After reading the reasonable and measured responses written by Mark and Jason to Maureen’s viewpoint on FPF usage, I was tempted to thank them both and let it go at that, but the more I thought about the subject, the more I wanted to add my two cents…

I’ve only lived in the Five Sisters for two years, but I’m grateful for the diversity of my neighbors and their opinions.  And, as all who’ve met me can attest, I’m not reluctant to express my own.  A community is defined by a collection of values, not always in agreement, but strengthened by the dynamics of discussion.  The central purpose of government is to bring stability to society, but it is the responsibility of the governed to continuously question government policies, with regard to current social attitudes.  If we shirk that responsibility, the government is no longer “of the people”.  (remember those words?).

Using Front Porch Forum only to borrow rakes or find the best electrician trivializes its potential and our community.  We don’t (or at least I don’t) live here because of our proximity to Lowes, or the many choices in refuse collection.  Although these are necessary and useful parts of our lives, they are the trivial parts. Let’s try to identify what is important to each of us to make the world a better place and work within our community to advance our ideas, either locally or globally.  To me respectful disagreement about philosophy and politics  is preferable to a low key social facade that isolates each of us within our own bubbles of self-consistent rationale.

I’m disappointed that each of the last three days someone has pulled down a campaign sign we had for Deb Markowitz in front of our house on North Prospect Street. Today, the sign was swiped. Regardless of who I (or you) support, this kind of political vandalism is  disturbing and uncalled for. It’s very uncharacteristic of Burlington, and I hope if the person who did this is reading this message, they return the sign with an apology.

And minutes after getting the word out via FPF, he posted a follow-up with some good news…

Front Porch Forum postings work fast! My two missing Deb Markowitz signs were spotted next to a post office box on Loomis Street by State Rep. Kesha Ram after she saw my message on FPF. She graciously returned them, and told me that several of her campaign signs have also been swiped. Ripping out candidates’ signs or defacing them is just plain wrong and disrespectful.  In any event, thanks Kesha!

Mention the Internet, and most people think of the World Wide Web, of reaching out across the globe for news, long-lost friends, or low-price bargains. But in dozens of Vermont towns, residents are using the web to connect with their back-fence neighbors. In an era where national and global information is broadly available online, it seems that few of us know our neighbors and what’s going on down the street.

My name is Michael Wood-Lewis, and my wife, Valerie, and I saw an opportunity four years ago and created Front Porch Forum (FPF) to serve our home region in northwest Vermont. Amazingly, nearly half of the state’s largest city now subscribes to FPF. The sense of community here is thriving and winning national recognition, including a 2010 Knight News Challenge award.

Creating Real Neighbors
It’s astounding what a couple minutes per day of neighborhood news and chatter in a person’s inbox can do. People tell me that they lived on their street for years not knowing a soul. Now, since Front Porch Forum kicked in, those familiar strangers have become real neighbors.

Each neighborhood has its own online space and the whole region is blanketed with a network of more than 100 neighborhood forums. People post about lost pets, block parties, car break-ins, plumber recommendations, helping ailing neighbors, local politics, school plays and much more. All ages partake, from seniors in their 80s seeking community support to stay in their homes to teenagers looking for summer jobs.

In one rural area, people used FPF to find a pair of spooked horses who jumped their fence, then pitched in to build a better enclosure as a gift to the owners. In an urban neighborhood, residents rallied around a mother who was assaulted in the park, and eventually got the city to improve safety conditions there. And in a different community, a young family asked for a couple volunteers to help move their household into new digs across the street — 36 neighbors showed up! Not only was the job done quickly, but now this family knows three dozen people in the surrounding blocks.

“This small family business turns the Internet on its head,” says FPF member and University of Vermont associate dean Susan A. Comerford. “The web offers countless ways to waste time, but Front Porch Forum actually pushes people offline and onto the sidewalks to chat with neighbors, face to face.”

And that leads people to get more involved in their communities, as the chat evolves into action. In one survey, an incredible nine out of ten FPF members report becoming more involved in local issues due to this free service.

“Front Porch Forum is a post-modern return to citizen democracy,” says Comerford. “This may well be the most important advance in community development strategies in decades.”

The Knight News Challenge award will allow us to rebuild FPF’s current proof-of-concept software to better provide for our subscribers. We’ll then expand to all 251 towns in Vermont, and prepare to offer Front Porch Forum to communities outside of Vermont in 2011.

I look forward to reporting on our progress here, and I hope to hear from readers in the comments below or via FPF’s website.

I am so appreciative of Front Porch Forum.  It has consistently worked to help us connect with others regarding community issues and activities important to us.  We have used it to coordinate and announce community events.  We have given away items, sold items, purchased items, found items to borrow, etc., etc.  We got our dog via FPF, we found a used ping-pong table via FPF, and we found quality artisans, technicians and workers via FPF.  We have asked questions and found resources via FPF. Thank you so much to everyone who participates, and to the creators…

You are welcome, Mel… and thank you!

Front Porch Forum is a great tool for us and many times we can address issues just by “hearing” the tone of a neighborhood.  It is especially helpful as the buzz begins about neighborhood or traffic issues.  Having the Corporal be a part of all 20 FPF neighborhood forums in our town is a great asset to us when trying to best serve our community.

Just wanted to give a big thank you over the Front Porch Forum to the person who mowed my lawn? I really appreciate it. I’ve been asking around to thank you in person, but I still don’t know who you are!  So if it was you, again, thanks very much.

I want to thank the wonderful neighbors, none of whom I’d ever met, with their generous offers of booster chairs. I could start a little day care restaurant! Just to let you know, I’ve borrowed one from Laurie. And I also want to thank Michael and Front Porch Forum for fostering such great neighborhood spirit.

This September, Yankee marks 75 years. In the publishing world, that’s a pretty big deal. At the heart of what Yankee has written about has always been sense of place — always community.

There hasn’t been a more important story for Yankee over the years than this one: keeping place alive, keeping communities vibrant. And that doesn’t happen without people who care, and people who understand that all of our lives are better when we belong to a place that we care about.

The wonderful Vermont writer Bill McKibben wrote a story in a recent Yankee about the Front Porch Forum, which, as you know, has its roots right here in Burlington. We called it “Making Good Neighbors.” He told about how, through the vision of a few and the power of the Internet, so many of Burlington’s neighborhoods became linked, as if by a town crier who reached out to all. And we received a letter from a South Burlington woman that we published in our new summer issue.

“In my neighborhood,” she wrote, “it enabled us to rally around a young mother who was dying. Because of her illness, she and her husband hadn’t gotten to know many people. With Front Porch Forum, however, we were able to arrange for someone to prepare dinner for this family and deliver it every night for two months before she died, and for several weeks after the funeral. Through Front Porch Forum the family also received a steady stream of cards and notes, and practical help with dog walking, errands, and driving the kids to after-school activities.

“What struck me most,” the writer continued, “was the number of neighbors who expressed appreciation that Front Porch Forum had enabled them to participate in helping this family at a time of profound need. 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. Many thanks for running the story.”

I am leaving Vermont for a while and regret to close my Front Porch Forum account, but need to simplify my inbox a little.  The forum has been great to me, helping me get employment, give and receive all sorts of goods, and keep in tune with what’s happening around me.  I will rejoin when I come back!  Thanks you for all your great work, keep it up, and I’ll be looking to spread the love FPF has shared with me wherever i may land next

We get the most lovely “close my account” notes at FPF.  Bon voyage Shannon!