Category Archives: Vermont
More than half of U.S. seniors don’t know neighbors
Seniors in Vermont have long put their neighborhood Front Porch Forum to good use. Today, AARP reported on this growing trend…
According to a 2010 Pew Internet and American Life Project report, of nearly 2,300 surveyed, half ages 50-64 did not know their neighbors; the number was 52% for ages 65+.
So when I heard about free neighborhood websites, I stopped multitasking. They are a place where neighbors communicate online with others who live nearby about community issues (a new building project in the area, traffic concerns, a burglary, a favorite gardener, a family in need), post requests, and get to know one another. That often leads to face-to-face connections and new relationships.
According to Michael Wood-Lewis, cofounder of the Front Porch Forum, a neighborhood website in Burlington, Vt., there are about 20 similar start-ups around the country. Created in 2006, his is among the oldest and serves one-third of Vermont.
One of most recent entrants is the San Francisco-based Nextdoor, which debuted last October and is in more than 1,200 neighborhoods nationwide. In order to join one of these private social networks, you have to live in that neighborhood (except if you’re an adult child/caregiver) and when posting, use your full name. If there’s no neighborhood website, you can start one and invite neighbors to join.
What does this have to do with caregiving? These companies are seeing adult children, who are caregivers, or their parents or relatives, the care recipients, using it to enlist the help of others. Last winter, during a blizzard, an adult daughter living across town got on the Front Porch Forum website and asked her mother’s neighbors to check on her. Several went over to make sure she was okay and fed, while someone else shoveled her driveway and walk…
Arthur Goyette knows the value of good neighbors. His wife Betty died three years ago, but while she was battling cancer, his neighbors brought countless meals to their Caroline Street home. When the neighbors learned that Betty had always wanted to ride in a convertible, they found a dealership willing to loan them a car, and surprised the Goyettes with a Chrysler Sebring. When the couple drove down the street with the top down, people lined the block waving and taking pictures.
Remembering this time, the 71-year-old Goyette marvels that he barely knew some of the people who helped him. He might never have known them at all if it weren’t for an email newsletter called the Front Porch Forum, which serves the South End neighborhood known as the Five Sisters.
Goyette’s neighbors used the newsletter to organize support for the family. “If the web wasn’t there,” he says, “it never would have happened.”
Goyette is not the only South End resident who credits the 6-year-old Front Porch Forum with bolstering community. The FPF website lists testimonials from dozens of users who say they like the way this free online service helps them connect with others in the immediate area; of the 350 households in Five Sisters, 286 subscribe…
Thanks so, so much for posting the message about Operation Snow Shovel throughout Burlington. The response was incredible! Can you believe that I’ve heard from 57 people willing to volunteer to shovel? 57! (That’s in addition to the 33 permanent volunteers who shovel for a particular person each time it snows”“ many of them were recruited through Front Porch Forum, too.) A large percentage of volunteers said they’d heard about the need through their neighborhood forum.
As of right now, every single elderly or disabled person in need of help that contacted OSS has been accommodated. And those I’ve yet to hear from will get help quickly. What a wonderful resource these forums are! Many, many thanks!
And another one… Watching neighbors connect through Front Porch Forum is often both fascinating and moving. This post from today, e.g., adds to other evidence we’ve witnessed of people wanting and waiting for a chance to lend a helping hand to those around them.
My husband died from metastatic prostate cancer in October. I asked for help finding someone to snowblow my driveway [through her FPF neighborhood forum] and think I have found someone. Then I went away for a week and when I returned my leaves were raked and removed and items moved from around the house to the driveway. I don’t know who did this, but I have to think it was someone in the neighborhood and I wanted to say thank you.
This message comes from a suburban-style neighborhood where about a quarter of the 200 households signed up with Front Porch Forum in the first three months of operation. To further thank her neighbors, the writer goes on to share a warning:
You should also know that in July 2006 we had a house invasion during the daytime (2:30 pm, man with a ski-mask) and my husband’s pain medication was stolen ([he] was lying in bed at the time). While I was away in November, there was another break in. His remaining medications were taken too. There is no more medication in the house and it is now very much more secure, but be aware that this sort of thing happens even in our own “safe” neighborhood.
Many thanks to the kind-hearted and energetic people who helped me out.
The anwser to the request for snow-removal help for the coming winter is great. The mysterious leaf-rakers are even better. But it’s the willingness of the writer to share her loss, ask for help, and offer a constructive warning to her neighbors out of what must have been an awful experience that motivates us to make Front Porch Forum happen for more people and neighborhoods.
Better than a cesspool… Should Local Officials Engage Constituents Online?
#VT – The thing I’m noticing about the water in the village tonight is that as my kids are taking a bath, it smells like a chlorinated pool as far as about 6 feet from the bath tub.
I have no idea what this means. Better a chlorinated pool than a cesspool is how I choose to look at it.
I’m glad that public water supply quality is a topic of conversation on Front Porch Forum, and I do appreciate that town officials use the forum for disseminating information about it.
This was shared with 1,000 Bristol FPF members tonight by Gillian. Good for Bristol officials for engaging the public. We’re seeing more and more of this on FPF in towns across Vermont. I do know of one going the other direction… actually closing down communication with voters… but that’s the exception.
Neighbor Mob… in a good way
#VT #cashmob – Can online communication work too well? Lately we’ve been hearing from Front Porch Forum members with a similar comment. Neighbor response to postings is so strong that it changes the writers’ perceptions of their community. As one person put it… “I didn’t know I had this many neighbors! Now when I drive to work in the morning I see the houses I pass differently.” And here’s a posting today from Middlesex FPF…
I got such a crush of emails in response to the free fridge that I am replying here on FPF to tell you it’s gone… It makes me wonder if there are others with appliances gathering dust. If you do, there are people looking!
A bit like the Cash Mob concept that visited Vermont this month… but with staying power.
Charlotte Burglary Interruptus
#VT – Saturday night between 5:00 and 8:00, I lost my phone and internet connections. During that time at approximately 7:00 p.m. my two large male German Shepherds started barking from inside. My 3 year old flew out the door & off my porch barking ferociously & atypically. The next morning a Telecom worker came to fix my service and said that the telephone box had been unscrewed, left open and the wires had been dismantled. He added: “This doesn’t just happen. It had to have been deliberate.”. He and the State Policeman said that this is what intruders do to disconnect any alarm system whether you have one or not. Warning: If your phones suddenly stop working, check your outside box for suspicious activity. I was home and that did not seem to matter. The Police said that the good news is… my dogs were home too. Extra treats and back rubs for them!
This was just posted now by a Charlotte Front Porch Forum member.
We’re seeing lots of break-in news shared among neighbors on FPF, so be sure to lock up and take reasonable precautions. Also, connecting with neighbors is helpful. I know I rest easier when my neighbors and I are all keeping an eye out for each other.
Can an online space remain vibrant and neighborly for years?
#VT – The lead up to Town Meeting Day each year in Vermont is a time for debate in many locales. In areas with active Front Porch Forums, this discussion starts earlier, involves more citizens, and provides access to more supporting materials.
And, it can bring more heat to the argument. Generally, FPF staff are hands off and let clearly identified neighbors debate as they like on our site. But we do step in when political points morph into personal attacks. We hold the posting and ask the writer to help us keep things civil and consider attacking the topic and not the neighbor. Often this does the trick, and the author thanks us for saving them the embarrassment of e-fisticuffs on the virtual town green.
But occasionally the anger that was directed at a neighbor swings full around to blast FPF staff. One of my colleagues compared it to working as a bouncer, trying to break up two fighting bar patrons… when suddenly the customers start pounding on the bouncer.
This happened the other day in Jericho. And, as usual, we stuck to our approach, stayed calm, and explained our approach. It didn’t go well… several nasty remarks were tossed our way. My colleague reported feeling anxious today then, when she spotted an incoming message from the troublemaker. But lo and behold, here’s what he had to say…
I wanted to take a moment to apologize for the tone of my emails earlier this week. I admit I was over reactive at what I perceived to be an unjustified censorship of my contribution to our forum’s conversation. I do understand the need to keep conversations civil and attempt to make them constructive. I really appreciate all the work you guys do to provide this important service to our communities and I am sorry to have been such a pain in the ass.
Success! What a champ to take the time to send his thoughtful note our way. Thanks to him who shall not be named.
Fully integrated in Starksboro
#VT – I thought it was pretty neat that at 15 minutes into the Starksboro Town Meeting, Front Porch Forum had been mentioned 3 times by town officials (Town Clerk, Selectboard Chair, and I think also by the Moderator), with things like, “Watch for updates on Front Porch Forum.”
And the thing that struck me, was that it was always said like everyone would know what they were talking about. Here we are three years after start up there, and it’s a fully integrated part of the way the community interacts (and has been for some time). Pretty cool…
That note arrived today from an observer of Starksboro’s March 3rd Town Meeting… and we’re hearing the same from other towns who met prior to Tuesday’s official Town Meeting Day in Vermont.
Weaving the web of community…
#VT – I signed up for Front Porch Forum about 3 months ago and made first response recently to a neighbor’s request for a place to store her car. I told her we didn’t have one but if she ever wanted to sell it we may be interested.
That started a series of emails and that led to conversations and then a face to face meeting. She understood my being nervous about my 16 year old son spending his entire savings account on a used car. How would we know if the engine or some other big part would need to be replaced soon after we bought it? Turns out we go by her house everyday – we began to trust each other.
She wound up putting in new brakes before we bought the car because she didn’t want my son getting in an accident! We even bartered a little – she needed the use of our truck and we needed a little off the asking price. It was a win win.
We are still in touch and she may be hiring my son for odd jobs. And the car – a Suburu – is still running great. Thanks FPF for connecting us!
Thanks to Pam in Richmond for sharing this today. We hear variations of this tale over and over at FPF. Building real community in a place doesn’t happen quickly and it takes many strands to form strong local webs.
Promise of Broadband…
#VT – Here’s an opening from an Alabama article about rural development using broadband…
Five years after borrowing $8 from her mother to start an online business, Michigan teenager Ashley Qualls has an annual income of more than $1 million. Her secrets? A creative idea and access to broadband Internet. In [Vermont], Michael Wood-Lewis invested $15 and invited neighbors to “share messages about lost cats and block parties.” Today, he is president of a thriving enterprise and lives in one of America’s “top-ten” neighborhoods. His secret? Leveraging Internet technology to create a space for community. These stories may leave you wondering how you could benefit from the opportunities presented by broadband technologies…
Radio listeners are responding…
#VT – Have you heard FPF‘s ad on Farm Fresh Radio? Give a listen.
Hurricane Irene, Town Meeting Day, FPF, and You
#VT – We learned recently that a group of tech students set out in the wake of Hurricane Irene to pitch-in whatever way they could. The first three Vermont towns they came to turned them away when the local folks, understandably, weren’t yet organized enough to take advantage of the offer. Then the students came to Moretown and were put right to work because the lines of communication were humming, and, we’re told, Front Porch Forum was a big part of that.
More than half of Moretown uses FPF now and people make great use of it. Further, FPF is like fertilizer for local networks, helping book clubs, car pools, neighborhood watches and other local groups grow and prosper. These are the connections that make a community strong and resilient.
As Elga Gemst, a Moretown FPF member said in the days after Irene, “we’ve lost half a house but gained a community. Thank you neighbors for your heart-breaking generosity.”
Help neighbors in your town connect BEFORE the next call to action for your community. Recruit new members to your Front Porch Forum on Town Meeting Day. Contact us and we’ll send you flyers, sign-up sheets and other tips. Act today… Town Meeting is in a few days! Also, consider speaking from the floor of your meeting and pointing your neighbors to http://FrontPorchForum.com
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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