Category Archives: Media
POSTED IN WINOOSKI – portraits in response to FPF postings
UPDATE from Dan…
PHOTO RECEPTION @ the BLOCK GALLERY in WINOOSKI
THURSDAY, OCTOBER 9TH, 5-7 PMStop in and view the photographs I am exhibiting that put a face on Winooskis Front Porch Forum. The portraits, made in collaboration with subjects, give a visual dimension to postings and neighbors you may know by name only. Also take time to enjoy the variety of topics that include live chickens, a bocce team, F-35s, a colossal sub, perky dogs, book readers, fallen trees, farmers market, artworks, postal clerks, an impressive hedge trimmer, a VFW barbeque, lawn sales, a grammar lesson, and of course pedestrian frustration over crossing Winooski’s problematic roundabout.
The exhibit will be up all month, at the Block Gallery in downtown Winooski, with a reception that is open to the public on Thursday, October 9th, 5-7 PM.
I hope to see you there.
Come see longtime local artist and UVM professor Dan Higgins’ exhibition…
POSTED IN WINOOSKI – portraits in response to FPF postings
Month of October
The Block Gallery and Coffeehouse
1 East Allen Street, Winooski, VT
Vermont’s Western Slopes Business Assn Q&A about Front Porch Forum
Thanks to the good people of the Western Slopes Business Association for inviting Front Porch Forum co-founder, Michael Wood-Lewis, to share some of our story. Check out the video clip from Mt. Mansfield Community TV…
WSBA Business Association Breakfast Meeting: Michael Wood-Lewis from Mt. Mansfield Community TV on Vimeo.
Middlebury Five-0 tackles FPF
Thanks to the crew at Middlebury Five-0 for inviting us in to talk about Front Porch Forum…
Michael Wood-Lewis, founder of Front Porch Forum, provides a compelling account of the evolution of the platform, from its humble origins in Burlington, to a statewide organization, currently accessed by a staggering proportion of the population. Michael discusses the various ways in which the Forum is used – selling goods, organizing events, running political campaigns – highlighting how it’s strengthening our neighborhoods by drawing people together, providing information and giving people a voice in their communities.
Taking a Montpelier community garden from online to in-the-ground
There were these subject lines, among others, on the Montpelier Front Porch Forum:
“Community Garden Seeks Seedlings in Need of Good Home”
“Community Garden Seeks Manure Loader/Hauler”
And the one that started it all:
“Space Available: Community Garden on Elm Street”
Those posts, and others on Front Porch Forum and Facebook, reached people all over Montpelier and in nearby towns. And, The Garden at 485 Elm was born…
Click here to read the rest of this story by garden organizer Sheryl Rap©e-Adams and Rob Fish of Vermont Council on Rural Development.
Does your Town Energy Committee need to reach neighbors?
From the Vermont Energy and Climate Action Network (VECAN) today…
Would your Town Energy Committee benefit from being able to reach a majority of households in your community ““ for free ““ with a click on the keyboard? That’s just what many TECs do with their local Front Porch Forums. You can too!
Front Porch Forum helps neighbors connect and build community. Michael Wood-Lewis and his wife Valerie started FPF in their Burlington neighborhood in 2006. Since then, local FPFs have spread to every town in Vermont. More than 75,000 households participate. People use their FPFs to recommend contractors, recruit volunteers, find missing dogs, report break-ins, borrow ladders and much more.
The Richmond TEC, for example, uses FPF to get the word out about meetings and programs, as well as to solicit input from residents. 1,900 people subscribe to the Richmond FPF (in a town of only 1,600 households). It’s the most powerful communication tool in town.
FPF recently doubled its coverage area in Vermont to reach the entire state. The more people participate in their forums, the more vibrant they become. Now is a great time to get the word out. Send neighbors to FrontPorchForum.com to register for this free service. You can also download a local FPF flyer at FrontPorchForum.com, or contact membersupport@
frontporchforum.com for other ideas on how to grow your local FPF.
Talking about community in Vermont
Front Porch Forum‘s service has been and will be the topic of several discussions around Vermont, including:
1/06/2014 – Live and Local on WKVT AM in Brattleboro (click to listen)
3/05/2014 – Franklin Grand Isle Community Partnership monthly meeting in St. Albans
3/26/2014 – Business/Marketing Group regular meeting, hosted by Women’s Small Business Program, CVOEO, CEDO and SBA in Burlington
3/29/2014 – ACORN Sustainable Living Expo in Middlebury with VCRD (write up)
4/02/2014 – 69th Annual Town Officers’ Education Conferences in Fairlee with VCRD (write up)
4/09/2014 – 69th Annual Town Officers’ Education Conferences in Burlington with VCRD
4/23/2014 – 69th Annual Town Officers’ Education Conferences in Killington with VCRD
Please contact us if you’re interested in putting Front Porch Forum on the agenda of your upcoming event.
FPF in the news
FPF co-founder Michael Wood-Lewis spoke on the air recently with two very engaging hosts…
• Common Good Vermont on Channel 17 Town Meeting Television
And more and more community newspapers and Vermont organizations’ newsletters and websites are mentioning Front Porch Forum to their readers as a great resource. Here’s a recent example…
Burlington a “most promising tech hub of 2014”
From VTDigger…
Burlington’s burgeoning high-tech culture has put it on a start-up map. The website techie.com, which documents emerging technology trends, named the city one of the country’s 10 most creative up-and-coming hubs in 2014.
The home city to Dealer.com one of Burlington’s most extraordinary success stories with its recent sale for nearly $1 billion also scored 38th on Lumosity’s recent “100 smartest cities” report…
Social media groups like the Front Porch Forum also helped Burlington earn its badge for civic participation. But the combination of online and “in real life” activity is part of what set the city apart.
Winooski neighbors rally to aid of fire-victim family
Vermonters have always helped neighbors whose homes burn. And with Front Porch Forum at their disposal, this response can easily increase 10 or 100 fold.
Here’s an example from this week in Winooski from the Burlington Free Press…
The Winooski School District has raised over $4,000 so far as part of a fundraiser for the victims of an apartment fire that displaced 21 city residents last Thursday night, Superintendant Sean McMannon said. Six students were directly affected and displaced by the Malletts Bay Avenue blaze while two other students had family members who were affected, McMannon said. The Winooski district offices are collecting cash and check donations only, according to McMannon…
McMannon said Wednesday that the fundraiser had begun the day after the fire, and the district has mainly gotten word out through its website, a post on the Front Porch Forum website, and through emails within the school…
Since Thanksgiving, 21 families and 60 people have been displaced from their homes because of fires, according to a newsrelease issued by the Vermont and the New Hampshire Upper Valley Region Red Cross Wednesday. The Red Cross, who assisted in relief efforts for the victims Thursday, said fire is “the disaster most likely to befall someone in our region.”
[C]ity manager Katherine “Deac” Decarreau said Winooski citizens have been “extraordinarily generous.” “The generosity is overwhelming, and from all areas from the community,” Decarreau said. “It’s really heartwarming.”
Donations to victims of the Malletts Bay Avenue apartment fire can be sent to JFK, Main Lobby, Middle School-High School or District or mailing to WSD, 60 Normand Street, Winooski, VT 05404. Checks can be made out to: WSD-MBA Fire Support.
A post-modern return to citizen democracy
For nearly 20 years, the Orton Family Foundation has successfully helped people in small cities and towns navigate change in a way that honors their connection to community. Orton’s track record of using technology and process to yield strong place-centric results is truly impressive.
Given that, the quote below from Orton’s blog carries special meaning for us at Front Porch Forum…
FPF member and University of Vermont dean Susan Comerford is quoted in that same article. She says, “Front Porch Forum is a post-modern return to citizen democracy…(it) may well be the most important advance in community development strategies in decades.” She might be right.
But the coolest thing about FPF in my book is that it upends the assumed role of the Internet in our lives. It asserts that our online lives don’t have to be distinct from our offline lives that they can merge in healthy, useful, positive, reciprocal ways. And even better than that…Front Porch Forum encourages us to reconnect with each other in person, tªte- -tªte, to have conversations and shake hands and share babysitters and roto-tillers and generally help each other out. It pulls us out of our digital isolation and pushes us back into our front yards and onto the street, out to the park or the playground or the farmer’s market or the local garage to see what’s going on, to remember who we are, and even who we want to be, as parents and friends and citizens. It helps us be neighbors.
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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