Bill McKibben covers FPF for Yankee Magazine

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 [...]

“Best advocacy tool in town!”

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 [...]

HCR235 Honors FPF Members!

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, [...]

AARP Vermont grants for a livable Burlington!

AARP Vermont recently announced a new grant program to fund grassroots projects around Burlington…
“These sponsorships are intended to inspire and support grassroots groups that have a vision for their neighborhood or the city and how it can be improved to the meet the needs of all residents,” said Jennifer Wallace-Brodeur of AARP Vermont.  “The sponsorship [...]

In praise of neighbor connection

Thanks to Jamie for this lovely note, just received via a posting to her neighbors…
Pardon a very old fashioned and stupid cliche but I personally think Front Porch Forum is the “next best thing to sliced bread.” I LOVE opening the posts and as I live in both Huntington and Starkboro (at the same time) [...]

Businesses connecting with neighbors

Local businesses reach out to neighbors through Front Porch Forum every day in a number of ways.
Small start-ups simply post to their nearby neighbors letting folks know that they are open for business.  Other companies purchase advertising.  Nonprofits often ask their supporters to post event announcements, each on his/her own FPF neighborhood forum.  Local institutions [...]

Neighbors inspiring each other to action on climate change

Bill McKibben wrote a good book about local solutions to global threats, like climate change, called Deep Economy: The Wealth of Communities and the Durable Future…
McKibben’s animating idea is that we need to move beyond “growth” as the paramount economic ideal and pursue prosperity in a more local direction, with cities, suburbs, and regions producing [...]

Click Local! Vermont Telecom Authority

Thanks to the Vermont Telecom Authority for pointing Vermonters to Front Porch Forum.  While it makes sense for local folks to use online tools from the mega corporations — Goolge, Facebook, Craigslist, Yahoo, etc. — it’s reassuring when Vermont-bred dot.com services (iBrattleboro, Seven Days, Vermont Tiger, Green Mountain Daily, FPF, etc.) get a little recognition [...]

Can’t please all of the people all of the time…

But sometimes Front Porch Forum can come close.
We heard from a super-techie the other day.  He was frustrated that his hometown, South Burlington, is covered by 20 FPF neighborhood forums… too many small groups he thought.  Also, he wanted more bells and whistles… catchy pseudonyms for users, avatars, a rating system for postings, etc.
Well, that’s [...]

Good News/Bad News on Knight News Challenge

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 [...]

  • Archives