Category Archives: Media
How do Vermonters prepare for Town Meeting Day decisions?
#BTV #VT – Increasingly, the answer to this question includes Front Porch Forum. Ninety Vermont towns are served by FPF and public officials, advocacy groups and voters alike use their FPF to share information, state opinions and encourage participation in local democracy. Occasionally an FPF will get heated in the days approaching Town Meeting… but that’s how community works. Ideally neighbors pull together and move the community forward after Town Meeting Day, regardless of which candidates and ballot measures prevail.
FPF is popping up in traditional media this week. Two recent front pages (one and two) of the Burlington Free Press mentioned FPF’s role in Town Meeting issues. And Seven Days quoted former City Councilor Ed Adrian today…
In a February 28 posting on Front Porch Forum, Adrian lodged five points of criticism against Bushor, including: “To the best of my knowledge, Sharon has never posted on FPF. Anything.”
Ed will be glad to know that Sharon posted a campaign-related item to her FPF today!
National gathering of community foundations feature FPF
#VT – Front Porch Forum is one of the successful services being highlighted today at the Knight Foundation’s Media Learning Seminar in Miami. FPF is pleased and grateful to be included in this prestigious event.
BYO Projects focuses on Vermont success story
#BTV #VT – BYO Projects is a collection of projects curated by BYO consulting staff and submitted by readers. They showcase projects that make the world a better place through creative problem solving, experience design, technology, and community engagement. Today, on MLK, Jr. Day, they focused on Front Porch Forum!
Front Porch Forum‘s mission is to “help neighbors connect and build communityby hosting regional networks of online neighborhood forums.”
Reporter needs story? Listen to neighbors on FPF
#VT #BTV – In this week’s Seven Days (Vermont’s excellent free alt. weekly), I’ve already counted three stories that stem from postings made on various Front Porch Forums…
- Silvio’s Silver Lining (3:20 mark).. crime in Cambridge
- Weinberger Wants Year-Round Waterfront Action, But Some Neighbors Are Wary… Burlington politics
- UVM Sets Kill Traps for Dam-Building Beavers in Centennial Woods… wildlife controversy
And they’re not alone… ABC22/Fox44 local news covered a Burlington break-in via FPF this week, and the Burlington Free Press, VPR, WCAX, and many community newspaper frequently turn to FPF.
We love it. FPF helps local traditional media find story leads. And we help grow the audience for the stories that they report. We’ve heard many times from FPF members who rarely tuned into local news before signing up for their Front Porch Forums… and now they pay more attention to community issues. Strong and vibrant local media… it’s crucial for our democracy and we’re honored to play our role.
UPDATE: Just saw these tweets…
Morning Edition covers FPF
#BTV #VT – Kirk Carapezza aired a segment about Front Porch Forum today on VPR’s Morning Edition. Listen here. In part…
… “I think it’s a better world when we know our neighbors,” says Michael Wood-Lewis, the founder of Front Porch Forum. “I think that’s changed in the last couple generations.”
Wood-Lewis aims to get back to that tradition with a very contemporary tool. He’s the founder of Front Porch Forum – a sort-of digital bulletin board that brings people together in a particular town or neighborhood.
Wood-Lewis talks about his business with a certain passion. And at 46, he still carries the boyhood idealism that he carried years earlier, delivering newspapers in his hometown of Fort Wayne, Indiana.
“I had a paper route as a kid,” Wood-Lewis recalls. “I knew everybody up and down the street. We all went to the same school. It was a different kind of world. Now it’s hard to know your neighbors. And Front Porch Forum helps people connect in that way.”
Here’s how it works: only people who live in your neighborhood can read or post comments on Front Porch Forum. It’s free, and individuals use it to announce yard sales or declare a lost pet; to exchange political views or just share gossip.
Michael Wood-Lewis says in a small, rural town like Plainfield, one online forum is enough. But in a larger city like Burlington, he says “it would be a dozen or two dozen neighborhood forums.”…
Since Wood-Lewis and his wife founded Front Porch Forum six years ago it has spread quickly – to 80 towns and more than 40,000 households. So far, five cities and towns have agreed to pay for the service, including Vermont’s second largest town…
Back at the bakery in Burlington, Michael Wood-Lewis maintains that Front Porch Forum is one of the most effective ways town officials can communicate with Front Porch Forum and they say, “˜Oh, I don’t pay attention to local news, but I do care what happens up and down my street.'”
Community development in Randolph
#VT – I’m invited to speak at the annual meeting of the Randolph Area Community Development Corporation. I’m looking forward to it! If you’re in central Vermont this evening, please consider joining the crowd.
Randolph Area Community Development Corporation (RACDC)
2012 Annual Membership Meeting
Thursday, September 20th at 6:00pm
At Chadwick’s Restaurant, Event Room
10 Prince Street, Randolph, VT
For the purpose of: Electing Board Members, Updating the Membership, Recognition and AwardsFeaturing Guest Speaker: Michael Wood-Lewis, Front Porch Forum
“Helping Vermont Neighbors Connect & Build Community”
Unitarian-Universalist church building community in Barre
#VT – From a Vermont church newsletter this month…
I think Front Porch Forum is a great resource for communities. We have it here in Bristol where I live, and it is a valuable asset for the area. My neighbor lost her dog and put a desperate plea on FPF. The dog was safely home by the end of the day thanks to neighbors who found her and logged onto FPF. I read reviews of don’t miss local theatre productions. Neighbors are able to pass off their slightly used moving boxes to someone in need and the boxes get a few more uses before they’re recycled. And sightings of bears, coyotes and other wild life are enthusiastically shared. I always look forward to reading it and staying connected with neighbors I might not get a chance to know otherwise. It’s a fine tool for building community. I’m very grateful to Michael and the whole FPF team that have made this excellent tool available to so many communities in Vermont, New York and beyond. I’ve signed up for the new Barre FPF and look forward to learning more about and connecting more with the Barre community. I encourage you to check it out.
Reverend M’ellen Kennedy
The First Church Of Barre ““ Universalist
“Trashaway, Trashaway, Trashaway All”
#VT – The truth is that I love all of the people in my world who help me keep this life humming, and yesterday was just another reminder of how very delightful it is to be living here in this brave little corner of the Universe.
In 2006, Michael and Valerie Wood-Lewis, newly relocated to Burlington, launched, out of necessity, a neat little on-line service called the Front Porch Forum, where Vermont neighbors can connect and share information. E-mail from the Forum arrives twice a day, and it’s there where you find out where the robberies are happening, who needs to borrow a canoe, who’s looking for a handyman. To date, I’ve used the Forum to find a mechanic for my dad’s vintage outboard motor, bales of straw, someone to do bodywork on my ’65 Ford pickup, a whole pig (butchered) and a web designer. Currently there’s a thread running on the Forum about trash removal services, and for days now my neighbors have been singing the praises of my garbageman, Gordy, who owns a business he calls Trashaway. Gordy is one of the nicest men I’ve ever met. He’ll take virtually anything and he doesn’t require that you haul your cans to the end of the driveway. He’s always in a good mood and never in a rush. I love “my” garbageman, and hold him in the very same esteem as “our” pediatrician. They are miracle workers to me–always there when I need them and very, very good at what they do.
That’s from a delightful blog posting by Melissa O’Brien published today. I recommend that you read the whole thing. She describes why many folks live in Vermont.
Need canning supplies or advice? Ask the neighbors…
#VT – From Sara on the Living the Dream blog…
I also have to give a shout out to Front Porch Forum. I put a post about needing some mason jars of any size and I have been given a ton from my neighbor (thanks Penny!), some from my neighbor and coworker Missy (thanks!) and bought a few at a very reduced rate from another neighbor ($.50/jar). Behold the power of the internet!
State of the Re:Union looks at online communities
#BTV #VT – This NPR show weaves together several stories about online communities… lots of food for thought, including a segment about Front Porch Forum (for FPF’s part, go to the 5th section (Segment B) and start at the 7:00 minute mark).
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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