Archives for November 2006
Kevin Harris found an interesting item:
Here’s another take on the scale of neighbourhood, developed for work on children’s play:
‘Doorstep’ - 60m straight line distance from home (100m walking)
‘Neighbourhood’ - 260m straight line distance from home (400m walking)
‘Local’ - 600m straight line distance from home (1km walking)
This comes from a presentation given by Issy Cole-Hamilton of [...]
Richard Kemp interviewed me about Front Porch Forum on his cable access show, Near and Far, on Channel 17 recently. It will be aired at 6 PM on Nov. 20, 2006. It’s also available online (video or audio podcast). This show is a decent primer on how Front Porch Forum works for [...]
I don’t have the references here in front of me, but I recall studies that found that people who live in areas with a strong sense of community are healthier than those who don’t. I don’t doubt it. Community is a huge compenent of quality of life. Good community can lower stress; [...]
CCTV Channel 17 in Burlington, VT will broadcast a talk show about how to build local face-to-face community using online tools. Front Porch Forum and FreeCycle are featured. The show, Media Literacy Series - Internet Communities, originally aired on Sep 27, 2006 and will be repeated:
Sun, Nov 12, 2006 at 11:52:00 PM
Mon, Nov [...]
As I wrote on Oct. 31 after the kids were de-costumed and put to bed, Halloween was wonderful in our neighborhood this year… a contender for “best community day of the year”… right up there with the July street-wide yard sale and block party (party was rained out this year).
Kevin Harris caught the idea:
Here’s a [...]
Today Front Porch Forum launched an online forum open only to FPF Neighborhood Volunteers in Chittenden County, Vermont, USA. Volunteers can trade tips for recruiting residents to join their neighborhood forums, as well as share fodder for quality local messages. If you live in the Burlington area, sign up for your forum today, [...]
So many wonderful success stories across the country of people coming together to build community. It happens all the time. In fact, the Bowling Alone people published Better Together: Restoring the American Community in 2003.
Front Porch Forum is our attempt to reverse these trends toward isolation. Front Porch Forum’s mission is to [...]
Several reports in the media over the past 5-10 years about the decline of social capital in America… decay of community, loss of civic involvement and civility.
Robert D. Putnam made a splash with Bowling Alone: The Collapse and Revival of American Community (New York: Simon & Schuster, 2000). In it, he boiled down large [...]
[Originally published on Front Porch Forum for members in Chittenden Co., Vermont, Oct. 31, 2006]
Happy Halloween! Hundreds of trick-or-treaters combing our neighborhood tonight… beautiful fall weather and a wonderful reminder of how good a vibrant and neighborly community can be. Our mission with Front Porch Forum is to help neighbors connect and foster healthy community… [...]