around Neighbor in Need

Posted on Wednesday, January 5, 2011 by Michael • Comments are off for this post

Just before Christmas, Bruce posted the following to his Bristol, #VT neighbors via Front Porch Forum…

Action needed now! I recently became aware of a neighbor in need of wood to heat his home. Like many of us who are just a paycheck away from financial hardship, this person suffered a loss of income due to illness and now is facing winter with a soon to be gone woodpile. I have a line on a free wood that needs to be split and is in downtown Bristol. Here’s my plan, I will spend my from 12noon – 4pm this Friday (Christmas eve), splitting, loading and delivering wood to this neighbor in need. I have a small pickup truck. I need 6 volunteers, a wood splitter and three more trucks to pull this off. If this post gets out there by tomorrow, you can just call my cell if you want to help.

No one in this area should be worrying about heat as Winter begins with such a bounty of natural fuel all around us. This year let’s say we care with wood 🙂

And now today, ten days later, he followed up with this…

Wow. What a heart warming response to my last minute request to help a Bristol neighbor who needed wood to keep his homefires burning!

Thanks so much to all the people who spent 3 hours of their Christmas eve making a difference. Especially to Phyllis, you saved the day with your splitter and expertise.

We had probably 10 people come by Park Place and three hours later we had split and delivered 3 cords of wood. Also special thanks to Chris for donating some of his already dry and split wood and trailer to the cause.

The rest of you made this a labor of fun, with three trucks and many hands.

I wish I could post a picture on FPF (not allowed) but for now just picture a wide grin and happy neighbor. Happy New Year!

An amazing 30% of Bristol has signed up for FPF in the first several months of service there. As of this week, FPF is available in 60 Vermont towns. Please encourage your neighbors to join and put it to work! Special thanks to e-Vermont.

Helping Vermonters Help Each Other

Posted on Tuesday, January 4, 2011 by Michael • Comments are off for this post

It’s such an honor to provide a platform for people to be their amazing selves. From a woman in central #VT today…

I just recently helped to move an 80 yr old homeless man into an apartment in Montpelier. When I was first presented with this opportunity, I wondered how are we going to furnish an apartment for someone who has nothing. My brain was working that day, and I immediately logged into Front Porch Forum and WOW! I managed to find the furnishings for an apartment just by using the archives on FPF. Needless to say, this gentleman was moved beyond words and is just so appreciative of what has been given to him. Thanks again, I love FPF.

Is your neighborhood a community?

Posted on Tuesday, December 28, 2010 by Michael • Comments are off for this post

What a delightful portrait of a neighborhood living in community, by Laura Grace Weldon in Ohio…

What makes a neighborhood? Sometimes that’s hard to figure out.

I’ve lived in a number of places. Not all of them seemed like neighborhoods. When I was first on my own I used to bemoan that my fellow renters could hardly be bothered to return a wave but someone kept stealing my newspaper…

Then we moved to a little house. It was silly how hard it was to meet the neighbors. They’d wave but that’s about it. It took nearly a year to meet the older couple across the street… Finally I baked a loaf of bread, knocked on their door and said I was sorry we hadn’t gotten a chance to meet. They turned out to be lovely people. They still write long chatty updates to me years after we moved away.

I began to understand that it takes effort to make a neighborhood. So I greeted everyone who moved onto our street with homemade goodies. I shared produce from my garden and offered to help others in any way I could. I also started inviting people over. In the fall we had bike parades where the kids spent a happy hour or so decorating their tricycles, scooters, and bikes to ride around the neighborhood in a grand procession before coming back to our house for a picnic. We had cookouts, Halloween parties, and Christmas caroling parties. We met up for working get-togethers such as picking apples and making applesauce.

The major neighborhood bonding events were our summer pig pen parties… [read the full post]

This jibes with what we see in dozens of neighborhoods where Front Porch Forum is used. It takes effort to breathe community into a neighborhood. FPF can help make it easier… and can help sustain those connections over time.

Cities, neighborhoods, community and Jane Jacobs

Posted on Monday, December 27, 2010 by Michael • Comments are off for this post

Convergence from my reading pile…

Richard Florida: Who’s Your City: How the creative economy is making where to live the most important decision of your life, 2008.
Jonah Lehrer, NYTimes Magazine, A Physicist Solves the City, Dec. 19, 2010.
John McKnight and Peter Block: The Abundant Community: Awakening the Power of Families and Neighborhoods, 2010.

Each author talks about cities and neighborhoods, and residents’ decisions about where to live and how to live within their communities. They all reference Jane Jacob‘s pioneering work in community and urban planning. And each is well worth reading.

The Times article examines the research of Geoffrey West who is developing equations that he claims describe cities… parallel to the laws of physics. E.g., “whenever a city doubles in size, every measure of economic activity… increases by 15 percent per capita.” Which leads to the idea that moving a person to bigger and bigger cities will make her more and more economically productive.

Richard Florida’s book is full of interesting survey data. Take a look at his maps. Here’s a sample…

Finally, the most compelling and visionary of the lot to this reader is The Abundant Community. McKnight and Block, from a lifetime of experience lay out their case for “a new possibility for each of us to live a more satisfying life” by joining “our neighbors to live and create a community that nurtures our family and makes us useful citizens.” Lots of tactics and examples placed in a useful framework. Many neighborhoods and rural towns in Vermont are using Front Porch Forum in this way and it’s beautiful to behold.

No more nasty anonymous newspaper comments…

Posted on Wednesday, December 22, 2010 by Michael • Comments are off for this post

Glad to see this move by the Sun Journal is western Maine…

The obligation to stand behind your words has also been a core principle of journalism and this newspaper for many years.

The Sun Journal does not use unidentified sources in stories. When our readers write a column or letter to the editor for the newspaper they use their real names.

That, we believe, makes them accountable for what they say, plus it adds weight and credibility to their words.

But we have deviated from that principle for the Web, believing for several years that “online” was somehow different than “in print.” Nearly all newspapers have.

While we have known the identity of many people commenting on stories at sunjournal.com, it was difficult or impossible for users to know. As a result, some comments have been factually incorrect, reckless and mean-spirited.

While the technology of the Web is very different, our core principles should remain the same.

Both our website and print newspaper are, in fact, like a town meeting or community gathering.

So, beginning Feb. 1 all online comments at sunjournal.com will be accompanied by the real names of the people commenting. Only registered and verified users will be able to make comments. Anonymous comments will not be allowed.

All commenters, including subscribers and those registered now, will have to re-register under the new system.

Many newspapers, including the Portland Press Herald and the Bangor Daily News, are now taking steps to make Web commenting more responsible and accountable.

But our new system is the most ambitious effort we’ve seen to elevate the level of online discussion.

Plus, most of our current commenters seem to agree. In an online survey, 57 percent said they would prefer that real names accompany online comments.

The Sun Journal’s motto is “Connecting you with your community,” and for more than 160 years this newspaper has knit together Western Maine communities.

The advent of the Web has given us powerful new ways to connect people and allow anyone to become an active part of every discussion.

We know this decision will not please everyone. In time, however, we believe it will result in a better online experience for all.

e-Vermont and FPF expanding to 12 more #VT towns

Posted on Tuesday, December 21, 2010 by Michael • Comments are off for this post

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 12/21/10
Contact: Helen Labun Jordan, e-Vermont Project Director, 802 225-6091

e-Vermont Selects 2011 Communities

MONTPELIER, VT — The e-Vermont Community Broadband Project will bring digital tools and in-depth internet training to 12 additional rural communities in 2011. The twelve, announced today, will benefit from the expertise and resources of e- Vermont’s statewide partners as the local groups develop ways to take full advantage of the Internet for creating jobs and innovative schools, providing social services, and increasing community connection. These towns join the first 12 pilot e-communities, selected in spring 2010.

The 2011 e-Vermont communities will be Bridgewater, Calais, Castleton, Dover, Fairfield, Hardwick, Jay/Westfield, Middletown Springs, Moretown, Morristown, Richford, and Vergennes. “As we work with rural communities to support the best use of high speed Internet tools in business, government, community and education, we are bringing Vermont one step closer to truly eliminating the digital divide,” says Project Director Helen Labun Jordan, “Rural regions can’t be left behind in digital skills — we may be receiving high speed Internet later than more urban areas, but we’re going to make up for lost time through programs like e-Vermont.”

e-Vermont is one of the few national broadband adoption initiatives focused on rural needs and it is being viewed as a national model. These towns are among the first to explore how the Internet can be harnessed as a tool for community development.

Although the e-Vermont Community Broadband Project can only bring in-depth services to 24 communities, it will be offering tools and resources to all of Vermont through workshops, conferences, webinars, online tools, and the continuing programs of its partner organizations. e-Vermont updates are posted at www.e4vt.org. Contact e- Vermont with any questions at 802-225-6091 or helen@vtrural.org. e-Vermont is not stringing cable or fiber, but is working to make better use of broadband where it is available. The 2010 communities are already seeing benefits.

In Middlesex, almost 60% of the households are using a new community e- newsletter called Front Porch Forum to buy and trade household items, learn about local special events and volunteer needs, share wildlife sightings, and support area businesses.
Five towns (Bristol, Ludlow, Poultney, Newport and West Rutland) are exploring the feasibility of creating public access Wi-Fi zones in their town centers in order to promote their communities and provide visitors with information about local events, services, entertainment and hospitality.
Small business owners in West Rutland are getting one-on-one analysis and advice on how to update and grow their e-commerce from the Vermont Small Business Development Center.
Sunderland – Arlington – Sandgate are adding technology as part of their celebration of their 250th Town Charter Anniversaries in 2011. High school community service students will create a website based on the historical holdings of Martha Canfield Library’s Russell Vermontiana Collection.
In Canaan churches, sports teams, and community groups are implementing an online calendar which will allow for greater event coordination, promotion, and cross-pollination.
Bristol’s 5th graders are learning to create podcasts and other interactive projects as the teachers integrate technology into their classroom. Digital Wish brought new computers for these students along with the training to unlock their potential.
Libraries in all the e-Vermont towns are trying new ways to offer the public better access and training, as computers become essential to obtain social services, find jobs, and keep up with research.

e-Vermont’s partners include Digital Wish, Front Porch Forum, Vermont State Colleges, Vermont Department of Libraries, Vermont Small Business Development Center and the Snelling Center for Government. The Vermont Council on Rural Development is overseeing e-Vermont, and will bring its expertise in community organizing to help each town connect its schools, government, businesses, and nonprofit providers in new and exciting ways.

The 2010 e-communities announced last spring are Brighton, Bristol, Canaan, Cambridge, Grand Isle County, Ludlow, Middlesex, Newport, Poultney, Pownal, Sunderland-Arlington-Sandgate, and West Rutland.

New study: Walkable communities are more socially engaged

Posted on Monday, December 20, 2010 by Michael • Comments are off for this post

From USAToday, report of a new study… people who live in walkable communities enjoy greater social capital than their car-bound fellow citizens. Not too big of a surprise here… common sense. Also, we’ve seen Front Porch Forum lead to increased social capital and one typical outcome is that nearby neighbors talk more face-to-face once FPF catches on. It’s hard to connect with neighbors when you can’t easily see or talk to them.

People who live in walkable communities are more socially engaged and trusting than those who live in less walkable areas, says a new study from the University of New Hampshire.

The study buttresses other research that has linked a neighborhood’s walkability to its residents’ quality of life, notably improved physical and mental health.

The researchers scored 700 residents of three communities in New Hampshire on measures of “social capital” such as socializing with friends, civic engagement and trust in their community. They found those in neighborhoods with higher Walk Score ratings reported being happier and healthier and more apt to volunteer, work on community projects or simply entertain friends at home.

“In the age of increasing energy costs and climate considerations, the ability to walk to important locations is a key component of sustainable communities,” write Shannon Rogers and the co-authors of the study, published online in the journal Applied Research in Quality of Life.

If the residents of these walkable neighborhoods are homeowners, they benefit in yet another way, notes the Sierra Club’s Green Life blog. It cites a 2009 study by CEOs for Cities that founds homes with an above-average Walk Score sold for up to $34,000 more than their sidewalk-less counterparts.

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