Category Archives: Updates and Admin
How Can FPF be Used in Coming Elections?
#BTV #VT – In response to recent questions about Front Porch Forum and the fall elections…
Yes, you are welcome to post your comments about the various races. Please keep them brief and civil! Front Porch Forum has a rich history of neighbor discussion about candidates and ballot measures.
For anyone running for office or involved in a campaign, we have a new option this year: the FPF Paid Campaign Posting. You can place your message alongside postings from neighbors in any group of FPFs in Vermont. You pick the neighborhoods/towns and the dates. Slots are limited — and once they’re gone, they’re gone. Contact info and details: http://bit.ly/FPF_PCP
Nearly 40,000 Vermonters subscribe to FPF now out of the 40% of the state that we cover.
For the fine print on FPF election use, see no. 19 of the FPF Terms of Use: http://frontporchforum.com/terms-of-use
The Aug. 28 primary is right around the corner!
Burlington Ruby Conference July 28-29
#BTV #VT – Vermont’s emerging web application development community will gather at Main Street Landing in Burlington to hear from top developers across North America, including engineers from Twitter and several leading dev. shops. All are welcome. Register today: http://bit.ly/BURUCO
Front Porch Forum, Main Street Landing, Engine Yard, Intridea, and Agilion Apps are sponsors.
Mad River Valley lands their own FPF!
#VT – We’re so pleased to bring Front Porch Forum to the Mad River Valley. Now, anyone in Waitsfield, Warren, Fayston, Moretown and Duxbury may sign up for FPF at FrontPorchForum.com. Well… Waterbury, Middlesex and about 70 other Vermont towns too (here’s the full list!).
Thanks to the Mad River Valley Planning District, Town of Warren, New England Grassroots Environment Fund, and others for making this possible!
New Haven and Barre City each launch Front Porch Forum
#VT – The Town New Haven and the City of Barre each just launched their own Front Porch Forums.
Please share the news with people you know in Barre and New Haven and send them to FrontPorchForum.com to sign up for this free service.
Front Porch Forum is now available in more than 75 Vermont towns (and one each in New York and New Hampshire!).
Do tech start-ups belong in Vermont?
#BTV #VT – Sometimes we get this question from out-of-state folks who think all tech start-ups should be born in Silicon Valley. Well, Burlington and Vermont have been great to Front Porch Forum.
And we’re not alone. CNN today reported that the Kauffman Index ranks Vermont the 8th most entrepreneurial state, and the top state east of the Mississippi River. And Richard Florida’s latest research puts Burlington 11th on a new Technology Index of U.S. metro areas.
I’ll take it one step finer… from state, to city, to neighborhood. Our Five Sisters neighborhood in Burlington’s South End boasts several tech start-ups, including
Thanks to Fresh Tracks Capital and Vermont Business Magazine for some of this information.
Emergent Media for Social Entrepreneurs and Nonprofits in Waitsfield #VT July 12
New/Digital Emergent Media for Social Entrepreneurism and Nonprofits
HigherMind Mediaworks to host free July NetsquaredVermont Event
@ Quench ArtSpace in Waitsfield on Thursday, July 12 from 7:00 – 9:00 pm
Curious about Front Porch Forum? Yakking on YouTube? Friending on Facebook? Tweeting on Twitter? All Mad River Valley residents interested in new digital media platforms and how they can be harnessed for effective social entrepreneurism and nonprofit work are invited to a FREE public forum bringing together some of Vermont’s most forward-thinking nonprofit leaders and social entrepreneurs using new/digital emergent media for positive social change.
Our July 12 @Netsquared guest panelist presenters include:
• Lauren Glenn-Davitian and Eli Harrington, who spearheads CommonGoodVT, a Burlington-based organization dedicated to supporting the Vermont nonprofit community. Connect @ www.commongoodvt.org.
• Michael Wood-Lewis, the co-founder of Front Porch Forum, a free community-building service helping neighbors connect, now being used in dozens of towns around Vermont. Network @ frontporchforum.com.
• Sandy Tarburton, Membership and Communications Director for the Northern Forest Canoe Trail. Paddle @ www.northernforestcanoetrail.org.
• Amanda Levinson, pioneering organizer of @Netsquared in Vermont, who founded the Burlington @Netsquared chapter this past winter. Get squared @ www.netsquared.org.
Extra bonuses? Free food, drink, contemporary art, and the crowd sourced wisdom of your friends and neighbors!
Thanks to our food co-sponsor Liz Lovely Cookies of Waitsfield.
See you @ Quench ArtSpace in Waitsfield on Thursday, July 12 @ 7:00 pm. [Thanks to Rob Williams for sharing this announcement and for organizing!]
Help FPF land $250,000 grant!
#BTV #VT – Update 3: Click to vote, enter “Front Porch Forum” in the business name field, AND leave city and state fields BLANK. Click SEARCH button. Then, next to FPF entry, click VOTE button. That’s it! Thank you!
Vermonters, Front Porch Forum members and friends… we need your clicks today. It only takes a minute! We’re in the running for a $250,000 grant that we’ll use to improve the FPF software, add more neighbors and features, and expand to serve more local communities. Will you help? As a small Vermont business, far from Silicon Valley and other capitals of commerce, we’re a long shot but we’ve seen FPF members move mountains before. FPF serves 70 Vermont towns and 1 in upstate New York… 38,000 households participate in this free community service. Let’s see how many votes we can muster! The more votes, the better. 1. Vote for FPF today.
- You must have a Facebook account.
- Go to the contest website and click LOG IN & SUPPORT.
- Enter your Facebook information as needed and click Log In.*
- Once logged in successfully, enter “Front Porch Forum” in the Business Name box (do NOT enter state or city info) and click the SEARCH button. Or search by state.
- When you find the Front Porch Forum entry, click the blue VOTE button next to FPF… that’s it!
- While you’re at it, consider voting for other cool small businesses that you support (you can vote once for as many entrants as you like).
- Voting closed June 30, 2012.
2. Ask your friends to vote for FPF before June 30, 2012.
- Spread the word via FPF, Facebook, Twitter, email, etc.
- Send folks to this blog post for details (http://bit.ly/FPFgrant) or directly to the contest site (http://www.missionsmallbusiness.com).
Wish you success. We LOVE FPF. It is the best mediumm for getting items of interest to the community.
– Barb, Alburgh FPF
- YES, to vote you must have a Facebook account and use it to register with the contest website.
- Once registered on the contest website, enter “Front Porch Forum” into the BUSINESS NAME field and leave the city and state fields untouched/blank… click the SEARCH button. Then click the VOTE button next to the Front Porch Forum entry.
*More details regarding voting… If you are logged into Facebook on your computer:
- When you click to “Support Small Business“, you will be logged into the Mission: Small Businessâ„ site via Facebook Connect
- A permissions screen from Facebook will appear
- The Mission: Small Businessâ„ site will utilize your Facebook credentials for sharing your actions on the site to the Facebook newsfeed
- No information will be posted automatically but you will have the option to share in your Newsfeed your Support, and your Vote on a local merchant
If you are not logged into Facebook:
- When you click to “Support Small Business“, the Mission: Small Businessâ„ site will prompt you to log into Facebook
- Once you log in with your Facebook credentials, you will see a permissions screen from Facebook.
- The Mission: Small Businessâ„ site will utilize your Facebook credentials for sharing your actions on the site to the Facebook newsfeed
- No information will be posted automatically but you will have the option to share in your Newsfeed your Support, and your Vote on a local merchant
Burlington community engagement survey results
#BTV #VT – Burlington’s Community and Economic Development Office (CEDO) just released the results of a new survey that shows that “sense of community” is highly valued by Burlington citizens. About 44% liked their neighborhood because of friendly neighbors and a strong sense of community. And 10% said that an even stronger sense of community would improve their neighborhood more.
The average respondent (588 total) uses Front Porch Forum, is an English-speaking homeowner age 30 to 60, lives with one other adult and no children, works full-time, and has an annual household income greater than $50,000.
Some other tidbits…
Q: How did you find out about your Neighborhood Planning Assembly?
38% Front Porch Forum
22% Word of mouth
5% Newspaper
35% Other
Q: What do you like about your neighborhood?
52% Proximity to amenities
44% Friendly neighbors/strong sense of community
Lots of other options
Q: What would you change about your neighborhood?
13% Less traffic and speeding
11% Nothing
10% More connection to neighbors
Lots of other options
Q: Are you subscribed to Front Porch Forum?
93% Yes
Q: Which (other) social media do you use?
92% Email
69% Facebook
33% YouTube
21% Twitter
17% Google+
4% None
1% LinkedIn
Several others listed
Q: How did you find out about survey?
69% Front Porch Forum
10% CEDO e-newsletter
4% NPA
4% Friend/co-worker
3% Facebook
2% email
2% Bulletin board
1% Twitter
1% Service provider
0.2% Business
Q: Languages spoken in household?
99% English
6% French
4% Spanish
16 other languages selected by respondents
Q: Rent or own your housing?
30% Rent
70% Own
Q: Number of adults (18 or older) living in household?
20% 1
66% 2
9% 3
3% 4
1% 5
0.4% 6-7
Q: Children under 18 in household?
68% 0
14% 1
14% 2
2% 3
1% 4
Q: Your age?
1% Under 18
18% 18-29
34% 30-44
32% 45-61
13% 62-74
3% 75 and over
Q: Your employment?
58% Work full-time
16% Work part-time
11% Retired
5% Student full-time
4% Unemployed
2% Self-employed
1% Disabled
1% More than 1 job
1% Attending school and working
1% Stay-at-home parent
0.4% Student part-time
0.2% Sabbatical
Q: Your annual household income?
13% Less than $20,000
12% $20,000 to $30,000
10% $30,000 to $40,000
10% $40,000 to $50,000
14% $50,000 to $65,000
9% $65,000 to $80,000
15% $80,000 to $100,000
15% More than $100,000
Hyde Park launches their Front Porch Forum
#VT – The Town and Village of Hyde Park, Vt., and several local co-sponsors pulled together to bring Front Porch Forum to their community. The official launch is tomorrow, March 19, 2012. Special thanks to…
• Town of Hyde Park
• Village of Hyde Park
• Hyde Park Community Community Circle
• Polow, Polow & Mahoney
• Carolyn Smiles
Front Porch Forum is now available in more than 70 Vermont towns (and one each in New York and New Hampshire!). Please send folks to FPF to sign up!
Radio listeners are responding…
#VT – Have you heard FPF‘s ad on Farm Fresh Radio? Give a listen.
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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