MacArthur Fellows | Ghost of Midnight

How do schools reach out to general public?

Posted on Sunday, March 28, 2010 by Michael • No comments yet

When people have kids in school, it’s hard not to be flooded with news about school events, fund-raisers, plays, sports, schedules, troubles, committees, etc. But the majority of citizens are NOT parents of school-age children… and they should have a chance to tune it too.

We get postings like the one below frequently. This one is from Linda in Westford…

Thank you for posting information about the Red Barn fundraiser on Front Porch Forum! My children are young adults so I am not usually aware of the current Westford Hope fundraisers. Like many other parents of Westford school graduates I would be happy to support the fundraising activities of our community school, especially one which includes Vermont products.

FPF Expanding to more Vermont Towns in 2010!

Posted on Friday, March 26, 2010 by Michael • 2 comments

Front Porch Forum will be expanding to more Vermont towns this year, thanks to federal stimulus funds. Contact VCRD (below) to get your town on the list!

This is part of the e-Vermont project… an exciting mix of resources coming from a great collection of entities to two dozen Vermont towns. Here’s the skinny…

From:   Vermont Council on Rural Development
RE:   Broadband Stimulus Fund Project
Date:   March 25, 2010
Contact:   Paul Costello, VCRD Executive Director
802 249-8051 or 802-223-6091

$2.5 million Stimulus Grant Launches e-Vermont: the Community Broadband Project

MONTPELIER, VT – A $2.5 million federal Stimulus Grant from the federal Agency of Commerce, announced today, completes the funding to launch the $3.7 million “e-Vermont Community Broadband Project.” This major campaign to stimulate broadband use in 24 Vermont towns will be produced by a partnership of organizations dedicated to expanding broadband access and its practical use. The e-Vermont Partnership will be led by the Vermont Council on Rural Development (VCRD) over the next two years. VCRD is a non-profit organization dedicated to the support of the locally-defined progress of Vermont’s rural communities. Additional support for this project came from Vermont philanthropists and corporate associates.

By reaching the bedrocks of Vermont communities-schools, businesses, municipal government, libraries, health and social services groups-the e-Vermont Project will drive the benefits of the digital age to parts of the state that have been left behind, both economically and in digital culture, and are just now getting broadband services.

In addition to VCRD, the e-Vermont Partnership is made up of the Vermont State Colleges, the State Department of Libraries, Vermont Small Business Development Center, the Snelling Center for Government, Front Porch Forum and Digital Wish. Their application has been financially supported by the Vermont Community Foundation, the Jan and David Blittersdorf Foundation, the Evslin Family Foundation, UVM’s Center for Rural Studies, the Vermont Rural Partnership and by donated services and equipment from Dell, Microsoft, and Comcast.

“The federal stimulus money provides a tremendous opportunity for Vermonters to ensure that our communities take full advantage of broadband technology, including advancing the bottom line of our businesses,” said VCRD Executive Director Paul Costello. He emphasized that none of the 24 towns are selected yet, but will be through a competitive application process that will be announced soon.
Vermont’s congressional delegation have been strong supporters of the e-Vermont concept. Senator Leahy pointed out: “The impact of e-Vermont will yield both short-term and long-term community development benefits, creating new jobs, educating children and using technology to improve Vermonters’ lives.”

e-Vermont Partners worked closely with Vermont’s stimulus office through the application process. According to Governor Douglas, “This effort is a key part of the SmartVermont strategy. In order to reach our goals in e-Education, e-Health, e-government, and e-Energy, we need to remove all obstacles to Internet use for Vermonters. Even when the problem of access is solved, other challenges like lack of equipment and training remain.”

e-Vermont will help municipal, school, community and business groups in rural Vermont towns design and implement campaigns to expand the use of digital tools and resources to serve a wide variety of local needs including social networking downtown marketing, community engagement, business development, and school innovation. Local committees in these towns will work with VCRD staff to customize a two year plan from a menu of e-Vermont programs and services such as:

-e-government – training and consultation on podcasting, on-line meetings, community scheduling, website development
–Front Porch Forums that link neighbors to each other and to local services
-Computers and training for libraries and senior centers
-Free Netbook computers for 4-5th graders and extensive teacher training to imbed technology in the curriculum
-Specialized classes ranging from basic computer literacy to advanced applications to meet the range of community and business needs
-e-commerce classes and one-to-one counseling for local businesses
-Building community calendars, business directories, buy-local maps, arts and crafts tours, sports schedules, ride shares, and a variety of new locally-driven digital applications
-Expanding on-line computer health information and opportunities
-Expanding the use of web-based tools to facilitate community engagement and advance locally-designed initiatives

The e-Vermont project will learn from each of the selected towns and share these best practices in the uses of digital tools through symposia and conferences statewide.

Municipal leaders and other local organizations that are interested in adding their community to the list of towns to be considered should contact VCRD at 802-223-6091 or by email at info@vtrural.org. Details on the applications process will be announced soon and posted at www.vtrural.org

Cooperation vs. Competion or Regulation

Posted on Monday, March 22, 2010 by Michael • No comments yet

Scott Heiferman’s tweet led me to take a closer look at the work of recent Nobel Laureate (economics) Elinor Ostrom. She studies how cooperation works best in some cases… better than competition or regulation… our two dominant forms of organizing markets. From a Forbes article…

Garrett Hardin called his famous 1968 essay on shared resources “The Tragedy of the Commons.” He argued that a shared village grazing pasture would tend to get overused and eventually destroyed. But even Hardin later acknowledged that shared common resources did not inevitably have to end in destruction, saying that he should have called his essay “The Tragedy of the Unmanaged Commons.”

And from Fran Korton’s interview at Shareable…

Fran: It’s interesting that your research is about people learning to cooperate…

Elinor: I have a new book coming out in May entitled Working Together, written with Amy Poteete and Marco Janssen. It is on collective actions in the commons. What we’re talking about is how people work together. We’ve used an immense array of different methods to look at this question “case studies, including my own dissertation and Amy’s work, modeling, experiments, large-scale statistical work. We show how people use multiple methods to work together.

Fran: Many people associate “the commons” with Garrett Hardin’s famous essay, “The Tragedy of the Commons.”… What’s the difference between your perspective and Hardin’s?

Elinor: Well, I don’t see the human as hopeless. There’s a general tendency to presume people just act for short-term profit. But anyone who knows about small-town businesses and how people in a community relate to one another realizes that many of those decisions are not just for profit and that humans do try to organize and solve problems.

If you are in a fishery or have a pasture and you know your family’s long-term benefit is that you don’t destroy it, and if you can talk with the other people who use that resource, then you may well figure out rules that fit that local setting and organize to enforce them. But if the community doesn’t have a good way of communicating with each other or the costs of self-organization are too high, then they won’t organize, and there will be failures.

Fran: So, are you saying that Hardin is sometimes right?

Elinor: Yes. People say I disproved him, and I come back and say “No, that’s not right. I’ve not disproved him. I’ve shown that his assertion that common property will always be degraded is wrong.” But he was addressing a problem of considerable significance that we need to take seriously. It’s just that he went too far. He said people could never manage the commons well.

At the Workshop we’ve done experiments where we create an artificial form of common property such as an imaginary fishery or pasture, and we bring people into a lab and have them make decisions about that property. When we don’t allow any communication among the players, then they overharvest [the commons]. But when people can communicate, particularly on a face-to-face basis, and say, “Well, gee, how about if we do this? How about we do that?” Then they can come to an agreement.

That last bit there about communication leading to better community decisions… love it. It’s so obvious. I guess that’s why it takes a non-economist Nobel Laureate in Economics to explain it to the economists of the world. And, for what it’s worth, her observation jibes with what we see at Front Porch Forum too. FPF leads to better communication among neighbors, more face-to-face conversation, and, in many cases, better community decisions.

Congratulations Dr. Ostrom!

F-35s, IRV, Selectboard races, school budgets… civil constructive discourse

Posted on Monday, March 15, 2010 by Michael • No comments yet

“May I post a political item on my Front Porch Forum?”

We get that question all the time here at FPF… especially leading up to Town Meeting Day and November elections.

The answer, of course, is “YES!” Some of our members are disappointed to hear that. They express a desire to keep FPF conversation “polite,” which therefore excludes mention of politics and religion… or anything that might bring feelings of discomfort.

I appreciate that point of view. That’s the kind of thinking I grew up with. But FPF operates under a different principle… the idea that more conversation and information sharing among neighbors will lead to more people getting involved in local issues, and result in better decisions being made much of the time.

This process can be messy. People need to behave and have thick skins. Local powerbrokers may need to loosen the reins a bit and develop strategies for engaging hundreds or thousands of constituents (that’s one place FPF can be of service).

In South Burlington, VT, for example, one City Councilor is speaking up about the U.S. Air Force’s plan to replace local F-16 fighter jets with new F-35s. Her postings have reached directly into 2,000 South Burlington homes (out of 7,000 total) and have circulated widely beyond. She’s forwarded many links to websites to facilitate voters in doing their research.

After dozens of postings from neighbors across several weeks (with various opinions and sharing more research), the Burlington Free Press picked up the story today, with staff writer Joel Banner Baird delving into the concerns and gathering quotes from various residents and local officials.

While I’ve heard that some civic leaders in South Burlington are upset at the Councilor for bringing the public into this issue through Front Porch Forum, most citizens I’ve heard from are grateful. E.g., as quoted from the Free Press… Gene Palumbo, “We need more information. We’re all curious.”

In another case, a selectboard member in Essex Town posted a campaign announcement plugging her re-election across the 18 FPF neighborhood forums in her area. Other folks rightfully questioned this use of FPF, concerned about fair access to voters through FPF… fair between incumbents who enjoy wide access vs. challengers without access. Well, FPF has a solution in place!

As laid out in FPF’s election-use guidelines, anyone on the ballot may post a single campaign announcement across ALL relevant FPF neighborhood forums. So, everyone gets ONE shot to reach all FPF members.

Burlington grappled with many ballot items (e.g., instant run-off voting, IRV) on FPF this year, as well as debating choice of candidates. Westford got into school budget issues. Huntington explored conflict of interest. Starksboro heard from candidates for two races… the first contested seats in years. A Milton challenger used FPF and other means to unseat an incumbent.

Several local political observers report that Front Porch Forum is a surprisingly powerful new tool for both elections and ongoing governance. Now that FPF’s service region blankets one-quarter of the state’s population (Chittenden and Grand Isle Counties, plus Starksboro), we’re hearing from campaigns for statewide office as they ramp up for November 2010. So weigh in and stay tuned!

modern community-building tool filling need for neighbors

Posted on Saturday, March 13, 2010 by Michael • 2 comments

From Joanne today in South Burlington, in response to recent media coverage of Front Porch Forum…

I live in one of the neighborhoods served by Front Porch Forum (FPF), the electronic neighborhood networking tool described by Bill McKibben in the most recent issue of Yankee Magazine.

The article described how useful FPF is for finding lost cats, and borrowing cake pans and canoes. In my neighborhood it allowed us to rally round a young mother who was dying of a chronic, progressive disease. Because of the demands of her illness, she and her husband had not gotten to know many people. However, with FPF, we were able to arrange for someone to prepare and deliver dinner for this family every night for two months before she died, and for several weeks after the funeral. Through FPF, the family also received a steady flow of cards and notes, and practical help with dog walking, errands, and driving the kids to after-school activities.

What struck me most during this period was the number of neighbors who expressed appreciation that FPF allowed them to find out about and participate in helping this family at a time of profound need. As the Yankee article said: most people want to be neighborly, but we no longer have the local institutions and the time to do it the way we used to. FPF is a modern community-building tool that has admirably filled the need in the fortunate neighborhoods that have access to it.

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.

Good News/Bad News on Knight News Challenge

Posted on Sunday, February 7, 2010 by Michael • No comments yet

Update: Just heard from Knight… guess our proposal is back in the running. More later.

Original post: Regrettably, the Knight News Challenge judges weren’t swayed by Front Porch Forum‘s proposal enough to take us beyond the second round of judging this year. We’re glad that we made it into the top 10% of thousands of project ideas from around the globe, but it’s tough to take “no” nonetheless.

1, 2, 3… deep breath… okay, enough of that… onward and upward. Lots of other irons in the fire, not to mention the our daily work of meeting the needs of our 17,000 subscribers back home (which include nearly half of our dear state’s largest city!). These are exciting times for FPF… more good news to come soon.

And… the comments coming in on the Knight News Challenge website pack their own punch. Here’s a sample…

twitter, twotter, facebook, oh bother… I think most of social media is a grand waste of time (and, yes, I’ve read what the fanboys say). this proposal above, though, sounds genuine… gets my vote
It IS genuine – I’m a loyal user and it’s changed my neighborhood and our quality of life!
Front Porch Forum has fundamentally changed my ability to be in touch with my town, its happenings, and its institutions. It could easily do the same for other communities.
The comment I hear most often about FPF in my community is, “I love it!” FPF has greatly invigorated the spirit of connectedness in my town.
I know this service from its pilot in Vermont and it’s more impressive than they let on. This would be a better country if every neighborhood and small town had access to a Front Porch Forum.
I actually feel more secure knowing that this communications tool exists. It’s another crucial element of balance in this expanding, globalizing society, akin to the localvore/regional food system movement – it’s about bringing it home, discovering and recognizing the deep, rich resources we have right in our own neighborhoods. I am so grateful to Michael and his team!
I live in a suburban area where Front Porch Forum has increased the connection between neighbors who seldom see one another during a normal work week. I also work in a very rural area – the Champlain Islands – where communication between neighbors is often difficult. The arrival of Front Porch Forum was greeted with excitement and its use is increasing daily. FPF is a tremendous asset to both kinds of communities.
FPF dos let us know about what is going on in the neighboring blocks. It is an added security tool, and great for finding lost bikes and dogs, and where to borrow equipment.
The ice is ready on Gillette Pond!! We’re organizing materials to go to Haiti! I lost my dog…need to borrow a rototiller/posthole digger/buy and share a lawnmower…come to a potluck/interested in doing yoga together? carpool needed ..I LOVE FPF…especially in these hectic (and here in VT,in the winter, frigid) times it’s often difficult to connect with our neighbors-it’s been an amazing resource. We have no local daily paper and houses can be far apart. FPF builds and reinforces comunity.
In these times of relative isolation, even in our own neighborhoods, Front Porch Forum provides an easy convenient way to connect in many ways.
Front Porch Forum is an awesome grass roots tool. It helps to get information that you may not see in the usual places out to people in an expedited manner. It also allows people to make connections and ask questions they may not be able to address in other ways.
The forum has changed the small town that I live in by allowing us to connect to one another, spread the word about local government and school issues, save money, recyle, and inform the community about upcoming events, all while being free and easy to use. PLEASE consider providing one of your grants to this amazing project so that it can spread to even more rural Vermont!!
I was lucky enough to hear a personal proposal from Michael. His product deals directly with a issue that communities are facing, closed doors and no interaction with neighbors. When I was growing up the neighborhood helped raise the kids. Neighbors watched out for neighbors and if someone’s child was doing wrong the parents knew about it before the child got home. We live in a “sue crazy” society where people are afraid to interact with other people for fear of repercussion. This helps bridge a communication gap between neighbors and leads to handshakes on the property lines and beyond.
Those of us in the Rural Communities of Vermont wait patiently for access to Front Porch Forum. We are faced we the emergent need to build social capital and cultivate resilient neighborhoods…FPF has proven to do exactly this, time and time agian. Help us spread the :I’m working with my community on a downtown revitalization project, and Front Porch Forum is helping us reach a significant number of people who care about what is happening close to home and want to get involved. The momentum we are creating is magnified in significant ways by FPF….as an added bonus, FPF helped me find my cat.
FPF is just the very best thing that happened in my neighborhood. I work at home and FPF has allowed me to know more people in my neighborhood, and to find help I need for work, as well as services for my personal life. I would be lost without it.
I save comments from time to time. Even find out that there are neighbors available for work such as electricians,plumbers and yes the fundraisers are very important. I enjoy being kept abreast of community functions from all venues. I am retired now and expect to participate even more in FPF. I know many people all over our small state and would find this an excellent tool for keeping contacts active. As it turns out our statewide newspaper does not do a very good job at the local level..
Our neighborhood is much more connected since joining FPF. A wonderful way to interact, post requests, respond to others, keep aware of relevant events & issues.
FPF is an incredible community-building tool – especially in the depths of Vermont’s winter! And what’s surprised me is how effective it has been at using technology to develop in-person relationships… invariably conversations that start on the forum continue on our real front porches.
Hi – Vermont is a very rural state and everything that we can do to foster a better sense of Community is vital. FPF helps to fill that gap for both folks that are in their communities all tha time and also for folks who work full time and don’t always hear the latest news right away. It’s a way to stay conencted and cultivates a feeling of belonging that everyone needs to stay psotitve and healthy! I would just love to see FPF receive the funds to get the upgrades they need!
Front Porch Forum has done so much to help me get to know my small community.
I find Front Porch Forum a great way to reach people who otherwise tend to avoid traditional media outlets. I work for public library and reach many of our community members by posting to the Forum. I’ve also found it a great help personally — I found my cat sitter, located an owner for a lost pet, and helped a friend get rid of her piano through the Forum.
There’s no question that FPF has increased civic participation and interest in our region. Our city councilors can let us know about important government meetings affecting our neighborhood; neighbors can describe concerns with development proposals; people announce house meetings to meet candidates. But there are also just neighborly interactions, too — like finding out that a higher schooler down the block is selling taking orders for poinsettias for a fund-raiser, or that someone is willing to pick up unused canning jars. There’s nothing like FPF anywhere. But there should be!!
I live in a very small town, but am often surprised at happenings, events and information I miss out on because I hadn’t read or heard about it in time. Neighbors and friends I’ve shown the website to agree…this would be a huge asset to our community, and I look forward to the day FPF heads South to my neck of the woods…
I’ve lived in the same corner of Vermont for 40 years. Although I used to know everyone on the road, the area has gone through rapid change. I’ve met many new neighbors through FPF, first electronically and then in person. I’d like to see its capabilities expanded so it could be used for coordinating rides from outlying towns into Burlington.
As an elected official, FPF helps me connect with constituents to get out important info and to learn what’s important in each neighborhood in my town. It has the power to revolutionize local gov’t. Now, if only I could figure out how to rate this project the “5” it deserves. My computer isn’t able to click on the stars, which I presume is how one does so. Please post instructions for using your rating system. Thank you!
FPF is “hyper-local” done right. Its model of connecting neighbors is both effective and scaleable. This service brings people together face to face more than any online community or social network can. It is the builder of neighborhood block parties, the coordinator of PTA meeetings. In an era where many of us are losing touch with our local government, FPF is rebuilding those bridges in ways they never existed before.
FPF has fostered a sense of pride in our neighborhood, helped us support our neighbors, and has resolved issues such as traffic, pets off of leashes, etc. It really makes our neighborhood a much happier, safer, and friendlier place to live.
Hearing the things I have about FPF – and I’ve heard glowing reviews from more than one source – makes me wish that FPF would expand into our area (Washington DC). While our neighbors all seem to be friendly and get along well, it is difficult to make real connections. I think FPF could help with that.
FPF has the potential to connect people in a way that the virtual Front Porch Forum becomes an actual front porch gathering of neighbors. The value this adds to the community is immeasurable.
I am a Front Porch Forum user. I would urge the Proposal to more clearly explain just why it has become so popular, attracting a remarkably high percentage of residents to use it. It’s ease of use should be stressed. I’ve found it much easier to use than listservs or email groups. The variety of ways it is being used is amazing. It’s really being driven by the interests of people who live in the various neighborhoods that Front Porch Forum serves. You’ll find discussions/debates about political issues; you’ll find neighborhood alerts (e.g., neighbors notifying each other recent thefts, lost cats, misplaced keys); you’ll find requests for recommendations (e.g., for electricians, carpenters); and much more. But, I need to come back to how easy it is to use. It is well-organized and doesn’t overwhelm users with lots of separate email messages. This is one reason so many residents are using it. Again, make this clearer in your proposal.

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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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