Community Building | Ghost of Midnight

Christian Science Monitor: Maybe FPF better than good fences

Posted on Friday, March 12, 2010 by Michael • 1 comment

Carrie Leber writes on The Christian Science Monitor website about the challenges of living with difficult neighbors. Her bottom line…

Maybe Internet forums, not fences, are what make good neighbors.

After discussing her own hard-to-live-with neighbors, she says…

Ironically, rather than face-to-face discussions, it may be that the Internet is the best source of info about potentially exasperating neighbors. You can go to sites like RudeNeighbor.com, where people post items about loud parties and bad behavior.

Although researching online kvetching about your potential neighborhood is one option, I really like the notion of the Front Porch Forum.

Started by Michael Woods-Lewis and his wife, Valerie, about 10 years ago, Front Porch Forum is comprised of groupings of neighborhoods in Vermont, each of about 400 homes. People sign up and must clearly identify themselves (no anonymous ravings), and then post items of concern or interest to local neighbors.

To date, 17,000 households across 25 towns in that state interact and discuss what’s going on in their neck of the woods.

What’s key about FrontPorchForum is that it is a micro-community, not a giant group of users such as on Facebook or Twitter. And while the geography of the organization to date has been limited to the Vermont area, FPF will set up a forum in any area for a fee. Or you could start one of your own!

From a real estate perspective, this is a great option for giving insight to prospective buyers about the nature and zeitgeist of a neighborhood. Had there been a forum for my community in Connecticut, I most likely would have seen the many qualms others in the area have had with the infamous Mary and Jerry over the years (no, their ire has not just been focused on me).

Bill McKibben covers FPF for Yankee Magazine

Posted on Thursday, March 4, 2010 by Michael • No comments yet

Amazing! It’s not every day that an author of Bill McKibben‘s statue writes a feature story about Front Porch Forum… let alone with a subtitle of “How New England can save the world!” But there it is… in the March/April 2010 issue of Yankee Magazine. Here’s a snippet…

Susan Comerford, a longtime community organizer and now associate dean for academic affairs and

Credit: William Duke

research at the University of Vermont’s College of Education and Social Services, calls it “the best community organizing tool that’s come along in the last 30 or 40 years.” To understand its importance, says Comerford (who started posting on the forum the day she needed a recommendation for a carpenter), you have to think about what’s happened in the American economy in recent decades.

“It’s not that people care less about community,” she notes. “It’s that the economy has shifted how much people have to work to keep up their standard of living. You don’t have one of the two partners home during the day making all those social connections, providing some sense of safety to the neighborhood. People have less disposable time than they used to.”

In a world like that, a system that lets you sit down for 10 minutes at the end of the day and learn what’s happened to your neighbors should, in Comerford’s view, earn Wood-Lewis one of those MacArthur “genius” grants.

UPDATE: The media coverage of Bill’s look at FPF is growing. Check it out here, starting March 1, 2010.

“Best advocacy tool in town!”

Posted on Thursday, February 25, 2010 by Michael • No comments yet

How many people have we heard from who want to blast their political message across a wide swath of Front Porch Forum? Too many to count.

It makes sense. FPF has a huge local audience and Town Meeting Day is March 2… less than a week away. Candidates, political parties, advocacy groups… they all are working to get the word out about their issue, their campaign.

But at its core, FPF isn’t about blasting out a single message to thousand of local homes. It’s about neighborhood-level conversation. Any local resident may join the single FPF neighborhood forum where he/she lives and post to his/her heart’s content. (FPF is available in 25 Vermont towns.)

Most people are glad to read items from their clearly identified nearby neighbors… then continue the conversations on the sidewalk or at the local store or school. FPF members seem less excited about reading one-way bulk postings from non-nearby neighbors.

That said, FPF does offer a range of options around elections, spelled out in our FAQ. If you want to weigh in before Town Meeting, check out the guidelines and start posting!

Case in point… a Burlington resident who opposes a ballot measure to repeal Instant Runoff Voting. She asked FPF to broadcast her posting across many of Burlington’s nearly 40 online neighborhood forums. We declined and encouraged her to post it on her “home” neighborhood forum and ask friends in other neighborhoods to forward her message.

She took our advice and now we see her message popping up all over the city, and in each case it has a lead-in sentence from the friend stating their agreement with her position. So now thousands of potential voters are getting the message, each with an extra pitch from a nearby neighbor… very effective. “Best advocacy tool in town,” is how she put it.

And the original advocate had to convince dozens of friends across town to help her get her message out. This is democracy! Just the opposite of big money buying elections through mass media.

Indeed, I answered a knock on my door this morning and found a neighbor returning a borrowed pan. We took the opportunity to discuss the merits of the IRV-repeal ballot measure for five minutes, each getting a little more food for thought before our respective moments in the voting booth next Tuesday. A great use of Front Porch Forum!

HCR235 Honors FPF Members!

Posted on Wednesday, February 24, 2010 by Michael • 3 comments

Thanks to VT State Rep. Suzi Wizowaty and 23 co-sponsors for honoring Front Porch Forum users with HCR235!

House Concurrent Resolution 235
Congratulating Front Porch Forum on Its 10th Anniversary

Offered by: Representatives Wizowaty of Burlington, Aswad of Burlington, Bissonnette of Winooski, Donovan of Burlington, Frank of Underhill, Head of South Burlington, Heath of Westford, Jerman of Essex, Johnson of South Hero, Krebs of South Hero, Larson of Burlington, Lippert of Hinesburg, Lorber of Burlington, Minter of Waterbury, O’Brien of Richmond, Pugh of South Burlington, Ram of Burlington, Spengler of Colchester, Stevens of Waterbury, Till of Jericho, Waite-Simpson of Essex, Weston of Burlington, Wright of Burlington and Zuckerman of Burlington

Whereas, Front Porch Forum (FFP) has helped thousands of Vermont neighbors connect and build real community through its free, online service, and

Whereas, FPF now hosts 140 online neighborhood forums that blanket all of Chittenden and Grand Isle Counties, plus Starksboro, and

Whereas, more than 17,000 Vermont households subscribe to FPF, including in excess of 40 percent of dozens of neighborhoods and towns, and

Whereas, hundreds of local businesses and public officials use FPF to connect with Vermont customers and constituents, and

Whereas, thousands of Vermonters use FPF to find lost pets, report break-ins, organize neighborhood clean-ups and block parties, give away and sell household items, announce public events, debate local issues, and more, and

Whereas, FPF has been recognized nationally for helping Vermonters lead more civically engaged lives, and

Whereas, FPF looks forward to expanding its service to all Vermont towns, and

Whereas, today, March 30, 2010, marks Front Porch Forum’s 10th anniversary, now therefore be it

Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives: That the General Assembly congratulates Front Porch Forum, Inc. on its 10th anniversary and its success in reinvigorating Vermont neighborhoods while building new online communities, and be it further

Resolved: That the Secretary of State be directed to send a copy of this resolution to Michael Wood-Lewis at Front Porch Forum, Inc. in Burlington.

AARP Vermont grants for a livable Burlington!

Posted on Sunday, February 21, 2010 by Michael • No comments yet

AARP Vermont recently announced a new grant program to fund grassroots projects around Burlington…

“These sponsorships are intended to inspire and support grassroots groups that have a vision for their neighborhood or the city and how it can be improved to the meet the needs of all residents,” said Jennifer Wallace-Brodeur of AARP Vermont. “The sponsorship is open to grassroots groups and small non-profits in Burlington and should represent a desire to make change through local level activism and advocacy.” Following the May 6 application deadline, three groups will be selected for grants ranging from $500-$2,000.

In praise of neighbor connection

Posted on Saturday, February 13, 2010 by Michael • No comments yet

Thanks to Jamie for this lovely note, just received via a posting to her neighbors…

Pardon a very old fashioned and stupid cliche but I personally think Front Porch Forum is the “next best thing to sliced bread.” I LOVE opening the posts and as I live in both Huntington and Starkboro (at the same time) I am lucky to get both. I have told just about everyone I know and a zillion business people about FPF and tell them they MUST join. It’s the BEST thing ever and I hope you spread it to all rural communities across the USA!!!!

Businesses connecting with neighbors

Posted on Wednesday, February 10, 2010 by Michael • No comments yet

Local businesses reach out to neighbors through Front Porch Forum every day in a number of ways.

Small start-ups simply post to their nearby neighbors letting folks know that they are open for business. Other companies purchase advertising. Nonprofits often ask their supporters to post event announcements, each on his/her own FPF neighborhood forum. Local institutions and municipalities are buying subscriptions that provide access to their area neighborhood forums.

And, of course, neighbor-to-neighborhood recommendations flow through FPF at a rapid rate… plumbers, roofers, mechanics, dentists, arborists, snow plow kings, and on and on. People like to ask their neighbors and FPF helps that to happen easily and with lots and lots of nearby neighbors all at once.

FPF staff are available to speak with business groups about all this. Indeed, we addressed the Burlington Referral Organization this morning. Tomorrow we’ll be at the CEDO Winter Business Fair. We’ve enjoyed sharing our message with several Chamber of Commerce groups, Rotary, VBSR, business school classes, leadership institutes, and more.

Here’s a note about the Feb. 11 business fair in Burlington.

Neighbors inspiring each other to action on climate change

Posted on Tuesday, February 9, 2010 by Michael • No comments yet

Bill McKibben wrote a good book about local solutions to global threats, like climate change, called Deep Economy: The Wealth of Communities and the Durable Future…

McKibben’s animating idea is that we need to move beyond “growth” as the paramount economic ideal and pursue prosperity in a more local direction, with cities, suburbs, and regions producing more of their own food, generating more of their own energy, and even creating more of their own culture and entertainment. He shows this concept blossoming around the world with striking results, from the burgeoning economies of India and China to the more mature societies of Europe and New England. For those who worry about environmental threats, he offers a route out of the worst of those problems; for those who wonder if there isn’t something more to life than buying, he provides the insight to think about one’s life as an individual and as a member of a larger community.

It’s fascinating to assert that local actions can have a real impact on such huge problems as global warming. This was brought to mind today by an encouraging post in Westford, VT on Front Porch Forum…

As someone very interested in renewable energy systems that works in Westford, I’m encouraged by the recent posts from neighbors sharing their experiences with solar hot water heaters. These forward-thinking individuals made the investment with less information and financial incentives than is now available and today they are reaping the financial and environmental rewards.

Other neighbors have recently installed photovoltaic systems or are considering wind to generate their own electricity.

Please continue sharing your stories. You are an inspiration.

Yes, by all means, let’s keep inspiring each other!

Saving money in Vermont… neighborhood group purchases

Posted on Tuesday, February 9, 2010 by Michael • 3 comments

Need to pinch pennies in this tight economy? Who doesn’t!

We’ve seen plenty of neighbors chasing lower prices by pulling together through Front Porch Forum to form group purchases. In Huntington, it’s propane. Other neighborhoods in Essex, South Burlington, Burlington, and Richmond have aggregated their purchasing power to get better deals on driveway paving, trash hauling, fuel oil, house painting, tree trimming, snow removal and more. From today’s Huntington FPF…

There was a group of folks last year who got this going, and we took advantage. Thank you to the folks who organized it… It was with Suburban Propane. Phone: 864-9821 Call them and ask for Tina. Tell her you want to be part of the Front Porch Forum group plan, and I think it was about $2.67/gal last year based on our small consumption (<500 gal/yr). This was compared to over $4/gal…

Click Local! Vermont Telecom Authority

Posted on Tuesday, February 9, 2010 by Michael • 2 comments

Thanks to the Vermont Telecom Authority for pointing Vermonters to Front Porch Forum. While it makes sense for local folks to use online tools from the mega corporations — Goolge, Facebook, Craigslist, Yahoo, etc. — it’s reassuring when Vermont-bred dot.com services (iBrattleboro, Seven Days, Vermont Tiger, Green Mountain Daily, FPF, etc.) get a little recognition from our public leaders.

Indeed, while a growing number of people understand and support the idea of buying local, extending the same notion to online habits has yet to get traction. Just as sure as dollars spent in a local coffee shop add up to benefit the local economy more than the same money spent at a Starbucks, clicks on locally owned and operated websites contribute to a vibrant small-scale local alternative to the Wal-Marts of the online world.

Click Local!

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