social capital | Ghost of Midnight

New Friends and Snapping Turtles

Posted on Wednesday, June 11, 2008 by Michael • Comments are off for this post

Will just posted the following on his town’s Front Porch Forum…

Thanks to the Front Porch Forum for letting two would-be strangers recognize each other as a result of being FPF members. Last Sunday, while driving to town I saw a baby snapping turtle crossing the road right by the auto place on rte 2 between Richmond and rte 89. I parked where I could, jumped out of the car, grabbed some tools from the back of my car and proceeded to flag people to slow down as I approached the dazed turtle. A woman slowed and asked if I needed help, and I immediately said, “Yes!”

Though it was a baby, it was still about 14″ long and weighed about 30 pounds. So as I lifted the turtle, the woman who stopped to help steadied it while we escorted him across the rest of rte 2 and way up and over the other side of the railroad tracks. We bid him farewell and told him to NOT turn around! The kind woman and I exchanged names only to find that we recognized each other from the FPF. We had engaged in conversation through the forum, and I found it humbling to have actually known this person, though we had not actually met face to face. Thank you FPF for being an avenue for me to make new friends through! Hi Enid!

Multiply this story by thousands of times and you get what’s happening all over our little metro-area. Thanks for sharing Will!

Porch Parties a Good Start

Posted on Monday, June 9, 2008 by Michael • Comments are off for this post

The Detroit Free Press ran an article yesterday that caught my eye. It opens with…

Christiane Lenz has lived in her Farmington Hills subdivision for six years and knows only a handful of her neighbors.

But that could change, as Lenz plans to host a porch party, an initiative of the Farmington and Farmington Hills Multicultural Multiracial Community Council. The parties, organizers say, are a way for residents to revive the tradition of neighborly, informal gatherings and hopefully spark new friendships.

“You don’t see people together,” said Lenz, 49, who is planning a September party. “Everyone keeps to themselves.”

There should be several parties held throughout the community in the summer, and at least six are already in the works. The gatherings are intended to be casual, with potlucks or dessert-only events among the party ideas from the council. The council also will provide talking points or icebreaker activities. Karen Bolsen, executive director of the council, said attendees should shy away from controversial topics such as race, politics and religion.

Bolsen said the porch party idea came about after community members said they felt disconnected from neighbors. The parties are a way for residents in Farmington and Farmington Hills to better understand their ethnically and racially diverse neighbors…

Sounds great! I’d suggest to the organizers that while these porch parties will be a good start, they should use them as a starting point for something more… a monthly event, organizing a group to work on something (new playground, clean-up crew, stop unwanted development, traffic calming, etc.), or a service like Front Porch Forum.

Doing something once is good and relatively easy. Converting that good stuff into sometime sustainable over time is much more valuable and takes real work.

People on the Move

Posted on Friday, June 6, 2008 by Michael • Comments are off for this post

People relocate… a lot. This is apparent through our work with Front Porch Forum. People contact us all the time to say that they’ve moved from one part of town to another and are eager to get plugged in to their new community via Front Porch Forum.

People move out of our service area too. Some ask to be “grandfathered in” and stay on board their FPF neighborhood forum covering their former area. Others say farewell… like Shawna just now formerly of Essex Junction…

I have moved out of the state. I’m now in NH and wish my community had this! Thanks.

Live Blogging Vermont’s e-Future

Posted on Wednesday, May 28, 2008 by Michael • Comments are off for this post

Hey, hey… should be a good event tomorrow (May 29, 2008) at Champlain College (Burlington, VT)…

Fulfilling Vermont’s e-State Potential
Building Community in a “Connected Age”

Front Porch Forum will be among several community-building efforts featured. Lewis Feldstein from New Hampshire, who co-wrote Robert Putnam’s follow up to Bowling Alone, will provide the keynote.

Another fun angle… Cathy Resmer from Seven Days and Bill Simmon from Candleblog will be live blogging the event… so tune in, follow along, and comment as we go. I hope that blog comments will find their way into the live conversation at the event.

UPDATE: A good day! Read all about it…

Cathy Resmer
Bill Simmon
Elaine Young from Champlain College
Lauren-Glenn Davitian from CCTV

And Bill even snapped some art photos… or whatever you call this one…

Future of Vermont June 19

Posted on Friday, May 23, 2008 by Michael • Comments are off for this post

Glenn McRea of the Snelling Center for Government posted the following on his neighborhood’s Front Porch Forum today…

The Future of Vermont is is an important opportunity coming up. The Vermont Council on Rural Development is sponsoring a series of statewide forums on the “future” of Vermont. Front Porch Forum is an important part of that future as a vehicle and a connected community. I hope people will put this on their calendar and come and talk about FPF and other vital issues about the future of our Vermont community.

Forum on the future of Vermont – City Hall Auditorium in Burlington, from 6:00 to 8:30 on June 19th. Please check out the website at http:/www.futureofvermont.org to learn more, to take an on-line survey, or to contribute ideas electronically to this statewide dialogue.

Thanks Glenn! I plan to attend.

Local Elected Officials put FPF to Use

Posted on Friday, May 23, 2008 by Michael • Comments are off for this post

Thanks to a local selectboard member for sharing her experience with Front Porch Forum in her Vermont town…

I am constantly amazed at how much good thought and work you put into making this happen. I think FPF is really having a positive effect in Hinesburg. I find it incredibly useful as an elected official to know what is going on all around town.

About 200 local public officials in FPF’s pilot area subscribe to the service currently. More are welcome.

Moving Sale a Huge Success

Posted on Wednesday, May 21, 2008 by Michael • Comments are off for this post

Barbara in Huntington, VT had this to say today…

Our moving sale this past weekend was a huge success at least partially due to the unpredicted good weather but mostly due to the Front Porch Forum means of communicating with neighbors. The sale also gave me the opportunity to tell neighbors about the Forum and I’ve already seen new names added.

So why would Barbara, who is relocating, take the time to recruit neighbors on to Front Porch Forum? This is the kind of thing we see here… thanks Barbara!

Also worth noting… Front Porch Forum may well be outperforming print and online classified ads for drawing a crowd to a yard sales this season… especially the multi-family versions.

Re-beader on your block… who’d of thunk it?

Posted on Friday, May 16, 2008 by Michael • Comments are off for this post

Heard from artist Katharine Montstream today on her FPF neighborhood forum…

I love Front Porch Forum. I asked for some help with adding some beads to a necklace to make it longer and BINGO, a woman right on my own street does just that. She did a great job, turned it around quickly and was very reasonable.

Federal Economic Stimulus Check Spent Locally

Posted on Thursday, May 15, 2008 by Michael • Comments are off for this post

Peg from Shelburne sent a financial contribution to Front Porch Forum today along with this note of explanation…

I’m trying to put some of my “stimulus” cash into good causes since the gov’t apparently does not know how to do so. Plus, without Front Porch Forum, I would not have had so many neighborhood folks come to my yard sale over the weekend (and hence have so much extra cash in my pocket!).

Much needed and much appreciated, Peg! Every dollar received by FPF gets plowed back into the service.

Strangers Loaning Money to College Students?

Posted on Monday, May 12, 2008 by Michael • 1 comment

After witnessing boatloads of goodwill among neighbors through Front Porch Forum, I thought I had seen it all. Well… can you guess the response to this posting?

Hello – I am a UVM student about to spend my first summer in Burlington. All year long I’ve been dreaming of joining a CSA for the first time. I’ve done my research, found a farm, and am totally pumped for fresh local veggies. But, of course, there’s one problem: money. Like any typical college student, I have some financial woes, namely that I have very little cash at the moment. I have a job lined up for the summer with the Vermont Landscape Change Program (check it out at http://www.uvm.edu/landscape) which is funded by the National Science Foundation, and is therefore well-paid. I can afford a CSA, just not until I start getting paid in early June, which, unfortunately, goes against the very idea behind CSA (ie cash up front).

Since everyone on this forum seems to care about community programs, local business, and general camaraderie, I thought it wouldn’t kill me to at least ask if there is anyone out there willing to give me a loan for 200 dollars. I realize this sounds a little sketchy… I am more than happy to talk for hours, meet up, provide references, and even draw up a contract. I’d also be thrilled to bake you pies all summer long! I realize you can’t get a good sense of me via e-mail, but if there’s any chance that you might be able to help me out, I would be so, so thankful. I promise that my intentions are totally honest and that you will get your money back. thanks!

Now, less than 12 hours later, I just stumbled across her blog posting…

Yesterday I asked my neighbors for a loan to get a CSA share at a local farm. By 10 am today, I had six (SIX!) offers from strangers, happy to loan a college student a couple hundred bucks. I couldn’t be a less safe bet (I mean, come on, I’m a college student who spent two weeks scrounging for food!), and yet so many people were willing to give me a shot. Wow.

So here’s my conclusion: there are, actually, more good people than bad people out there, but the problem is that they don’t ever really show their ‘goodness.’ If everyone were just a little less shy, then we could all do a better job helping each other out. That said, everybody should join the Front Porch Forum (frontporchforum.com)

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