Category Archives: Civic Engagement
Effective online tools are the ones that keep people engaged
“A successful first experience using Fix My Street is associated with a 57 percent increase in the probability of an individual submitting a second report, and the experience of bureaucratic responsiveness to the first report submitted has predictive power over all future report submissions.”
This jibes with what we observe with Front Porch Forum. People stick with it because, simply, it works. They post a request, question, call for support, etc., and they get results. So they keep participating.
Vermonters, Town Meeting Day and Front Porch Forum
“I believe that access to the financial records of our presidential candidates will help voters decide whether the candidate has a conflict of interest. When I arrived at this realization, it was too late to add this idea to the Town’s warned articles. I am using Front Porch Forum to give my neighbors advance notice of a motion that I hope will be discussed and passed at Town Meeting during the new or other business portion. The motion highlights the efforts already underway in our State Legislature (H. 243 and S. 77) and in the U.S. Congress (S. 26). Here is the proposed motion:
“‘The citizens of Jericho, Vermont support the efforts of our state and federal legislators regarding proposed laws that require the disclosure of federal tax returns before a presidential candidate’s name can be place on the primary and general election ballots and, upon passage, we request that our town employees and/or officials convey the vote to the appropriate persons in our state and federal legislative bodies.'”
• Bill, Jericho FPF
Town Meeting Day is March 7 this year (statewide… actual meeting dates vary by town)… how are you using your local FPF?
Two lost Golden Retrievers found
“The boys are back, one showed up and the other was found and kept safe by a nice couple. I’m so grateful for this sweet nook in the world… such amazing people who really know how to come together and support each other. Thank you to all who helped spread the word and bring my boy back! Much love.”
• Meg, Underhill Front Porch Forum
Do your neighbors know how to come together and support each other? Practice makes perfect. Organize a block party, multi-home yard sale, or a winter potluck. Or use your local FPF to convene a group to work on a community project of your choosing. Towns and neighborhoods with rich social connections from this kind of activity tend to be better places to live and are more resilient when hard times arrive.
Bill McKibben and neighbors helping neighbors
“Thanks for posting the link to the Bill McKibben article. It reminds us of the real purpose of Front Porch Forum… to act like neighbors. Neighbors helping neighbors… red, blue or green. The article inspired me to sign up as a supporting member.”
• Megan, Pownal FPF
Southern Vermont ramping up FPF connections
“I was introduced to Front Porch Forum while living in northern VT… it was used for everything! Rental property, yard sales, items for sale/free, local employment and even loose chickens! I have bought and sold items, found childcare and a place to live… all through FPF! No more scam-filled Craigslist. This is such an incredible resource for our community, if only people would start using it more in southern Vermont. It’s all local, so opportunities and info will be used within our community, therefore strengthening local connections. Please spread the word and let’s just start using it for everything!”
• Kim, Grafton Windham Athens FPF
In most of Vermont, > 75% of households participate on their local FPF. In various southern Vermont towns, membership rates are closer to 20%. That’s changing now, though, thanks in large part to folks like Kim above. People sign up for FPF most often due to word-of-mouth… a friend, co-worker or neighbor telling them to check it out. So… please spread the word! Here’s a collection of flyers, social media links, etc. to put to use in your area.
Essex neighbor assists EMT
“I responded as an EMT two nights ago to a medical problem on Logwood Circle. As I pulled up to the residence, a neighbor, who was out walking by, asked ‘Is everything all right?’ I told him ‘I don’t know, I haven’t evaluated the patient yet.’ He said ‘Can I help?’ I said ‘Sure, can you clean off the stairs so other responders and the ambulance crew can better access the home?’ Awhile later, I came outside to find that he had shoveled the ENTIRE driveway(!) and then went about his walk. Thank you sir for your efforts… it helped us immensely in getting the patient to the ambulance and the hospital. I never got his name; he was just a neighbor helping a neighbor… gotta like it.”
• George, Essex Center Front Porch Forum
Have you seen examples of neighbors stepping up in times of need? Share these stories on your local FPF. This type of news tends to inspire other acts of kindness and builds community.
“Who was that masked man?” Snow mysteriously cleared from neighbors’ driveways
“Many thanks to the man on the tractor with the voracious snow blower attached who cleaned out the front of our driveway, and those of several neighbors, this morning at 5AM. I, for one, wish that you would take off the mask and identify yourself so that I could assist you in the bills you have from that great machine. I guess we should just feel content to know that someone enjoys blowing this white stuff somewhere less intrusive. THANKS AGAIN!!!!!”
• David, Essex Center Front Porch Forum
This is one of dozens such postings on local FPFs across the state lately, with neighbors thanking neighbors for help clearing snow after last week’s storms. In Vermont, it’s easy to lose touch with neighbors during our long, cold winters. But this act of neighborly kindness is a sweet reminder of the kind of community that many of us are blessed with. Thank your neighbor by posting on your FPF today.
Truck needed in Marshfield to move load of donations headed for Burlington-area refugees
“Can anyone provide a closed truck to help move a load of household stuff — furniture and kitchen utensils — donated for distribution to refugees in Burlington area? Start in Marshfield, and end at VT Refugee warehouse in Colchester. In the next couple of weeks. Almost any weekday will do.”
• Jules, Marshfield Plainfield FPF
“Someone has quickly volunteered their truck, together with a driver! Things happen, and fast, with Front Porch Forum.”
• Jules, Marshfield Plainfield FPF, next day
“In Disaster Recovery, Social Networks Matter More Than Bottled Water and Batteries”
A strong argument for building social networks among neighbors — more important than ever — is made by Daniel P. Aldrich in The Atlantic this week. He opens with…
Standard advice about preparing for disasters focuses on building shelters and stockpiling things like food, water, and batteries. But resilience the ability to recover from shocks, including natural disasters comes from our connections to others, and not from physical infrastructure or disaster kits.
Almost six years ago, Japan faced a paralyzing triple disaster: a massive earthquake, tsunami, and nuclear meltdowns that forced 470,000 people to evacuate from more than 80 towns, villages, and cities. My colleagues and I investigated how communities in the hardest-hit areas reacted to these shocks, and found that social networks the horizontal and vertical ties that connect us to others are our most important defense against disasters.
We saw this play out in the wake of Tropical Storm Irene in Vermont. Communities with pre-existing vibrant use of Front Porch Forum rebounded more quickly after the flooding than those without.
Sebastian Junger’s “Tribe”
Sebastian Junger’s recent book, Tribe: On Homecoming and Belonging, strikes a chord familiar to Front Porch Forum fans. Jennifer Senior writes in her New York Times review of the book…
Modern civilization may be swell, giving us unimaginable autonomy and material bounty. But it has also deprived us of the psychologically invaluable sense of community and interdependence that we hominids enjoyed for millions of years. It is only during moments of great adversity that we come together and enjoy that kind of fellowship which may explain why, paradoxically, we thrive during those moments. (In the six months after Sept. 11, Mr. Junger writes, the murder rate in New York dropped by 40 percent, and the suicide rate by 20 percent.)
War, too, for all of its brutality and ugliness, satisfies some of our deepest evolutionary yearnings for connectedness. Platoons are like tribes. They give soldiers a chance to demonstrate their valor and loyalty, to work cooperatively, to show utter selflessness. Is it any wonder that so many of them say they miss the action when they come home?
As a former anthropology major, Mr. Junger takes a special interest in tribal life. He notes that a striking number of American colonists ran off to join Native American societies, but the reverse was almost never true. He describes the structure and values of hunter-gatherer groups, including the ones that lasted well into the 20th century, like the !Kung in the Kalahari.
FPF’s mission is to help neighbors connect and build community. We work toward that mission by hosting a Vermont-wide network of online neighborhood / town forums where people find lost pets, sell cars, give away couches, seek rides to the airport, ask for plumber recommendations, borrow ladders, find part-time jobs, organize block parties, attract crowds for community meetings and events, debate school budgets, and more. And all of this occurs daily among clearly identified nearby neighbors, building connections. Counter to our national trend toward individual isolation, for an increasing number of Vermonters, their neighbors form a healthy part of their tribe.
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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