Susan Comerford, a longtime community organizer and now associate dean for academic affairs and

Credit: William Duke

research at the University of Vermont’s College of Education and Social Services, calls it “the best community organizing tool that’s come along in the last 30 or 40 years.” To understand its importance, says Comerford (who started posting on the forum the day she needed a recommendation for a carpenter), you have to think about what’s happened in the American economy in recent decades.

“It’s not that people care less about community,” she notes. “It’s that the economy has shifted how much people have to work to keep up their standard of living. You don’t have one of the two partners home during the day making all those social connections, providing some sense of safety to the neighborhood. People have less disposable time than they used to.”

In a world like that, a system that lets you sit down for 10 minutes at the end of the day and learn what’s happened to your neighbors should, in Comerford’s view, earn Wood-Lewis one of those MacArthur “genius” grants.

UPDATE: The media coverage of Bill’s look at FPF is growing.  Check it out here, starting March 1, 2010.

So, if you’re curious about the name… here’s the brief tale.

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 to get the word out about their issue, their campaign.

But at its core, FPF isn’t about blasting out a single message to thousand of local homes.  It’s about neighborhood-level conversation.  Any local resident may join the single FPF neighborhood forum where he/she lives and post to his/her heart’s content.  (FPF is available in 25 Vermont towns.)

Most people are glad to read items from their clearly identified nearby neighbors… then continue the conversations on the sidewalk or at the local store or school.  FPF members seem less excited about reading one-way bulk postings from non-nearby neighbors.

That said, FPF does offer a range of options around elections, spelled out in our FAQ.  If you want to weigh in before Town Meeting, check out the guidelines and start posting!

Case in point… a Burlington resident who opposes a ballot measure to repeal Instant Runoff Voting.  She asked FPF to broadcast her posting across many of Burlington’s nearly 40 online neighborhood forums.  We declined and encouraged her to post it on her “home” neighborhood forum and ask friends in other neighborhoods to forward her message.

She took our advice and now we see her message popping up all over the city, and in each case it has a lead-in sentence from the friend stating their agreement with her position.  So now thousands of potential voters are getting the message, each with an extra pitch from a nearby neighbor… very effective.  “Best advocacy tool in town,” is how she put it.

And the original advocate had to convince dozens of friends across town to help her get her message out.  This is democracy!  Just the opposite of big money buying elections through mass media.

Indeed, I answered a knock on my door this morning and found a neighbor returning a borrowed pan.  We took the opportunity to discuss the merits of the IRV-repeal ballot measure for five minutes, each getting a little more food for thought before our respective moments in the voting booth next Tuesday.  A great use of Front Porch Forum!

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, Johnson of South Hero, Krebs of South Hero, Larson of Burlington, Lippert of Hinesburg, Lorber of Burlington, Minter of Waterbury, O’Brien of Richmond, Pugh of South Burlington, Ram of Burlington, Spengler of Colchester, Stevens of Waterbury, Till of Jericho, Waite-Simpson of Essex, Weston of Burlington, Wright of Burlington and Zuckerman of Burlington

Whereas, Front Porch Forum (FFP) has helped thousands of Vermont neighbors connect and build real community through its free, online service, and

Whereas, FPF now hosts 140 online neighborhood forums that blanket all of Chittenden and Grand Isle Counties, plus Starksboro, and

Whereas, more than 17,000 Vermont households subscribe to FPF, including in excess of 40 percent of dozens of neighborhoods and towns, and

Whereas, hundreds of local businesses and public officials use FPF to connect with Vermont customers and constituents, and

Whereas, thousands of Vermonters use FPF to find lost pets, report break-ins, organize neighborhood clean-ups and block parties, give away and sell household items, announce public events, debate local issues, and more, and

Whereas, FPF has been recognized nationally for helping Vermonters lead more civically engaged lives, and

Whereas, FPF looks forward to expanding its service to all Vermont towns, and

Whereas, today, March 30, 2010, marks Front Porch Forum’s 10th anniversary, now therefore be it

Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives: That the General Assembly congratulates Front Porch Forum, Inc. on its 10th anniversary and its success in reinvigorating Vermont neighborhoods while building new online communities, and be it further

Resolved: That the Secretary of State be directed to send a copy of this resolution to Michael Wood-Lewis at Front Porch Forum, Inc. in Burlington.

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) I am lucky to get both. I have told just about everyone I know and a zillion business people about FPF and tell them they MUST join. It’s the BEST thing ever and I hope you spread it to all rural communities across the USA!!!!

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 and municipalities are buying subscriptions that provide access to their area neighborhood forums.

And, of course, neighbor-to-neighborhood recommendations flow through FPF at a rapid rate… plumbers, roofers, mechanics, dentists, arborists, snow plow kings, and on and on.  People like to ask their neighbors and FPF helps that to happen easily and with lots and lots of nearby neighbors all at once.

FPF staff are available to speak with business groups about all this.  Indeed, we addressed the Burlington Referral Organization this morning.  Tomorrow we’ll be at the CEDO Winter Business Fair.  We’ve enjoyed sharing our message with several Chamber of Commerce groups, Rotary, VBSR, business school classes, leadership institutes, and more.

Here’s a note about the Feb. 11 business fair in Burlington.

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 more of their own food, generating more of their own energy, and even creating more of their own culture and entertainment. He shows this concept blossoming around the world with striking results, from the burgeoning economies of India and China to the more mature societies of Europe and New England. For those who worry about environmental threats, he offers a route out of the worst of those problems; for those who wonder if there isn’t something more to life than buying, he provides the insight to think about one’s life as an individual and as a member of a larger community.

It’s fascinating to assert that local actions can have a real impact on such huge problems as global warming.  This was brought to mind today by an encouraging post in Westford, VT on Front Porch Forum…

As someone very interested in renewable energy systems that works in Westford, I’m encouraged by the recent posts from neighbors sharing their experiences with solar hot water heaters.  These forward-thinking individuals made the investment with less information and financial incentives than is now available and today they are reaping the financial and environmental rewards.

Other neighbors have recently installed photovoltaic systems or are considering wind to generate their own electricity.

Please continue sharing your stories. You are an inspiration.

Yes, by all means, let’s keep inspiring each other!

We’ve seen plenty of neighbors chasing lower prices by pulling together through Front Porch Forum to form group purchases.  In Huntington, it’s propane.  Other neighborhoods in Essex, South Burlington, Burlington, and Richmond have aggregated their purchasing power to get better deals on driveway paving, trash hauling, fuel oil, house painting, tree trimming, snow removal and more.  From today’s Huntington FPF…

There was a group of folks last year who got this going, and we took advantage.  Thank you to the folks who organized it… It was with Suburban Propane.  Phone: 864-9821  Call them and ask for Tina.  Tell her you want to be part of the Front Porch Forum group plan, and I think it was about $2.67/gal last year based on our small consumption (<500 gal/yr).  This was compared to over $4/gal…

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 all understandable.  And we recognize that we can’t please everyone all the time.  What we do work on everyday, though, is fulfilling our mission in our pilot service region… to help nearby neighbors connect and build community.

So in South Burlington we host 20 neighborhood forums.  On average, each one covers an area encompassing about 350 households, with 100 subscribing in each neighborhood forum so far.   We hear wonderful comments all the time from South Burlington FPF users.  Here’s one we got earlier today…

Last week I was at an educational session for reaching personal goals, offered at the South Burlington Library.  The class was filled to capacity (with more on a waiting list) and everyone in the group (approximate age range  15 to 70) said they heard about it via the library’s announcement on the various South Burlington FPF.  Keep up the good work.  -Joanne Heidkamp, MS, RD

Any resident of the 25 Vermont towns in our pilot area (Chittenden and Grand Isle Counties, plus Starksboro) can put Front Porch Forum to use too.  Sign up, then post.  Then ask your local network to do the same… each person in his/her own FPF neighborhood forum.

In a way, FPF has passed out small neighborhood-size soapboxes to 17,000 (and counting) Vermonters… anyone may reach dozens or hundreds of nearby neighbors through FPF.  Some Web 2.0 gurus who know how to manipulate mega social media (Facebook, etc.) may grow frustrated that they can’t somehow use FPF to build a huge soapbox for themselves.  So be it.

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 ideas from around the globe, but it’s tough to take “no” nonetheless.

1, 2, 3… deep breath… okay, enough of that… onward and upward.  Lots of other irons in the fire, not to mention the our daily work of meeting the needs of our 17,000 subscribers back home (which include nearly half of our dear state’s largest city!).  These are exciting times for FPF… more good news to come soon.

And… the comments coming in on the Knight News Challenge website pack their own punch.  Here’s a sample…

• twitter, twotter, facebook, oh bother… I think most of social media is a grand waste of time (and, yes, I’ve read what the fanboys say). this proposal above, though, sounds genuine… gets my vote
• It IS genuine – I’m a loyal user and it’s changed my neighborhood and our quality of life!
• Front Porch Forum has fundamentally changed my ability to be in touch with my town, its happenings, and its institutions. It could easily do the same for other communities.
• The comment I hear most often about FPF in my community is, “I love it!” FPF has greatly invigorated the spirit of connectedness in my town.
• I know this service from its pilot in Vermont and it’s more impressive than they let on. This would be a better country if every neighborhood and small town had access to a Front Porch Forum.
• I actually feel more secure knowing that this communications tool exists. It’s another crucial element of balance in this expanding, globalizing society, akin to the localvore/regional food system movement – it’s about bringing it home, discovering and recognizing the deep, rich resources we have right in our own neighborhoods. I am so grateful to Michael and his team!
• I live in a suburban area where Front Porch Forum has increased the connection between neighbors who seldom see one another during a normal work week. I also work in a very rural area – the Champlain Islands – where communication between neighbors is often difficult. The arrival of Front Porch Forum was greeted with excitement and its use is increasing daily. FPF is a tremendous asset to both kinds of communities.
• FPF dos let us know about what is going on in the neighboring blocks. It is an added security tool, and great for finding lost bikes and dogs, and where to borrow equipment.
• The ice is ready on Gillette Pond!! We’re organizing materials to go to Haiti! I lost my dog…need to borrow a rototiller/posthole digger/buy and share a lawnmower…come to a potluck/interested in doing yoga together? carpool needed ..I LOVE FPF…especially in these hectic (and here in VT,in the winter, frigid) times it’s often difficult to connect with our neighbors-it’s been an amazing resource. We have no local daily paper and houses can be far apart. FPF builds and reinforces comunity.
• In these times of relative isolation, even in our own neighborhoods, Front Porch Forum provides an easy convenient way to connect in many ways.
• Front Porch Forum is an awesome grass roots tool. It helps to get information that you may not see in the usual places out to people in an expedited manner. It also allows people to make connections and ask questions they may not be able to address in other ways.
• The forum has changed the small town that I live in by allowing us to connect to one another, spread the word about local government and school issues, save money, recyle, and inform the community about upcoming events, all while being free and easy to use. PLEASE consider providing one of your grants to this amazing project so that it can spread to even more rural Vermont!!
• I was lucky enough to hear a personal proposal from Michael. His product deals directly with a issue that communities are facing, closed doors and no interaction with neighbors. When I was growing up the neighborhood helped raise the kids. Neighbors watched out for neighbors and if someone’s child was doing wrong the parents knew about it before the child got home. We live in a “sue crazy” society where people are afraid to interact with other people for fear of repercussion. This helps bridge a communication gap between neighbors and leads to handshakes on the property lines and beyond.
• Those of us in the Rural Communities of Vermont wait patiently for access to Front Porch Forum. We are faced we the emergent need to build social capital and cultivate resilient neighborhoods…FPF has proven to do exactly this, time and time agian. Help us spread the :I’m working with my community on a downtown revitalization project, and Front Porch Forum is helping us reach a significant number of people who care about what is happening close to home and want to get involved. The momentum we are creating is magnified in significant ways by FPF….as an added bonus, FPF helped me find my cat.
• FPF is just the very best thing that happened in my neighborhood. I work at home and FPF has allowed me to know more people in my neighborhood, and to find help I need for work, as well as services for my personal life. I would be lost without it.
• I save comments from time to time. Even find out that there are neighbors available for work such as electricians,plumbers and yes the fundraisers are very important. I enjoy being kept abreast of community functions from all venues. I am retired now and expect to participate even more in FPF. I know many people all over our small state and would find this an excellent tool for keeping contacts active. As it turns out our statewide newspaper does not do a very good job at the local level..
• Our neighborhood is much more connected since joining FPF. A wonderful way to interact, post requests, respond to others, keep aware of relevant events & issues.
• FPF is an incredible community-building tool – especially in the depths of Vermont’s winter! And what’s surprised me is how effective it has been at using technology to develop in-person relationships… invariably conversations that start on the forum continue on our real front porches.
• Hi – Vermont is a very rural state and everything that we can do to foster a better sense of Community is vital. FPF helps to fill that gap for both folks that are in their communities all tha time and also for folks who work full time and don’t always hear the latest news right away. It’s a way to stay conencted and cultivates a feeling of belonging that everyone needs to stay psotitve and healthy! I would just love to see FPF receive the funds to get the upgrades they need!
• Front Porch Forum has done so much to help me get to know my small community.
• I find Front Porch Forum a great way to reach people who otherwise tend to avoid traditional media outlets. I work for public library and reach many of our community members by posting to the Forum. I’ve also found it a great help personally — I found my cat sitter, located an owner for a lost pet, and helped a friend get rid of her piano through the Forum.
• There’s no question that FPF has increased civic participation and interest in our region. Our city councilors can let us know about important government meetings affecting our neighborhood; neighbors can describe concerns with development proposals; people announce house meetings to meet candidates. But there are also just neighborly interactions, too — like finding out that a higher schooler down the block is selling taking orders for poinsettias for a fund-raiser, or that someone is willing to pick up unused canning jars. There’s nothing like FPF anywhere. But there should be!!
• I live in a very small town, but am often surprised at happenings, events and information I miss out on because I hadn’t read or heard about it in time. Neighbors and friends I’ve shown the website to agree…this would be a huge asset to our community, and I look forward to the day FPF heads South to my neck of the woods…
• I’ve lived in the same corner of Vermont for 40 years. Although I used to know everyone on the road, the area has gone through rapid change. I’ve met many new neighbors through FPF, first electronically and then in person. I’d like to see its capabilities expanded so it could be used for coordinating rides from outlying towns into Burlington.
• As an elected official, FPF helps me connect with constituents to get out important info and to learn what’s important in each neighborhood in my town. It has the power to revolutionize local gov’t. Now, if only I could figure out how to rate this project the “5″ it deserves. My computer isn’t able to click on the stars, which I presume is how one does so. Please post instructions for using your rating system. Thank you!
• FPF is “hyper-local” done right. Its model of connecting neighbors is both effective and scaleable. This service brings people together face to face more than any online community or social network can. It is the builder of neighborhood block parties, the coordinator of PTA meeetings. In an era where many of us are losing touch with our local government, FPF is rebuilding those bridges in ways they never existed before.
• FPF has fostered a sense of pride in our neighborhood, helped us support our neighbors, and has resolved issues such as traffic, pets off of leashes, etc. It really makes our neighborhood a much happier, safer, and friendlier place to live.
• Hearing the things I have about FPF – and I’ve heard glowing reviews from more than one source – makes me wish that FPF would expand into our area (Washington DC). While our neighbors all seem to be friendly and get along well, it is difficult to make real connections. I think FPF could help with that.
• FPF has the potential to connect people in a way that the virtual Front Porch Forum becomes an actual front porch gathering of neighbors. The value this adds to the community is immeasurable.
• I am a Front Porch Forum user. I would urge the Proposal to more clearly explain just why it has become so popular, attracting a remarkably high percentage of residents to use it. It’s ease of use should be stressed. I’ve found it much easier to use than listservs or email groups. The variety of ways it is being used is amazing. It’s really being driven by the interests of people who live in the various neighborhoods that Front Porch Forum serves. You’ll find discussions/debates about political issues; you’ll find neighborhood alerts (e.g., neighbors notifying each other recent thefts, lost cats, misplaced keys); you’ll find requests for recommendations (e.g., for electricians, carpenters); and much more. But, I need to come back to how easy it is to use. It is well-organized and doesn’t overwhelm users with lots of separate email messages. This is one reason so many residents are using it. Again, make this clearer in your proposal.