Press

Canoes and Online Communities: Front Porch Forum

Personal Democracy Forum

Last summer, Sharon Owens had a problem. The Burlington, VT mother of three was trying to satisfy the wishes of her soon-to-be 14-year old daughter who wanted to celebrate her birthday with a canoe outing with friends. The problem was renting the necessary canoes would have cost hundreds of dollars. Interestingly, it seemed that nearly ever other house in Sharon's neighborhood had a canoe in the backyard or parked under a tarp next to a garage. But Sharon, like many of us did not know her neighbors, and felt uncomfortable asking them. The solution to this dilemma came in the form of a website called Front Porch Forum -- a micro-community site geographically focused on a neighborhood within Burlington encompassing a couple hundred households. Within days of posting her situation to the site there were over a half-dozen canoes on her front yard. Problem solved. But more than that, a community built. As Sharon says, "not only did my daughter have a great birthday and I saved a couple hundred dollars, but now I have a genuine connection to a half-dozen neighbors. Why didn't I know these good people years ago?"

Front Porch Forum is the brainchild of Michael Wood-Lewis and his wife Valerie who faced a similar challenge back in 2000. Newly moved in to the Five Sisters Neighborhood in Burlington, they too had trouble connecting. When they missed word of the annual block party, a neighbor later told them: "Oh, well, I guess you gotta live here 10 years before you're really on the grapevine." Michael and Valerie weren't about to wait around for a decade; they had an idea. They set up a simple neighborhood email list and stuck a flyer in each of the nearby 400 front doors. As Michael tells it, attention grew slowly, but surely: "We live in a neighborhood full of active people with something to say. So people saw it as an easy way of being in touch." Nine years after the "grapevine" conversation, more than 90% of Five Sisters subscribe with a recent survey indicating that more than half of them had posted an item to the service recently.

But the Wood-Lewis' did not stop there. Actually, they had little choice. When surrounding neighborhoods heard about Front Porch Forum, they wanted in. Wood-Lewis said no, since he had a better idea: he'd build one for them. Today more than 14,000 households (all in Vermont's Chittenden County) subscribe to FPF - each in subgroups of 200-400 households - small enough to "feel like a neighborhood/local community", says Wood-Lewis. All told, Front Porch Forum hosts a network of 130 online neighborhood forums covering its pilot region. More than 40% of Burlington, the state's largest city, subscribes.

Some readers at this point are no doubt saying to themselves, "Well isn't that a nice little story, but I already use Craigslist/Facebook/MySpace". With the birth and persistent growth of Front Porch Forum, Wood-Lewis is demonstrating something quite different from those sites: the incredible power of the internet to build physical "community", while at the same time showing web's effective limits. At its root, Wood-Lewis is proving two, vital axioms pertinent to all community building - online or off: size and proximity matter.

This isn't a mini-Craigslist, as Wood-Lewis himself describes (in words that might make Craig Newmark cringe): "Craigslist is wonderful and huge... But FPF is different. We're all about helping clearly identified nearby neighbors connect while Craigslist helps somewhat distant strangers have a single and often anonymous transaction." Even as local as Craiglist tries to get it doesn't begin to approach FPF's micro-communities. For example, I live in the Los Angeles area, and even though that Craigslist page is broken down into six geographic sub-regions, the one where I live ("westside-south bay") is still home to well over a million people, spanning dozens of square miles. And, unlike FPF, I can venture into other geographic areas in search of, well, anything. It is not without reason, that Craigslist's two most popular "product" areas are "erotic services" and "casual encounters". The latter phrase must seem oxymoronic to Wood-Lewis: a "casual encounter" in your neighborhood?

That's not to say that you can't find a good used car on your local Front Porch Forum. In fact, Wolfgang Hokenmaier recently sold his minivan to a neighbor in his FPF, noting, "We had more people... showing up to look at the van who found out through the Forum than the interest generated by Burlington Free Press, Cars.com and Craigslist combined." With cars sold, there are also cats found, block parties organized, and local council meetings advertised. Community is built not just by people searching for a futon, but by checking their FPF for what is happening around them. While it is not a mini-Craigslist, it isn't a mini-newspaper either. Requests for canoes, and lost cats do not an exciting newspaper make, but as a recent survey showed, over 95% of Forum members tune in to their local edition almost daily.

FPF members are illustrating the simple truth that we're interested in what happens around us. In part, this is Tocqueville's oft-quoted "self-interest rightly understood": we want to be aware of proximate things that might help (a cheap desk) or hurt (a council meeting about a big apartment complex moving in) us. But the success of the Forums is also demonstrating the power of geographic closeness in creating that "glue", which builds communities: trust. The Forums have proven to be a great place to find baby-sitters. Of course, this is because people tend to trust those within a certain geographic area; in very real ways, we are bound to them and they to us - they are our "neighbors" (our "bors" or "dwellers" who live "nigh"). We see them and they us - whether it's in the driveway of your neighbor's ranch house or in the elevator of your 50-story apartment building. At the same time, FPF's methodology builds a virtual "hedge" around that neighborhood, making sure that only neighbors can participate.

This increase in social capital paired with a small daily dose of neighborhood news often results in people getting more involved in their local community. In fact, an independent survey found that 93% of respondents reported heightened civic engagement due to Front Porch Forum. Put another way, how much more likely is canoe-borrowing Sharon to help rebuild the local playground or volunteer with a local nonprofit after her experience around her daughter's birthday?

So how come we're not seeing millions of FPF's springing up around America? Well, it demands the two things that are often difficult to find: unremunerated time and love for where you live. At the base of each Forum is one or two "Neighborhood Volunteers" who act as important local boosters for the site, promoting its existence, and encouraging civil participation. They have no admin/editing privileges, but, interestingly, experience has shown that keeping dialogues civil is self-enforcing when neighbors know they'll actually see each other at some point after they post. The Volunteers' only compensation is a hearty "Thanks" from neighbors who almost unanimously appreciate the service and, of course, the benefits of living in a more connected neighborhood. As Wood-Lewis tells it, "getting folks to sign up is hard and slow work. People do NOT want to sign up for one more thing, and they procrastinate, and they hit technology hurdles, and they forget." Still, he concludes, "FPF is incredibly successful at generating word-of-mouth neighbor-telling-neighbor buzz...this gets people to actually sign up." FPF is a for-profit company that, after some initial foundation funding is only beginning to see some revenues from local advertising and fees paid by municipal departments for access to the neighborhoods. With four employees and steady growth in its pilot area, Front Porch Forum is eager to expand to other regions and is open to finding other financial partners as it helps build communities one neighborhood at a time.

Google "online community", and you'll receive over 60MM results. A quick scan of the first few pages shows confirms that most define the phrase in its basic sense: a "community" that meets "online". From the "ASPCA Online Community" to the "children with diabetes community", all of the participants have entered in to a group due to some affinity - hobbies, common experiences, ethnicity, religion, etc. - but most will never actually meet. Along with these "communities of support" are "communities of practice" - sites like Flickr and Wikipedia, where participants with particular skill sets or knowledge edit/critique/contribute to a particular product. What Michael Wood-Lewis is building in Vermont turns these models on their heads. He has created FPF to force interaction, and while people are free to sign up, they "qualify" only because of where they live - not who they are, or what they know.

With this micro-geographic focus, Wood-Lewis is deepening community ties by bringing people together who may have very little "in common" save for their street address. By forming around issues, most participants in online communities connect only on that single point. By making the neighborhood that place of contact, participants are naturally connected on a vast array of concerns - from the report about a keyed car to streets away to changes at the local school. Whether you're a Republican, Democrat, Buddhist, Hispanic or Red Sox fan, these categories (for which there are millions of group-specific online forums) melt in light of the 200-family neighborhood.

What does all this mean nationally? A couple months ago, I wrote about the White House's well-intentioned efforts to convene "national discussions" around particular policy issues. The WhiteHouse.gov website, in fact, calls itself an "online community". While most of their work has been focused on gaining public input on policies ranging from transparency to health care, much of the online "community organizing" has taken place over at DNC headquarters with Organizing for America, or "OFA 2.0". Congregating local supporters to talk about the president's policies based on "talking points" memos and videos descending from Mount Washington (D.C.), these "community conversations" a far cry from the community-building occurring through the growing network of Front Porch Forums. It is fair to say that we see this law at work: as online gatherings get more focused on a particular subject, or broadened geographically, they diminish the chances of enabling the kind of reciprocating community - the kind of neighborhood - which is most naturally found when geography is focused and interests broadened.

Pete Peterson is Executive Director of Common Sense California -- a multi-partisan non-profit organization that supports civic engagement in local/regional decision-making (his views here are not meant to represent CSC). Pete also teaches a course on civic participation at Pepperdine's School of Public Policy.

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Front Porch Forum

PBS Engage

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Starksboro Gathers on Virtual Front Porch

Orton Family Foundation

More than 100 Households Connect Online at Front Porch Forum

Starksboro, VT -- When Dan Yonkovig reported "five big garbage bags tossed off the side of Ireland Road about a mile up" on Starksboro's Front Porch Forum at 7:28 a.m. on March 1st, it didn't take long for neighbors to chime in. By the next morning, Jeanne Cunningham posted a message tracing the debris to a construction site in Vergennes. Thanks to Front Porch Forum, the Sheriff's office was notified and Ireland Road is again garbage free.

Front Porch Forum (FPF) has been connecting neighbors across Chittenden County, VT since the spring of 2000, when Michael and Valerie Wood-Lewis launched their first online forum in Burlington's Five Sisters Neighborhood. FPF now hosts a network of 130 online neighborhood forums to which more than 13,000 households contribute.

Starksboro's enthusiastic entree to the Forum marks a new way in which the online initiative is invigorating communities. The Orton Family Foundation and FPF have developed a partnership in which the Foundation covers the expenses for FPF to expand its network to Starksboro, the Forum's first community outside of Chittenden County. After one year, Starksboro's Front Porch Forum will be self-sustaining and continue without Foundation support.

"The Foundation is interested in how Front Porch Forum can serve as a tool, or catalyst, for citizen engagement and communication," said Betsy Rosenbluth, Northeast Director of Projects for the Foundation. Only two weeks after FPF became available in Starksboro, more than 100 households out of a total of 670 had subscribed.

"We're amazed at how quickly FPF is being adopted by the good folks of Starksboro," said Michael Wood-Lewis. "As we've seen in more than a dozen other Vermont towns, people are eager to connect with nearby neighbors to build community, and Front Porch Forum makes that easy."

"Each Front Porch Forum is private--strictly limited to the people living in each neighborhood--so it's a place where neighbors can post messages about simple stuff or local issues," Wood-Lewis explained.

Every day more Starksboro residents are making connections on the virtual Front Porch. Recent posts run the gamut, from moose sightings to library programs to cars for sale to signs of spring to Planning Commission candidate bios. Resident Wendy MacCardle wrote: "I think this will be an incredible asset for our community... Yahoo! Elated in Starksboro."

FPF members also organize group yard sales and block parties, borrow shovels, help ailing neighbors, announce concerts, find babysitters and more. All this is done with clearly identified nearby neighbors through email and a web site. Users do not need to be web-savvy to join; all they need is the ability to receive email, and send some, if they want.

Any resident of Starksboro or the 19 towns of Chittenden County can learn more and join at FrontPorchForum.com.

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Join the Starksboro Conversation... Online!

Starksboro Gazette

Did you know that any resident of Starksboro may sign up for FrontPorchForum.com now? Since it launched here in February, more than 100 households have registered. Your neighbors have written about many topics in the first few weeks. Here are some sample headlines...

Dumping Culprit Traced
Seeking chickens
Would anyone like one sheep to add to flock?
Contra Dance in Hinesburg tonight!
Charming Cottage for Rent
Seeking Waffle iron
Planning Commission candidacy
Starksboro Community Chorus

Join today online at FrontPorchForum.com!

The Browser

The Radiator 105.9 FM

My interview with Michael Wood-Lewis of the Front Porch Forum. Click here for the audio.

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Front Porch Form comes to Starksboro!

Starksboro Gazette

With propane prices high in January, Nancy Grover turned to hundreds of her Huntington neighbors with the click of a button. She proposed forming a buyers club to get a better price and folks are working out the details now.

How did she do this? With Front Porch Forum (www.FrontPorchForum.com). This Vermont-based service hosts a network of 130 online neighborhood forums blanketing all of Chittenden County. More than 12,000 households subscribe.

And now Front Porch Forum (FPF) has come to Starksboro! Thanks to the generosity of the Orton Family Foundation Art and Soul project, FPF is now available to any resident of Starksboro too. It's free, easy to use and will not clog your inbox. More than 50% of Huntington subscribes and 400 Hinesburg households use it.

It's simple. Just sign up at www.FrontPorchForum.com. Then you can easily share your message with your Starksboro neighbors. Find your lost dog, recommend a plumber, report a break-in, sell your car, give away a stroller, announce a fund-raiser, recruit volunteers, borrow a ladder, find a babysitter, and more. Each posting comes from a clearly identified nearby neighbor.

It only works if lots of people sign up, so please give it a try today!

Neighborhood Night of Success 2009

CCTV Channel 17

By Ita Meno
2009-02-23

Host Ita Meno and co-host Simon Fischer speak with Michael Wood-Lewis and Sarah Ebbott on the March 25th Neighborhood Night of Success and all the reasons for the celebration.

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Join your Neighborhood Conversation on Front Porch Forum

C.P. Smith Elementary School's Smith Times Newsletter

Front Porch Forum is a great way to learn about issues important for kids, parents, our schools and our city. It's a free, locally invented online newsletter that connects nearby neighbors over childcare, lost dogs, car break-ins, plumber recommendations, block parties, bikes for sale and lots more. Members report that receiving news through Front Porch Forum helps them be more connected and better informed.

Please consider joining if you're not already a member. About 40% of Burlington already participates. Check it out at: http://frontporchforum.com

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Join your Neighborhood Conversation on Front Porch Forum

Barnes Elementary School's Thursday Memo

Front Porch Forum is a great way to learn about issues important for kids, parents, our schools and our city. It's a free, locally invented online newsletter that connects nearby neighbors over childcare, lost dogs, car break-ins, plumber recommendations, block parties, bikes for sale... and lots more. Members report that receiving news through Front Porch Forum helps them be more connected and better informed.

Please consider joining if you're not already a member. About 40% of Burlington already participates. Check it out at: http://frontporchforum.com

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Front Porch Forum: A new way to Spread the Word

St. Albans Messenger, Bridges to Well-Being

Did you ever want to tell lots of people about a fundraiser, volunteer opportunity or community-building event? Join the Front Porch Forum and reach dozens of your neighbors by posting a single online message. Front Porch Forum hosts 130 online neighborhood forums blanketing all of Chittenden County. More than 11,000 households subscribe to this free service, including 40% of Burlington. Local couple Michael and Valerie Wood-Lewis launched this site in Burlington's Five Sisters neighborhood in 2000. Now all the great community-building happening through FPF is attracting national recognition.

Michael also suggests that local mission-driven organizations ask everyone in their network to subscribe (each person in his/her own FPF neighborhood forum). "Then when you want to announce your annual fundraiser, or whatever it may be, send your message to all these local contacts and ask each one of them to post your announcement. This is a powerful way to generate a genuine word-of-mouth campaign." Sponsoring agencies also use FPF to get the word out about their programs.

Front Porch Forum and local parties are exploring bringing the service to Franklin and Grand Isle Counties. Learn more and pre-register at FrontPorchForum.com: Michael Wood-Lewis, Front Porch Forum, PO Box 64781, Burlington, VT 05406-4781, 802-540-0069, michael@frontporchforum.com, http://frontporchforum.com.

In Support of Front Porch Forum...
In supporting and creating social networks within our neighborhoods through online forums that are civil and constructive, Front Porch Forum cultivates local interest and offers us a means to contribute to outcomes of community stability.

Front Porch Forum is moderated, does not allow alias postings, does not tolerate personal attacks and does not clog your inbox with spam. It is intentional and pragmatic. Unfiltered instant messaging postings have no place on Front Porch Forum. It provides a complex service while maintaining a neutral editorial position. It starts the conversation on-line and leads to face-to-face interaction. This process helps build resilience and fits into the mission of supporting shared language in our communities.

Michael Wood-Lewis, founder of Front Porch Forum, states, "It dilutes and democraticizes...everyone has access."

Partnerships through neighborhoods extend beyond the street corner, weaving networks into a broader sheath of intentional concern and care for one another.

Together, we can rebuild the public trust, recognizing our interdependence, knowing that we are caught, in the words of Martin Luther King, Jr., "in an inescapable network of mutuality."

Building community takes "heart and soul" from every voice; when we can appreciate the value of what every community craves, a "sense of place," we come home.

-Loli Berard, University of Vermont, Educational Leadership and Policy Studies, Graduate Student, mberard@uvm.edu For more information about "Heart and soul" and "Sense of Place" visit The Orton Famliy Foundation at http://www.orton.org

FPF Crime Fighters Inspire Legal Action

Blurt - Seven Days Staff Blog

On September 3, I reported that Burlington residents were using the neighborhood email newsletter service Front Porch Forum -- including, in one high-profile case, posting a picture taken with a cellphone camera -- to help local police officers investigate a string of graffiti incidents in Burlington.

Now, after more than 60 charges were filed in two separate cases, one is in "pre-trail process," according to a recent FPF post by BPD officer Mike Hemond. Chittenden County State's Attorney T.J. Donovan is prosecuting the case. "Considering the workload over there," Hemond writes, "that's no small thing."

Reached by phone this afternoon, BPD chief Michael Schirling said a 7-member advisory board is meeting on October 28 as part of a "strategic planning initiative" to reassess the department's self-described "community policing" protocols. Schirling, who formed the board partly in response to a summertime public forum in the Old North End, predicts there will be a kick-off event in early November.

One of the advisory board's tasks, Schirling said, is assessing how BPD and local citizens might collaborate on video surveillance projects. In the last two months, he explained, the department has loaned two video cameras to citizens interested in documenting alleged noise violations and drug-dealing in their neighborhoods. "It's not really a program," Schirling said. "Some folks have asked, so we've tried it out in a couple of cases, but it's not something we've embraced as a 'thing' yet."

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Have YOU Joined Your Front Porch Forum?

Off Campus Life Newsletter

Chances are good that dozens of your neighbors and classmates are connected to each other online via a local invention called Front Porch Forum. Please join the conversation today by SIGNING UP at http://frontporchforum.com and POSTING a message or two.

FPF hosts 130 neighborhood forums covering all of Chittenden County. More than 10,000 householdsstudentstalking subscribe, including one-third of the City of Burlington!

People use this free service in hundreds of ways, including to organize a community meeting, find a babysitter or a babysitting job, help an elder live at home, find lost keys, report a home break-in, debate a road project, recommend a mechanic, discuss ballot items leading up to Town Meeting Day, and lots more.

All of this is done with clearly identified nearby neighbors, so that over time a familiarity accumulates and people feel more connected. That's when the conversation often moves from the virtual to the actual front porch. FPF frequently sparks block parties, group yards sales, neighborhood projects (e.g., new playground, clean-ups), public hearings on challenging issues, and more.

Check it out today at http://frontporchforum.com

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Companies in Business Monday

Burlington Free Press

Burlington-based FrontPorchForum.com received the top national award of the Rural Telecom Congress, presented at Smugglers' Notch at Rural TeleCon 2008 on Oct. 7. This recognition included a $3,000 grant. Michael Wood-Lewis, co-founder of FrontPorchForum.com, was also singled out with a Peoples' Choice Innovator of the Year Award. FrontPorchForum.com hosts online neighborhood forums that blanket Chittenden County.

Front Porch Forum Wins More Awards

Blurt - Seven Days Staff Blog

Burlington-based Front Porch Forum won two more awards this week. The Rural Telecom Congress recognized FPF with its "RTC People's Choice Award - Most Innovative," and its "RTC Champion Award." The honors came with cash prizes - $500 and $3000, respectively. They're just the latest in a string of accolades, documented here by FPF founder Michael Wood-Lewis.

FPF is a popular neighborhood email newsletter service, available only in Chittenden County, Vermont. It's decidedly low-tech. Subscribers go to the FPF website and sign up to receive free, text-only email newsletters filled with messages from their neighbors and local officials.

How do new subscribers know which neighborhood to sign up for? Easy. They enter their actual, physical home address, and are assigned to an FPF-designated neighborhood. Founder Wood-Lewis draws the neighborhood boundaries. Subscribers only receive emails from their neighborhood forum.

Everyone in the neighborhood can post items to the forum. The only catch is that whenever you post something, everyone in the forum can see your real name and the street where you live. It's a concept that flies in the face of most online communities, which allow anonymity. It's also part of the reason that FPF has been so successful. More than 11,000 households subscribe to FPF - in Chittenden County. Not bad for a local, online initiative.

I'm sure that none of this is news to those of you who live in Chittenden County. FPF is in the local news quite a lot, partly because the forums generate so many story ideas, and partly because Wood-Lewis is a tireless promoter. True, he has a financial stake in making this venture work, but I think he genuinely believes that he's building community, and connecting neighbors in a new and vital way. Clearly, the Rural Telecom Conference thinks so.

I do, too. I should point out that Seven Days is one of the local businesses that advertises on the forums - we trade ads in our newspaper and on our website in return for short text ads on the forums. But I'm also an active forum participant, and I can honestly say that FPF is filling a void, at least in my neighborhood.

FPF isn't perfect - Wood-Lewis has been criticized for the way he draws neighborhood boundaries, and for his efforts at moderating forum discussions (he compiles all the messages manually, and occasionally edits them, or suspends discussions). And because FPF is a no-frills service aimed at the mainstream, it can be frustratingly basic. Messages don't go out in real-time, when you post them, for example; Wood-Lewis waits to send every issue until there are enough posts to justify an update.

But just this past week, my Winooski neighbors have used our forum to lay the groundwork for a much-needed neighborhood watch to combat petty crime. Now that's the kind of change we need.

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Front Porch Forum Wins More Awards

Vermont 3.0 - Creative/Tech Careers

Burlington-based Front Porch Forum won two more awards this week. The Rural Telecom Congress recognized FPF with its "RTC People's Choice Award - Most Innovative," and its "RTC Champion Award." The honors came with cash prizes - $500 and $3000, respectively. They're just the latest in a string of accolades, documented here by FPF founder Michael Wood-Lewis.

FPF is a popular neighborhood email newsletter service, available only in Chittenden County, Vermont. It's decidedly low-tech. Subscribers go to the FPF website and sign up to receive free, text-only email newsletters filled with messages from their neighbors and local officials.

How do new subscribers know which neighborhood to sign up for? Easy. They enter their actual, physical home address, and are assigned to an FPF-designated neighborhood. Founder Wood-Lewis draws the neighborhood boundaries. Subscribers only receive emails from their neighborhood forum.

Everyone in the neighborhood can post items to the forum. The only catch is that whenever you post something, everyone in the forum can see your real name and the street where you live. It's a concept that flies in the face of most online communities, which allow anonymity. It's also part of the reason that FPF has been so successful. More than 11,000 households subscribe to FPF - in Chittenden County. Not bad for a local, online initiative.

I'm sure that none of this is news to those of you who live in Chittenden County. FPF is in the local news quite a lot, partly because the forums generate so many story ideas, and partly because Wood-Lewis is a tireless promoter. True, he has a financial stake in making this venture work, but I think he genuinely believes that he's building community, and connecting neighbors in a new and vital way. Clearly, the Rural Telecom Conference thinks so.

I do, too. I should point out that Seven Days is one of the local businesses that advertises on the forums - we trade ads in our newspaper and on our website in return for short text ads on the forums. But I'm also an active forum participant, and I can honestly say that FPF is filling a void, at least in my neighborhood.

FPF isn't perfect - Wood-Lewis has been criticized for the way he draws neighborhood boundaries, and for his efforts at moderating forum discussions (he compiles all the messages manually, and occasionally edits them, or suspends discussions). And because FPF is a no-frills service aimed at the mainstream, it can be frustratingly basic. Messages don't go out in real-time, when you post them, for example; Wood-Lewis waits to send every issue until there are enough posts to justify an update.

But just this past week, my Winooski neighbors have used our forum to lay the groundwork for a much-needed neighborhood watch to combat petty crime. Now that's the kind of change we need.

Read the full article

Join your Neighborhood Conversation on Front Porch Forum

Champlain Elementary School Newsletter

Front Porch Forum is a great way to learn about issues important for kids, parents, our schools and our city. It's a free, locally invented online newsletter that connects nearby neighbors over childcare, lost dogs, car break-ins, plumber recommendations, block parties, skates for sale... and lots more. Members report that receiving news through Front Porch Forum helps them be more connected and better informed.

Please consider joining if you're not already a member. Check it out at: http://frontporchforum.com

Mark Glaser answers the Five Good Questions on the PBS Engage blog

PBS

Q: With information becoming global online, who's going to focus on local news? A: There are some great experiments around local news happening, including:

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Right to Bite - New pizzeria offends some sensitive South Enders

Seven Days

The name of the South End's newest restaurant, Bite Me Organic Pizza, exhorts the eater to dig in. But for some customers, the restaurant's name has more vulgar connotations. Jack O'Brien's new pizza place on St. Paul Street has generated a flurry of postings on the neighborhood's Front Porch Forum, some of which have been rather, well, biting.

In a message left for this reporter, FPF commenter Dorie Weigand points out: "The way our language has evolved, 'bite me' is pretty confrontational and aggressive... I don't really think that I'm offended; I just think that the language that was used was not well thought out for a new business."

Democratic City Councilor Joan Shannon, who lives nearby with her 6-year-old daughter, questions O'Brien's marketing motives: "I think the aim may have been to appear trendy or cutting edge," she opines. "And maybe it's a good line if you're trying to attract college students" -- as opposed to families.

Would Shannon go there without her elementary schooler? "I have mixed feelings," she admits, conceding that O'Brien "has made a great improvement to a problem property in the neighborhood... I hear they have good pizza. It's a matter of whether or not I can overcome the name to go eat pizza there."

Others neighbors, like Jessica Oski, aren't concerned about the pizzeria's moniker: "I would say that the name is an attempt at being clever, and it's not necessarily the name that I would have chosen, but there are certainly things in this world that I'm more concerned about talking to my kids about: war, poverty, racism, etc." And, she points out, "You are biting the food."

O'Brien himself seems somewhat baffled by the furor. "I'm sorry they feel that way about the name, but I can't make them see something differently if they perceive 'bite me' as a negative. I'm just trying to do everything positive."

His final word on the topic: "I like that the people here are innovative, smart, picky and opinionated: All these things are fantastic. I love the fact that we can agree to disagree." Slice of Vermont life.

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Police Caution Front Porch Forum Crime Fighters

Seven Days

On August 24, Jeff Kaufman rolled out of bed and noticed the letters "PH" had been scrawled into one of his window air-conditioning units. After photographing six similarly damaged units in his Old North End neighborhood, he posted a comment to the online newsletter, "Front Porch Forum."

Total damage to the ACs was $1000, Kaufman wrote. "Does this rise to the level of a felony?" he wondered.

That same morning a South End resident heard a vandal outside his window. Rather than call the police, however, the resident got in his truck and followed the college-age offender.

After catching up with the supposed perp, he asked, "Are you a 'writer?'" referencing a term for graffiti taggers. "No, dude," the man replied. "I don't know what you are talking about." The resident used his cellphone to snap a picture of the guy before he took off.

The resident's wife subsequently relayed the incident on FPF and encouraged neighbors to keep local police apprised of similar incidents. Over the next two days, forum founder and moderator Michael Wood-Lewis kept other residents and police in the loop.

Thanks in part to those efforts, Burlington Police Department officer Mike Hemond was able to document related incidents involving as many as 20 homes.

Hemond himself later wrote on FPF, praising the resident's work as a "huge help" in the investigation -- "truly exceptional work." He even urged him to consider a job with the police department. "We're hiring," he joked.

The officer did issue a few words of caution, though: "I do want to point out that it was very risky, as there's no way to control what the guy would do... It would have been fine to follow the guy in your truck while calling us on a cell phone, but I wasn't there, so I'm not going to second-guess your judgment, either way it was exceptional and really helpful to the cases."

Ten thousand Chittenden County residents subscribe to about 130 neighborhood Front Porch Forums. While most FPF users only see postings from their immediate neighborhoods, about 350 Burlington residents, public officials and police officers belong to "Neighborhood Volunteers," a citywide online forum where information is swapped across wards. According to a recent FPF survey, 60 percent of subscribers "feel that FPF makes local government more responsive to neighborhood needs."

Wood-Lewis said that the forum has always been effective as a "neighborhood watch" tool. At a basic level, it encourages residents to take a stand against speeders, burglars and other low-level offenders. As enrollment climbs, however, subscribers are becoming "more empowered and aggressive about being involved and finding out what's going on," he said.

Hemond, one of several Burlington police officers who keep in touch with residents via FPF, is cautiously enthusiastic about the crime-fighting potential of the online service. He said FPF enables communication between officers and residents and saves the department, which is short about 10 officers, ever-precious investigative time. Unlike departmental press releases, he explained, forum posts reach a targeted audience and are sometimes a more efficient means of gathering information than knocking on doors.

"We're going to use the Front Porch Forum as a tool -- because that's what it is -- to supplement our investigation," Hemond said. "But it by no means should be viewed as [an excuse] to not call the police."

Indeed, department chief Michael Schirling expressed ambivalence about the role FPF subscribers play in policing their own neighborhoods. Schirling told Seven Days that the South End resident's confrontation with the alleged tagger jeopardized the resident's safety and impeded further police investigation.

"Had we been called as the witness was following the person, we probably could've gotten the suspect directly identified," Schirling said. "But now we have to take a few extra steps."

Like Hemond, the chief encourages FPF subscribers to "get actively involved" in keeping an eye out for crime in their neighborhoods. At a recent public meeting in the Old North End, convened after a flurry of FPF postings on drugs and crime, Schirling announced that the department is revising its decade-old commitment to "community policing." It seeks to incorporate FPF and other "new media" into that evolving strategy to prevent crime through increased communication between residents and officers.

However, he said, online vigilance is no substitute for nuts-and-bolts police work.

"We don't want to defer our day-to-day operations to being virtual," he said. "We've got to have officers interacting directly with citizens, and we've got to be able to go to crime scenes to assess what's happening."

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Residents Track Crim on Web: Police Gather Tips From Front Porch

Burlington Free Press

Take notice, Burlington vandals, taggers and would-be thieves: Little Brother is watching you.

And he's swapping notes with his (and her) neighbors -- and the police -- on Front Porch Forum, a community-based online network serving Chittenden County.

This week, moderators on the forum spotted posts about attempted break-ins, damaged air conditioners and spray painted graffiti from several Burlington neighborhoods.

Police are now investigating suspects, one of whom a neighbor chased down and photographed, said Lt. Jennifer Morrison of the Burlington Police Department.

Morrison said limited staff often slowed the pace of vandalism cases, but informal neighborhood watch groups help to fill gaps between police district beats and shift changes.

"Residents are there 24-7," she said. "They see what's there, what's out of place. Front Porch Forum can be a cool tool for discovering how patterns in low-level crimes emerge."

In a post Aug. 24, Wylie Garcia of South Union Street described being woken early the previous morning by the sound of someone mashing in the fine, metal grill on her window air conditioner's grill. Her husband, Clark Derbes, she wrote, hopped in his truck, questioned a young man in the neighborhood and photographed him.

Burlington Police Officer Mike Hemond, who patrols the city's South End, cautioned against impromptu photography sessions with suspects, but praised Derbes' "truly exceptional work" in a Front Porch Forum post.

"We will be working with the photo to try to identify the individual and move ahead with any appropriate charges," he wrote. "This aids not only Clark's case, but the cases for 10-20 other neighbors."

The scrawled initials at the Garcia and Derbes residence, "PH," matched those on at least seven other window air conditioners vandalized in the Old North End on Sunday, North Willard Street resident Jeffrey Kaufman said.

Kaufman documented the damage Aug. 24 on his neighborhood Front Porch Forum. Moderators of the countywide network picked up the trend and sent out an alert.

"We had a civilian mechanism to parallel what the police department was doing," he said.

Michael Wood-Lewis of Burlington, who co-founded Front Porch Forum in 2000, moderates networkwide posts that might otherwise be limited to single neighborhoods.

In 2006 the forum broadened to include more Chittenden County communities. Wood-Lewis estimates that the service has more than 10,000 subscribers.

"From the beginning, there was a neighborhood watch component to this," he said Thursday. "It makes sense. In addition to yard sales, block parties and borrowing ladders and such, people can compare notes about robberies and break-ins."

Jill Badolato of South Winooski Avenue posted on the forum an attempted break-in she (and her dog, Moose) had foiled early Aug. 24.

Badolato also compared notes with others in the South Union forum who had recently had window screens slit, presumably in advance of an inside theft.

"I run into people on the street now who ask me if I'm OK," she said.

Later in the week, Badolato upgraded the hardware on her windows and tweaked the settings on her motion-sensor lights.

"I considered putting in an alarm system," she said. "But I live in Vermont. I don't want something that would go off every time the snow heaves off the roof. I don't want to be living in Fort Knox."

Contact Joel Banner Baird at 660-1843 or joelbaird@bfp.burlingtonfreepress.com.

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News from Sweet Clover Market

Sweet Clover Market

As summer winds down and fall comes blowing down from the hills, people also tend to see more of their neighbors... at least until the snow starts flying. What a great time to sign up for Front Porch Forum. Have you heard of it yet? It's free, it was invented locally, it's informative and fun. Clearly identified nearby neighbors connect over lost dogs, plumber recommendations, block parties, car break-ins, firewood sources, and lots more. I live in Westford, and receiving emails through the Front Porch Forum definitely makes me feel more connected and informed about what my neighbors do at work and at home, what they value and how they play! You probably shop at Sweet Clover Market because you value relationships...with your farmer, with your butcher, with your grocer. Front Porch Forum is a terrific way to enhance your relationship with your neighbors...sign up today!

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Fulfilling Vermont's E-State Potential: VPT Public Square Special

Vermont Public Television

Coverage of a day-long symposium, held May 29th in Burlington, that explored the potential policy issues, opportunities and obstacles as Vermont works to become fully 'connected' through statewide broadband internet service and cell phone coverage.

[See full video of event from CCTV. For VPT show, click below.]

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LETTER TO THE EDITOR: Old North Enders engaged for solutions

Burlington Free Press

We were thrilled to see that local residents were focused more on "What can we do?" rather than "How can we get them?" at the recent community meeting about crime ("Old North End worried about quality of life," July 30).

We're humbled that thousands of neighbors have used FrontPorchForum.com to engage in civil and constructive conversation online about these persistent challenges. And we're also glad that so many people heeded the call to move the conversation offline and engage in face-to-face dialogue at community meetings.

On the whole, we see more people getting to know their neighbors and engaging in solving local problems -- a hopeful sign for the Old North End and Burlington.

MICHAEL WOOD-LEWIS
Burlington
The writer is the co-founder of FrontPorchForum.com.

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Old North End worried about quality of life

Burlington Free Press

Crime numbers are down, yet it doesn't feel that way for many residents in Burlington's Old North End this summer.

Worries about the quality of life in the neighborhood are nothing new, but the approach to a variety of issues at a well-attended community meeting Tuesday, from drug sales to noise, was more "What can we do?" rather than "How can we get them?" as it was just a few years ago.

Five summers ago, residents in Burlington's poorest and most crowded neighborhood, following incidents involving gunfire, formed a group called TONE to log crime information in the Old North End. The idea was to bring the reports to the police and then monitor the way officers followed up.

The group's founders asked for more police patrols, particularly on foot, and stricter law enforcement, but as the weather grew colder that year and street noise diminished, the group disbanded.

This summer, complaints in the Old North End are more generalized. City Councilor Clarence Davis, P-Ward 3, said residents have a perception that drug dealing is more open than usual. The ward's other councilor, Tim Ashe, said police have held off at times in making drug arrests, in hopes of catching major suppliers. He said it might be time to change that approach and pull neighborhood dealers off the street.

Back-and-forth notes posted on the neighborhood Internet message board, Front Porch Forum, grew so heated this month that the forum's administrator shut down the dialogue.

The quality-of-life and crime topics on the forum included flowers and bicycles' being stolen, car break-ins, rowdy behavior and routinely obscene language from troublesome neighbors, and drug sales. A woman on Peru Street said in a posting on the forum that residents in one building on the street were responsible for repeated incidents and had created the most unpleasant summer she'd seen in her 14 years in the Old North End.

Tuesday, about 60 Old North End residents, police and Department of Corrections officials, Chittenden County State's Attorney T.J. Donovan and local politicians crowded into the community-meeting room at Burlington College to talk about this summer's issues.

Police Chief Michael Schirling said he wasn't discounting residents' concerns, because having something stolen or habitual bad manners from neighbors can create unease and fear. "What people are feeling is more important to me than the numbers," he said.

Nevertheless, he said, overall crime numbers in the neighborhood -- Jan. 1 through July 21 -- have fallen since last year.

He said that while officers make calls to houses that generate multiple complaints and try to involve the landlord, police ultimately rely on residents' letting troublemakers know their behavior won't be tolerated.

Nicole Neimann, who lives on Walnut Street, articulated the theme that guided the meeting Tuesday. Because many of the issues that led to the meeting are interconnected, she said, the question becomes one of how to respond effectively and as a community. "I want to do something," she said.

No quick-fixes emerged Tuesday.

The consensus of those attending seemed to be to volunteer to help existing organizations and city government programs, and to explore, as Schirling said, expanding the reach of the understaffed police department by taking a look at creating Neighborhood Watch groups or forming visible patrols for the neighborhood comparable to the yellow-shirted auxiliaries downtown.

More community meetings are likely to follow.

Contact John Briggs at 660-1863 or at jbriggs@bfp.burlingtonfreepress.com.

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FPF Feedback

Seven Days

Letter to the Editor

I was glad to see Seven Days' coverage of a Front Porch Forum discussion about neighborhood drug dealing. However, the title of your article ["Moderator Shuts Down Online Debate on ONE Drug Use," July 16] mischaracterized the situation. We were not squelching community dialogue about this important issue -- just the opposite.

Front Porch Forum exists to encourage and facilitate this kind of communication. I took the highly unusual step of suspending a single topic on one of our 130 neighborhood forums for two weeks in an attempt to let tempers cool and to reclaim a civil and inclusive tone. Allowing a neighborhood forum to devolve into an online shouting match among a tiny minority of subscribers drives people away and serves no one's long-term interest.

In fact, we're encouraged by the results in this case. Where previously there was little talk about drug dealing, now there's loads of it, among hundreds of neighbors, city councilors, police and others. Media is reporting on this important issue. Public meetings are in the works. Front Porch Forum was a starting point and a catalyst for this positive activity.

So I respectfully offer an alternative headline: "Neighbors Use Front Porch Forum to Ignite Drug Dealing Discussion."

Michael Wood-Lewis
BURLINGTON
Wood-Lewis is the co-founder of FrontPorchForum.com.

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Moderator Shuts Down Online Debate on ONE Drug Use*

Seven Days

The moderator of the popular Front Porch Forum shut down an online discussion of drug use and crime in the Old North End last week when residents began hurling verbal insults at each other.

Michael Wood-Lewis, founder and moderator of Front Porch Forum, said it was the third time in the forum's eight-year history that he's had to step in and cut off discussion of a specific issue. The others revolved around "dog poop" disputes between cat and dog lovers, and over the historic preservation of slate roofs.

"When the public well becomes poisoned," Wood-Lewis said, "it's hard to get it back on track."

Photo credit: Andy Duback, Seven Days

Complaints about drug use in an area around Murray Street, which runs between Barnes Elementary School and St. Joseph's, a Catholic school, started about three weeks ago. But the spirited debate, on the Old North End Central forum, turned personal after one resident posted a video of himself confronting people whom he believes are dealing and using drugs. At one point in the video, the two sides get into a physical confrontation.

Some forum members responded by saying the resident provoked the fight. Others defended his actions, saying he videotaped the activity out of frustration with the lack of police response to alleged drug dealing in the area.

Wood-Lewis said a handful of residents have quit the forum over the discussion. About 650 households have signed up to participate in the Old North End Central forum, one of about 130 forums throughout Chittenden County that have attracted about 10,000 users.

"This space is about creating a space for everybody to listen in and weigh in," Wood-Lewis said. "Some people who are part of these forums tell us they feel isolated in their neighborhood, and this is one way for them to feel connected. They are not interested in Front Porch Forum helping them to lose that connection again."

Meanwhile, residents involved in the vigorous debate want to bring the discussion offline and into the real world. Sarah Judd, the development director at Burlington College, said she is trying to organize a meeting of FPF members to talk about crime in the Old North End.

Judd said she hopes to bring together landlords, residents, police, business owners and members of the local immigrant community by month's end or in early August.

"People may not agree with how he's going about exhibiting his frustration in terms of dealers and drug use," Judd said, referring to the resident who videotaped the alleged drug users. "But nevertheless, it's an example of collective frustration over what seems to be an increase, at least in visibility . . . of drug use and dealing in drugs."

Whatever the merits of the complaints, some city officials have been watching the FPF discussion closely. Burlington Police Lt. Emmet Helrich said he subscribes to the Old North End forum and tries to follow up on concerns about police apathy. Helrich said when staff levels allow, police patrol the Murray Street area, near the intersection with North Street, on foot.

"If it's late at night, we don't come in with our lights on and V-8s roaring," he said.

City Councilor Clarence Davis (P-Ward 3), whose district includes parts of the Old North End, said he met with Burlington Police Chief Michael Schirling last week to discuss growing concerns about drug use in the area.

"People are talking about it more," Davis said. "So the reality and the perception of increased crime are converging."

Wood-Lewis said that, while he regrets the tenor of the online conversation, he's "thrilled" that residents might come together to discuss the underlying issue. As for re-resuming it online, Wood-Lewis said he plans to wait a couple weeks.

"Then," he said, "we'll see where it goes."

*See Michael's take on this matter at Ghost of Midnight blog and his letter to the editor.

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Front Porch Forum Creates 'Online Block Parties'

Burlington Free Press

-- Know your neighbors --

Michael and Valerie Wood-Lewis moved to Burlington from Washington, D.C., 10 years ago for its sense of community. They didn't know at the time they would be instrumental in enhancing the very quality they sought.

The community bonds were created and strengthened by computer, in the digital neighborhood called the Front Porch Forum (www.frontporchforum.com), started by the Wood-Lewises.

"We were spurred by the desire to get to know our neighbors," Michael Wood-Lewis, 42, said. "We were really eager to get to know people. We didn't have a dog to walk."

Photo credit: Alison Redlich, Free Press

The Front Porch Forum is a place where neighbors can communicate and connect through e-mail newsletters. It's easy to join and requires nothing more than access to e-mail to read or write a message.

The couple started the forum in the Burlington neighborhood where they live, Five Sisters, in 2000. "It was just a little hobby," Wood-Lewis said.

The e-mail forum was a way to connect with neighbors and keep up with what was going on in his community. The Wood-Lewises didn't want to arrive home from a day's outing, as they did years ago, to find neighbors cleaning up a barbecue they never knew about.

The Five Sisters forum was successful, and in 2006, Wood-Lewis decided to expand the forum, embarking on the undertaking as a full-time commitment. He calls the home he shares with his wife and four children, ages 8 to 2, "world headquarters" of the Front Porch Forum.

There are now 130 neighborhood forums in Chittenden County and 10,000 subscribers to the free service, Wood-Lewis said. Each forum -- and there's one covering every neighborhood in Chittenden County -- represents a small and discreet slice of the community, an area delineated and named by Wood-Lewis.

On the forum's e-mail postings, neighbors who are identifiable by name and street address post information or questions on a range of issues. The combined forums generate about 2,000 messages a month, Wood-Lewis said. The topics, whether a missing cat or a hazardous cross-walk, are typically bound by the interests and parameters of the neighborhood.

"I think of these as online block parties," Wood-Lewis said. "For us, it's almost more important that there's communication going on, than the topic."

A Richmond forum, in recent days, has been alive with conversation about a flash flood, Wood-Lewis said. In the Old North End, there's been discussion about how to help someone who has a drug habit. People in the East Woods neighborhood are using the forum to organize a summer party, he said.

Each neighborhood forum encompasses about 400 (potential) households, with participation varying throughout the county. In Burlington, one-third of the households subscribe to their local forums. (The Five Sisters forum is saturated, with 107 percentage participation; some families have more than one subscriber.)

On average, about 20 percent of county residents participate, Wood-Lewis said.

"What we're trying to do is catch people where they are (computers) and get just a little smidgen of their time," he said.

He said that over time, people get to know more and more neighbors -- acquaintances or friendships that originate on the Front Porch Forum.

"With all those messages from clearly identified nearby neighbors passing through your inbox, change starts to happen," Wood-Lewis said. "I don't live among neighbors; I live among people I know. Things start to come together."

The Front Porch Forum has received national recognition for its work, including grants from the Middlebury-based Orton Family Foundation and the Case Foundation. Both organizations are interested in and support efforts related to community-building and civic engagement. Orton selected the Forum for its 2007 Innovator in Place award.

David Mindich, professor of journalism and mass communication at St. Michael's College, said the Front Porch Forum is an "excellent medium" for getting out information.

"I would suspect that most people who are members of the Front Porch Forum get as much news about their neighborhood there, if not more, as they get in the Free Press," Mindich said.

He noted a distinction between the way the two mediums function, one that concerns "hard-hitting journalism" that can hold leaders accountable.

"It's a great addition to the community," Mindich said. "I certainly hope 10 years from now, as the Front Porch Forum continues to flourish, we still have a vibrant, independent journalism in the state as well, with a business model that pays reporters to dig and hold officials' feet to the fire."

The Forum's success can be measured not just by a growing number of subscribers, but by advertising sales.

Six months ago, the Front Porch Forum started selling ads that run at the bottom of the e-mails. It also sells subscriptions for $99 a month to Burlington municipal departments, allowing for two-way communication between residents and police officers and other city departments -- with public officials a click away from citizens' concerns.

Every message that's posted on Front Porch Forum is monitored and given a headline; subscribers at a glance can see what information follows.

Of the 30,000 or so messages that have been sent to the forum, Wood-Lewis has declined to post about a dozen because of tone or content, he estimated. These are sent back with a request that they're rewritten.

"People behave themselves," he said. "Each neighborhood has to think of this as their forum."

Contact Sally Pollak at spollak@bfp.burlingtonfreepress.com or 660-1859.

Common messages among neighbors
- Car break-in last night on Maple Street
- Seeking post-hole digger to borrow
- Lost dog!
- Organizing block party
- Roofer recommended
- Neighbor running cancer fundraiser
- Traffic concerns... speeders!
- Baby sitter available
- Seeking meals for ailing neighbor
- Owl sighting

How to sign up for Front Porch Forum
- Any resident of Chittenden County can join; it's free and won't clog your inbox
- Go to: http://frontporchforum.com and click Join
- For news and information about FPF, check out its blog: http://frontporchforum.com/blog

Tips for neighborhood engagement
- Encourage friends, neighbors, co-workers and others to sign up at http://frontporchforum.com
- Post brief messages frequently: It's all about getting a conversation rolling
- Use your FPF neighborhood forum to organize a block party, group yard sale or other event

Source: Michael Wood-Lewis, co-founder/owner of Front Porch Forum

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Technology and the Future of Community Information Flow

Knight Commission on the Information Needs of Communities in a Democracy

[Click title above for video clip.]

Front Porch Forum Helps Neighbors Connect and Build Community
A Critical Initial Step toward Informed Civic Engagement

Recently, a 14-year-old girl asked her mom for a birthday canoe outing with friends. A $200 rental fee almost led to cancellation. Then mom realized that canoes were tucked behind many of her neighbors' sheds, and, if she only knew these neighbors, then she could ask to borrow them. Alas, like many Americans circa 2008, she did not know most of her neighbors.

Undaunted, the mother turned to a unique online service called Front Porch Forum to post a request. Shortly she had more offers of free canoe loans from nearby neighbors than she could use! She remarked "not only did my daughter have a great birthday and I saved a couple hundred dollars, but now I have a genuine connection to a half-dozen neighbors. Why didn't I know these good people years ago?"

This citizen just took an important step toward becoming more engaged in her community... and she opened the door to local connectedness for her daughter, six of her neighbors, and dozens more who partake in her online neighborhood forum and witnessed this exchange.

Award-winning Front Porch Forum (FPF) is in the business of helping neighbors connect and build community. FPF hosts 130 neighborhood forums covering all of Chittenden County, Vermont, including the one in the story above. Nearly 10,000 households subscribe, including one-third of the City of Burlington. Different versions of the canoe story have played out thousands of times in the year-and-a-half since FPF's launch (see http://frontporchforum.com).

People use the service in hundreds of ways, including to share an owl sighting, find a babysitter, help an elder live at home, find lost keys, report a home break-in, debate a road project, recommend a plumber, discuss ballot items leading up to Town Meeting Day, and lots more.

All of this is done with clearly identified nearby neighbors, so that over time a familiarity accumulates and people feel more connected. That's when the conversation and action moves from the virtual to the actual front porch.

This online tool enhances and catalyzes real world relationships and civic engagement. A recent survey found 64% of respondents have gotten involved in events or public meetings due to Front Porch Forum, while 60% believe it makes local government more responsive. A remarkable 93% feel that simply reading Front Porch Forum has increased their local civic engagement.

Many people crave community connection and want to make a positive difference. Front Porch Forum connects these folks and presents opportunities to pull together... whether its helping a family after their home burns, getting a school budget passed, organizing a political rally, or, simply, helping a girl's birthday wish come true with a flotilla of neighborhood canoes.

In addition to thousands of residents, hundreds of local public officials, businesses and micro-enterprises, volunteers, and others actively use Front Porch Forum too.

Presenter Bio
Michael Wood-Lewis is President and co-founder of Burlington, Vermont-based Front Porch Forum. This new service hosts 130 online neighborhood forums covering Chittenden County. Nearly 10,000 households subscribe, including more than 30% of Burlington. Michael has earned local and national recognition for this work, including a "community innovator of the year" distinction from the Orton Family Foundation and a Make It Your Own award from the Case Foundation.

Prior to this experience, Michael led a 25-employee New England environmental service provider, growing it into a national model. And before his time in Vermont, Michael worked for two Washington, DC think tanks, Public Technology, Inc. and the Institute for Local Self-Reliance, both focused on combining new technologies and local resources to address local challenges.

Michael was raised in Indiana and earned an MBA and MS in engineering from the University of Illinois. Perhaps the most meaningful accolade came in 2005 when Michael was named a Vermont father of the year. He and his wife (and FPF co-founder), Valerie, and their four young children live in Burlington, VT.

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Front Porch Forum Wins Case Foundation Award

Burlington Telecom e-Newsletter

Congratulations to the Front Porch Forum for their recent Case Foundation "Make It Your Own" award. Twenty-five percent of the 15,000 voters cast a ballot for Front Porch Forum and they finished 6th in the voting. This was especially remarkable given the small population base (projects in major metro-areas claimed the top five spots) and that this began several months ago with 5,000 entrants.

Of the award, Case Foundation notes: "Contrary to research that showed a decline in civic health and increasing social isolation, we saw that people want to connect with their neighbors, identify shared concerns, make their own decisions, and shape their own course of action."

Michael Wood-Lewis from Front Porch Forum

The Mark Johnson Show

By Mark Johnson
2008-06-04

A 40-minute radio interview.

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Front Porch Forum Receives National Recognition

Smart Growth Vermont

Front Porch Forum, an online resource that helps neighbors connect and foster community, recently placed sixth out of almost 5,000 entrants in the Make it Your Own Awards Program, a Case Foundation Initiative. The placement has entitled the Forum to a $10,000 grant, which will be used for software development. Congratulations!

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Front Porch Forum

The Mark Johnson Show

By Mark Johnson
2008-06-04

WDEV Radio: The Mark Johnson Show, with Michael Wood-Lewis about Front Porch Forum. 45 minutes.

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Front Porch Forum Recognized Nationally

WCAX Channel 3 News

By Rachael Morrow
2008-06-03

Burlington, Vermont - An online community forum based in Chittenden County beat out thousands of others in a nationwide contest to take home a big prize.

The Front Porch Forum serves about 9,000 households in the Burlington area. Residents can go online and post comments about crime, items for sale and other issues facing their community. The website recently took sixth place in a nationwide competition that used new tools for community development. Burlington beat out major cities like Chicago and Philadelphia to win a 10,000 dollar grant.

"A citizen centered democracy was their idea, so projects that brought citizens in to identify problems and then help them with those problems, and that's what front porch forum does, creates a place for people to come together and work on issues," said Organizer Michael Wood-Lewis.

Organizers say they plan to use the grant money to update the software on their site, and expand access to the rest of the state.

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Fulfilling Our E-State Potential

Snelling Center for Government

By CCTV Channel 17
2008-05-29

Snelling Center for Government: "Fulfilling our E-stae potential: Building community in a connected age. Keynote address by Lewis Feldstein. 1:45. Front Porch Forum portion about half-way in (10-minute talk) and in the Q&A at the end.

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VBSR- The World Wide Web Comes Home

Vermont Businesses for Social Responsibility Spring Conference

By Michael Wood-Lewis, Moderator
2008-05-14

The fifth greatest wave of the the internet - after communication, commerce, search and social networking - may well be "local". People increasingly look online for answers to local questions about shoe stores, plumber recommendations, meeting people, directions, crime reports and more, A vast array of tools and services are being developed in Vermont to meet this demand. Much of this activity is fueled by online ad sales, which grew nationally to $20 billion in 2007. The internet is driving business chance and companies are learning how to use this medium to focus on local markets. This session will provide attendees with concepts and tips for keeping up and getting ahead.For more info: www.vbsr.org

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The Front Porch Forum: Hyperlocal Media

National Coalition for Dialogue & Deliberation

There's an interesting model of neighborhood-based social networking evolving in Vermont called the Front Porch Forum. I was recently struck by its connection to broad, national concern about the loss of local news coverage. But before I go further, I have to confess some skepticism about the recent sense of malaise around the media. Here's why:

Just about everywhere you turn, you are bound to read omphaloskeptic writing about the sufferance of media - its consolidation, how it is biased, how there has been a turn from the local, and certainly the absence of an "alternative" voice. At its finest, some have even called Viacom-produced shows like the "Colbert Report" "independent" news sources. This all plays up the general state of disarray and incoherence out there - but not, at least to me, a state of crisis. And perhaps part of the equation lies in some of the unique qualities of a state like Vermont: small, northern, rural, inconsequential, largely and often overlooked. Perhaps this has allowed something other than the dominant narratives to play out among our bonny green hills.

One of those is the healthy ecology of small town newspapers. Right here in the northern piedmont we have more than a dozen local papers serving a disbursed population of roughly 70,000. Which are all complemented by the circulation of the larger area papers - the Times Argus, Burlington Free Press as well as out of state ones, including the Boston Globe and the New York Times.

So why the health of so many local papers?

Part of it has to do with the interest of local stories - believe it or not, papers keep us in touch with each other - and the other with utility - what we can find of value tucked into those pages, everything from fuel to festivals, trail guides to trash hauling.

And this is exactly why new home-based start-ups like the Front Porch Forum founded by Michael Wood-Lewis and his family work in a place like Vermont: not only is the basic technology in place, but so are some of the "old school" habits of community. People consider in natural to ask for help and to provide it. To make use of others' second hand goods and to share theirs. To gather informally for dinners, dances and games. To care for one another. Not that these impulses don't exist elsewhere: its what makes life worth living. But perhaps in a world of disappearing sidewalks, isolated neighborhoods, disbursed shopping "centers," and busy schedules its just a little harder to make it happen.

Perhaps tools like the Front Porch Forum can also help to re-connect the fabric of community life as well.

Different from anonymous boards like Craigslist and broader than specialized lists like FreeCycle, the Front Porch Forum is a neighborhood based, email-driven social utility that helps people in geographic neighborhoods to connect with one another and share resources - whether it is time and attention, a hot meal, or a specific skill.

Emerging online spaces like the Front Porch Forum offer their members many common utilities - blogging, calendars, announcement lists, profile pages etc - but it is the connection to people with whom one feels both a natural and a real bond, a certain "bound upness" or shared fate that makes them compelling. So when someone several houses away posts an alert about a missing cat, there's a relevance. If another can't make a delivery of a hot meal to a house-bound parent a few doors down, its easy for someone else to fill to void. Need reliable childcare for an afternoon? It could be four houses down - with local references.

And its not just neighbors who find value in this kind of online setting for exchange. Word is, local politicians like to hang out there to hear local issues play out in resident exchanges. Newspaper reporters like to get access to the local angle when issues are discussed. While I haven't heard of any big scoops, I am certain that initiatives like the Oregonian's recent work on race and other dialogue-oriented forms of journalism would find welcome participants and readers.

Front Porch Forum is up for a Case Foundation Make It Your Own award - I hope you'll check it out and consider throwing in a vote!

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Vote for Front Porch Forum

Blurt: Seven Days Staff Blog

Everyone's favorite neighborhood email newsletter service is up for an award — Burlington-based Front Porch Forum is one of 20 finalists for a Make It Your Own Award from the Case Foundation. The foundation is trying to encourage people to "come together to create a vision and work toward the common good."

You might have heard tireless FPF founder Michael Wood-Lewis talking about this on VPR the other day. Or you may have come across this video about FPF, produced by the local cable access channels.

If FPF wins, Wood-Lewis gets a $25,000 grant to spend on upgrading his neighbor-to-neighbor service. He's already getting 10 grand for being one of 5000 applicants to crack the top 20.

So who's choosing the winners? You are.

Go to the Case Foundation website and cast your vote for your four favorite projects. The top four vote getters get 25 grand. Do it soon — voting ends April 22. That's next Tuesday.

Click here if you're having trouble with the ballot.

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Exchanging Local News: from Colonial Taverns to Email Networks

Planning Commissioners Journal: PlannersWeb

By Wayne Senville
2008-04-17

Neighborhoods have long been a cornerstone to community life in America. But there have been some striking changes in how we keep abreast of local news and participate in neighborhood life.

Historians have documented the central role that taverns and coffee houses have long played as places for people to exchange news and information.

Sociologist Ray Oldenburg has also highlighted the valuable service that these and other "third places," as he calls them, have performed in knitting together communities and integrating newcomers and immigrants into their new place of residence. Here's some of what Oldenburg had to say in an article we published in 1997:

"Americans long enjoyed third places in the form of the inns and ordinaries of colonial society, then as the saloons and general stores springing up with westward expansion. Later came the candy stores, soda fountains, coffee shops, diners, etc. which, along with the local post office, were conveniently located and provided the social anchors of community life.

... Third places also serve as "ports of entry" for visitors and newcomers to the neighborhood where directions and other information can easily be obtained. For new residents, they provide a means of getting acquainted quickly and learning where things are and how the neighborhood works."

In many neighborhoods, you'll still find these kind of gathering stops, sometimes taverns, sometimes grocery or convenience stores, sometimes a donut shop, and sometimes even the laundromat.

For years, a common sight outside many of these places was the message board, where neighbors left word about a missing dog, a yard sale, an apartment to rent, a community meeting ... and where candidates for city council, alderman, school board, or mayor placed their campaign posters.

But fast forward to 2008. Email is how we often "talk." Many bemoan this, feeling it has weakened civic life and resulted in a loss of connection within our neighborhoods. And, yes, count me among those who've made such claims.

Yet something quite remarkable has emerged over the past two years here in Burlington and Chittenden County, Vermont. A locally-developed email-based message service, called Front Porch Forum, has established itself as a key way for residents to keep in touch with neighborhood concerns, and to post announcements, notices, offers of help, requests for help ... and also debate local political issues.

Valerie and Michael Wood-Lewis started up the precursor to today's Front Porch Forum (FPF) in their own small "Five Sisters" neighborhood six years ago. Their mission was and remains: "to help neighbors connect and foster community within the neighborhood."

Launched citywide just two years ago, FPF has exploded in popularity. Remarkably, more than 30 percent of Burlington (pop. 39,000) households subscribe to FPF. This means that there's a critical mass of users. Front Porch has become the "place" people think of first when looking to find out what's happening in their neighborhood, or post an announcement.

Front Porch Forum is successful in part because it's so simple to use. Just type your message and email it to FPF. They reformat and distribute it as part of a grouping of messages (one or more times each week, depending on the level of activity in the particular neighborhood).

It's important to realize that there are many Front Porch Forums, since each neighborhood has its own FPF email list. However, city departments and local officials can post messages in multiple neighborhoods when an issue is of citywide (or ward-wide) interest.

Here's a screen shot of the message summary portion of a Front Porch Forum email for my "ONE East" neighborhood to give you a flavor for how it works. As you can see we're sometimes dealing with student noise and behavior issues! After the summaries, you'll get the full message/posting (not visible in the screen shot). I usually receive two or three Front Porch emails each week. They're easy to quickly scan and read.

While you can learn more by visiting the Front Porch Forum web site, I did ask Michael Wood-Lewis a couple of questions:

Wayne: What sort of questions get asked on the Front Porch forums? Has the networking that Front Porch forum enables led to any local actions that might be of particular interest to planners or planning commissioners?

Michael: Front Porch Forum is used frequently by residents to announce, discuss and organize for or against development projects ... Williston landfill, Southern Connector, Circ highway, Moran plant, Appletree Point senior housing, on and on. FPF gets dozens, hundreds, even thousands of people tuned into planning-related issues. It should be noted, that after Town Meeting, the postings reverted back toward FPF's bread and butter ... lost cat, seeking apartment, car break-in report, etc.

FPF members talk about feeling an increased sense of community ownership. A recent survey found that 45% of respondents reported "speaking up or getting involved on any public or policy issue as a result of subscribing to Front Porch Forum."

Wayne: How much of a financial commitment does it take to make Front Porch Forum work? Are there any other factors important to its success?

Michael: Front Porch Forum's success to date is due to many factors, including its inclusion of a moderator. Doing this kind of thing well requires resources. FPF operates as a small business covering all of Chittenden County. It generates revenue from advertising, municipal subscriptions, and other sources to cover its costs. This business model is promising at this early stage, but has not yet fully developed.

Another ingredient to Front Porch Forum's early success is that it is not beholden to any single interest. All FPF's decisions are made in an effort to fulfill its mission of helping neighbors connect and foster community at the neighborhood level.

One of the most interesting observations Michael made is that Front Porch Forum can actually increase citizen interest in local government meetings and public involvement. For example, he received this comment from a steering committee member on one of Burlington's neighborhood organizations: "We had a great turn out at the Neighborhood Planning Assembly meeting this past week -- 80 plus people and almost all of them are on the Front Porch Forum. We have had 3 great meetings with numbers above 50 this fall thanks to the free advertising on Front Porch Forum.

Front Porch Forum is one of ten finalists in a fascinating competition being sponsored by The Case Foundation.

Take a look at all 20 candidates -- representing a great variety of local projects from across America. And consider casting a vote for Front Porch Forum -- voting deadline is next week, on April 22nd!
Finding new ways to communicate is also important for planners and planning commissioners seeking to involve Generation Xers and other younger residents in local planning. We're running an article on this, The Next Generation of Your Planning Commission, in the Spring issue of the Planning Commissioners Journal. You can read excerpts & order/download the article.

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Thousands of Vermonters up for National Award

Results Matter: An eNewsletter from United Way of Chittenden County

Can tiny Vermont win another national online vote a la Springfield and the Simpsons? Local success story Front Porch Forum is taking a shot and needs your help. This online community-building service is in the running to win a $35,000 grant that will provide much-needed seed capital. Front Porch Forum already made the Top 20 out of nearly 5,000 entrants; now they need your help to make the Final Four and secure the funding. To see what's going on, go to http://casefoundation.org/myvote

Front Porch Forum hosts 130 online neighborhood forums covering all of Chittenden County, VT. More than 8,000 local households subscribe and use it to share news with their clearly identified nearby neighbors. Already 30% of Burlington participates and as much as 90% of some areas.

People use it to find childcare and borrow shovels, to note signs of spring ("first crocus!") and turn out a crowd for a school play. Neighbors organize litter clean-ups and block parties, and form neighborhood watch groups. Action moves from the virtual to the actual front porch. The Case Foundation is sponsoring this contest and aims to stimulate citizen-centered democracy through its Make It Your Own Awards.

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Front Porch Forum in Running for National Contest

The Charlotte News

Local success story Front Porch Forum is in the running to win a national contest of innovative community-building projects. It's in a group of 20 finalists winnowed down from nearly 5,000 entrants. The top four vote-getters will each receive $35,000 from the Case Foundation through its Make It Your Own Awards.

Started in 2006, Front Porch Forum hosts 130 online neighborhood forums covering all of Chittenden County. More than 200 Charlotte households participate so far.

"I am currently in the process of moving to Charlotte from Burlington," says Rachel Carter, "where I was involved in one of the most active Front Porch Forums. While not as active in Charlotte, I did send a post and received six individualized e-mails from community members offering answers to some questions and invitations to visit. It was most welcoming as a newcomer to the community."

People use Front Porch Forum to share owl sightings, organize group yard sales, report car break-ins, borrow shovels, help ailing neighbors, sell cars, give away strollers, announce concerts, find babysitters, share town meeting insights and more. And all this is done with clearly identified nearby neighbors.

Charlotter Lell Forehand says of the Forum: "I first read an article about Front Porch Forum in a newspaper and thought what a wonderful idea. I think the name 'Front Porch Forum' appealed to me as I grew up in a small community where people actually had front porches where we often sat and talked with our neighbors. (My Mom often said that she never wanted a house without a front porch.) Now we live in a world where people seem busier with little time for just 'sitting and chatting.' So I see Front Porch Forum as an ingenious idea to use technology as a way to be neighborly and to know more about community needs. This seems especially important in areas like Charlotte where our nearest neighbor may be in sight but maybe not. I have used FPF to seek information about various topics and have found it amazing that someone always responds with either the answer to my question or tells me someone to call who may know the answer. I have 'met' people in the community this way and hope that, if someone (or group) in the community has a special need, he or she would turn to FPF as a way to communicate that need. What a great way to build community spirit... kudos to those responsible for its initiation and those who keep it going."

Visit FrontPorchForum.com to vote. Front Porch Forum needs this funding to add features for its current users and to expand to other communities in Vermont and beyond. It's a long shot, but Vermont has a knack for pulling upsets (think Springfield and The Simpsons)! The polls close April 22, and the first ten voters to correctly pick the Final Four will be given a $2,500 grant to pass to the charity of their choice.

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Front Porch Forum nominated for national award

Morning Edition: Vermont Public Radio

By Mitch Wertlieb
2008-04-11

Last year we met Michael Wood-Lewis of Burlington, who's been helping neighbors in his community, and throughout Chittenden County, meet each other through the Front Porch Forum.

Michael and his wife started the on-line service about a year and a half ago and have watched it grow far beyond their initial expectations.

And it could expand further if the Front Porch Forum wins a national contest to be decided, appropriately enough, by on-line voting. More on that in a moment.

Michael Wood-Lewis came back to our VPR studios this week to tell us about the changes the Front Porch Forum has gone through since its debut, and to remind us what it's all about.

[About 5 minutes.]

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Front Porch Forum is National Award Finalist

Orton Family Foundation

Vermont non-profit is one of 20 finalists in the Case Foundation's Make It Your Own Awards program. Vote today for innovative, local democracy!

Burlington, VT -- Vermont's own Front Porch Forum, winner of the Orton Family Foundation's 2007 Innovator in Place Award, is in the running to win a national contest of innovative community-building projects.

Front Porch Forum is one of 20 finalists in the Make It Your Own Awards program, winnowed down from nearly 5,000 entrants. Part of a new Case Foundation (founded by former AOL CEO Steve Case and his wife Jean) initiative, the Make It Your Own Awards are designed to encourage community connections and innovations. Each award finalist has already won a $10,000 grant, but the top four vote-getters (by April 22) will each receive $25,000 more.

The Orton Family Foundation urges you to go to Make It Your Own Awards and vote for Front Porch Forum today.

Started in 2006 by Michael and Valerie Wood-Lewis of Burlington, Front Porch Forum (FPF) hosts 130 online neighborhood forums across all of Chittenden County, Vermont. Incredibly, more than 8,000 local households subscribe to this free service already, including 30% of places like Burlington (pop. 40,000), Huntington and Westford. Nine out of ten homes subscribe in some neighborhoods, with half posting messages.

"Front Porch Forum is an excellent example of new ways for people to develop relationships, trust, and confidence in public participation," Orton CEO and President Bill Roper said. "Front Porch Forum emphasizes many of the principles recognized by experts in planning and community development fields as critical for community building."

"Anybody who lives in Chittenden County may go onto our site, type in their street address, and be placed in the neighborhood forum that serves the area where they live," Wood-Lewis explains. "Each Front Porch Forum is private-strictly limited to the people living in each neighborhood-so they're a place where neighbors can post messages about simple stuff or local issues." People use Front Porch Forum to share town meeting insights, discuss neighborhood development proposals, publicize or discuss public meetings, communicate directly with local government officials or organize petitions to get the city to put up a stop sign.

Members also organize group yard sales and block parties, borrow shovels, share owl sightings, help ailing neighbors, sell cars, announce concerts, find babysitters, and more. All this is done with clearly identified nearby neighbors through email and a web site. Folks do not need to be web-savvy to join; all they need is the ability to receive email, and send some, if they want.

In his recent book, The Next Form of Democracy, Matt Leighinger discusses the changing face of local decisions and says, "In order to make sufficient progress on [local] issues, it was clear that large numbers of people, and many different kinds of people, had to be participating in the discussions. The best way to fight racism, boost volunteerism, or develop trust between citizens and government was to involve a critical mass of citizens in the effort."

Jim Kent of James Kent Associates is a true believer in the role of "informal networks" like those fostered by Front Porch Forum to build direct democracy within communities. This desire to encourage broader, deeper community conversations and helpful ways for citizens to participate and truly influence decisions is essential to community discourse that results in action. In another example of such engagement, the Foundation is partnering with The Open Planning Project to build a web-based Community Almanac that will let citizens upload stories, pictures and videos about special places in their communities to further weave local fabric and build relationships.

The Foundation applauds Front Porch Forum's success in facilitating local conversations and relationships. Susan Comerford of the University of Vermont agrees, "Front Porch Forum provides the support and care that meld individuals who live near one another into engaged, civic-minded neighbors."

Any Chittenden County resident may sign up for this free local service at http://FrontPorchForum.com. Please join the conversation. People outside of greater Burlington and beyond Vermont are encouraged to vote for Front Porch Forum in the Make It Your Own Awards competition so that it can expand and improve its services.

FPF needs your support to ensure its viability and expansion, so please vote today at http://casefoundation.org/myvote.

The Orton Family Foundation, based in Middlebury, Vermont, and with an office in Denver, seeks to help small cities and towns discover and describe their heart and soul-the collective attributes that make communities unique-and build on those attributes in planning toward a vibrant, enduring future.

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A post-Facebook retro social network

themediamanager.com

Just because you can doesn't mean you should.

Technology permits blink-of-an-eye contact and an all-day-wired-up-and-followed feeling: Twitter, Facebook and IM pretty well track your every, well, everything.

Then there's Front Porch Forum, a service that is using technology - or some of it, anyway - to link neighbours and services in Chittenden County, Vermont. The main differences: You have to say who you are and where you live when you e-mail, and you have to wait for once-a-day delivery of the raft of messages coming from all over the neighbourhood. So, no aliases, no cloaking, no down and dirty discussions - just something civil, slower moving, respectful.

The challenge for the service, like all such services, is to make money. At the moment there are government sponsors and advertisers, but this is one service you can foresee moving from the free-to-fee territory. After all, it’s a legitimately great local utility.

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Contest: Vote for Front Porch Forum!

Seven Days - Notes On the Weekend

Front Porch Forum is a free, neighborhood email newsletter service based in Burlington. If you like it as much as we do, then take a minute to vote for FPF in this online contest. The Case Foundation chose FPF as one of 20 finalists for a "Make it Your Own" award. Four winners get $25,000 to fund their community-building projects. Your vote could help FPF upgrade its system, and maybe reach out beyond Chittenden County. So go vote for the home team.
https://vote.election-america.com/make-it-your-own

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VOTE Today for Front Porch Forum

North Avenue News

Vermont small business makes cut in national contest
Underdog Front Porch Forum pitted against big city projects
Vote today!

Vermont won the Simpsons' Springfield online vote last year, pulling a major upset over larger places... can lighting strike twice for this tiny state?

Local success story Front Porch Forum is in the running to win a national contest of innovative community-building projects. It's in a group of 20 finalists winnowed down from nearly 5,000 entrants. The top four vote-getters will each receive $35,000 from the Case Foundation through its Make It Your Own Awards (http://casefoundation.org/myvote).

"We're so fortunate to have Front Porch Forum," said Bruce Seifer of Burlington's Community and Economic Development Office. "It helps people feel part of their neighborhoods and to make real connections. Everyone should vote for it online today... it takes two minutes and anyone may vote. Front Porch Forum's future depends on this support."

Started in 2006 by Michael and Valerie Wood-Lewis of Burlington, Front Porch Forum hosts 130 online neighborhood forums covering all of Chittenden County. Incredibly, more than 8,000 local households subscribe to this free service already, including 30% of places like Burlington, Huntington and Westford. Nine out of ten homes subscribe in some neighborhoods, with half posting messages.

"My daughter wanted a canoe outing with friends for her 14th birthday, so I put out a call for help through our neighborhood forum," says Sharon Monette-Owens of South Burlington. "All the canoes, paddles and life jackets we needed arrived on loan and we got to know more of our neighbors along the way! Front Porch Forum saved us $200 to boot!" Front Porch Forum generates dozens of similar stories every month.

People use Front Porch Forum to share owl sightings, organize group yard sales, report car break-ins, borrow shovels, help ailing neighbors, sell cars, give away strollers, announce concerts, find babysitters, share town meeting insights, and more. And all this is done with clearly identified nearby neighbors.

"Front Porch Forum provides the information necessary for people to participate intelligently in the democratic process," reports University of Vermont professor Susan Comerford. "It provides the support and care that meld individuals who live near one another into engaged, civic-minded neighbors."

"I encourage everyone to go to http://FrontPorchForum.com and vote," says Michael Wood-Lewis. "Then spread the word via email, Facebook, newsletters, blogs... whatever methods you use. Front Porch Forum needs this funding to add features for our current users and to expand to other communities in Vermont and beyond. We're a long shot, but Vermont has a knack for pulling upsets!" One vote per email address and the polls close April 22, 2008.

The first ten voters to correctly pick the Final Four will be given a $2,500 grant to pass to the charity of their choice. So vote early.

Any Chittenden County resident may sign up for this free local service at http://FrontPorchForum.com Dozens of your nearby neighbors are already on board! Please join the conversation. People outside of greater Burlington are encouraged to vote for Front Porch Forum so that it can expand to their communities.

Front Porch Forum uses the Internet to connect neighbors

Disruptive Conversations

How well do you know your neighbors? How often do you see them? Do you know what's going on in your neighborhood?

The reality today is that our lives seem to be getting increasingly busier and we very often don't know our neighbors all that well. Even when we do know our neighbors, we may not see them all that often as our schedules may not overlap. Plus, there are often times of the year when we stay indoors as much as we can (winter in the north, summer in the south) and may see our neighbors only in passing. (Unless, of course, you have a dog, in which case you may see your neighbors a great deal if you walk said dog.)

Here in Burlington, Vermont, we've had an ongoing experiment for the past couple of years in using the global Internet to connect people in their local neighborhood. It's a service called Front Porch Forum (FPF) that started here in Burlington, has expanded to cover the entire county here in Vermont and is now looking to expand into other parts of the country/world.

One of the interesting aspects is that FPF uses that very decidedly unsexy and un-Web2.0 medium of...

email!

Yes, indeed, the killer app for connecting people in their local neighborhood turns out to be... email mailing lists that are restricted, moderated and digested. You have to live in the neighborhood to join. All messages to the mailing list are moderated. And only one message is sent out every day or so (depending upon volume) containing all the other messages. Think of it as almost a community "newsletter" sent to all members.

I have to say that... it works! You know (or come to know) the people in your community There's no spam. It doesn't flood your inbox. There's no special website you have to go to... you just get the message in your inbox wherever you read your email.

Simple. Easy.

And that is perhaps the key. These days it's extremely easy to get set up with an email account, and that's all you need. You can read it whenever you can... so you don't have to be right there.

Here in Burlington where, according to the Front Porch Forum folks, some 30% of all households are subscribers to their neighborhood forum, it's been an incredibly useful service. I've learned of upcoming events (and posted some). Volunteers have been found for local events. Community associations use it to put out info about their activities. The city of Burlington has taken to sending out notices. Local politicians have posted notices. We've had some debates/arguments about certain aspects of our neighborhood (like "should we put a lock on the gate to the beach area?") Advocates for various causes have posted notes about their views. All sorts of notices, requests, questions, debates... (you can read some testimonials online).

Having been active in our local neighborhood (and on the community association board for a year), I've certainly seen the value. People will say "Oh, yeah, I saw that on the forum." I've had neighbors, some of whom I didn't know, contact me specifically because of notes I've posted. Sometimes by email, sometimes by phone and also in person. It has connected our local community together more - and it's been an interesting experiment to watch.

Now is there any real difference from FPF and just a plain, old, mailing list for a neighborhood using something like Google Groups? On one level, no, not really. It's just a mailing list after all. The difference really is that with your own mailing list, someone has to administer it. Someone has to deal with spam, either by approving memberships or moderating messages. And the list has to be publicized. The FPF crew takes on the sysadmin issues and moderation tasks. They also make it easy for people to find your local community mailing list because all you need to do is enter your street address.

To get a sense of the project, here's a video that was recently produced about Front Porch Forum:

Front Porch Forum is also up for a Case Foundation award along with some other great projects and is looking for votes. :-)

Sadly, when we move to Keene, NH, in a few months I'll have to leave the FPF behind (at least until they expand into that area). I'll leave, though, having seen an example of a really old electronic media (email) playing a really neat role in connecting neighbors to neighbors.

Do you have anything similar in your neighborhood? (BTW, you can sign up at Front Porch Forum even if you're not in Vermont and the FPF folks will contact you if/when they expand into your area.)

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Front Porch Forum Makes Friends & Neighbors, But Can It Make Money?

Wall Street Journal - All Things Digital

We are a society that lives more and more in our technology-induced bubbles. When we go outside, we wear an iPod; we talk on cell phones while driving. In urban areas, we might never meet our neighbors unless there’s a fire or earthquake. But can technology also help bring us together in our physical communities, and help us get to know our neighbors? Front Porch Forum (FPF) is making a valiant effort to do just that, offering up closed email forums that are strictly limited to people living within each physical neighborhood in Chittenden County, Vermont.

Read the rest of this post.

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Front Porch Forum Makes Friends & Neighbors, But Can It Make Money?

MediaShift on PBS.org

We are a society that lives more and more in our technology-induced bubbles. When we go outside, we wear an iPod; we talk on cell phones while driving. In urban areas, we might never meet our neighbors unless there's a fire or earthquake. But can technology also help bring us together in our physical communities, and help us get to know our neighbors?

Front Porch Forum (FPF) is making a valiant effort to do just that, offering up closed email forums that are strictly limited to people living within each physical neighborhood in Chittenden County, Vermont. Rather than being free-wheeling, anything-goes forums, FPF has been able to build more civil discussions by having people include their full name, street name and email address with each post. And users rave about how the site helps them connect with neighbors, find a lost pet or a good landlord, and even complain directly to local government officials.

But while the service has flourished, gaining more than 8,800 subscribers by word of mouth alone, Front Porch Forum has had trouble figuring out how to make the business profitable. Fifty local businesses have signed on as sponsors, and some municipal departments pay a monthly subscription fee of $99 to reach constituents, but FPF hasn't been able to find the steady stream of revenue needed to expand into other Vermont counties and beyond.

Michael Wood-Lewis started FPF as a way to meet neighbors in Burlington, Vermont, after he had moved there from Washington, DC. He ran one neighborhood email list starting in 2000 as a hobby, and then decided to make it a full-time business about 18 months ago, expanding it into the entire county, with 130 forums. The idea was to give people a simple way to get to know their neighbors, a lost art in much of the country where the bake sales and lemonade stands of yore are uncommon occurences.

"The surprising thing was the degree to which people were using it," Wood-Lewis told me. "And we kept an open source attitude toward the rules of engagement. We ceded ownership over to the neighborhood. Someone said, 'You really should remove anonymous postings,' so we required first names. After awhile, people said, 'First names are fine, but I don't know who Bill is.' So bit by bit, we got to using first and last name, the street you live on and your email address on every post. And we had this clear vision of folks using this to get to know each other better. It's not about news or classifieds or politics -- all that happens, but it's secondary to getting to know your neighbors."

The people who use FPF can't get enough of it. Vermont-based novelist and blogger Philip Baruth told me he was surprised no one had thought of something like Front Porch Forum before.

"It's great," he said. "It puts the power of the Internet at the extreme local level where you're not used to using it. If you have a homespun blog, and you have readers in your city, you never get down to the level where you could target the people around you. It proves endlessly useful…I might walk my dog past a house but never know who lived there. But then I see that address on the forum and I start to fill in the blanks on who lives in all these houses."

Local publicist Rachel Carter has been on three different forums on FPF, and told me that everything isn't peaches and cream. "The forum has a lot of complaining, and people wanting to post political nonsense, and sometimes some fighting," she said. "Some of the postings can be negative, but there's positive in that people are discussing things. I think it's a factor of the people that are here and the anger in the community and has nothing to do with the forum."

Carter told me the ads from sponsors run at the bottom of the email roundups, and that they might work better if one sponsor was highlighted per email, with more relevant messages. "The best way to do advertising would be if it was more personalized," she said. "One advertiser per day, who's tied to the community, and was more personally targeted to that community. 'We're a store in this neighborhood, come in and get a special discount.' That would go over big."

Wood-Lewis is currently trying to win a funding contest from the Case Foundation (started by former AOL chief Steve Case and his wife Jean), which has already netted FPF $10,000 as a finalist. If FPF gets enough online votes, Wood-Lewis will get another $25,000, which he says is a lot of money for a bootstrapped startup company run by one person, himself. The following is an edited transcript of my recent phone chat with Wood-Lewis.

Tell me when you first started Front Porch Forum, and why you did it, and also why you decided to expand it into more towns.

Michael Wood-Lewis: Back in 2000, my wife and I had moved here to Burlington from Washington, DC, a couple years before, hoping to leave the big city to a place where we could fit in to a smaller city and find community. And we landed in a neighborhood that was known for being great that way, but we still hadn't met the neighbors. My wife is a public school teacher and decided to take the bull by the horns. She baked cookies and took them over to [the neighbors], and used china plates instead of paper plates so that they would have a chance to bring them back and we could interact again. We never saw the plates again.

It wasn't that they were bad folks, it's that everyone is busy and cultural expectations have shifted in this generation. We were just strangers who lived next door. There's no social contract there. Maybe if our house was on fire, it would have kicked in. Our second attempt was to build what was a precursor to a Yahoo Group for the neighborhood. And we used fairly primitive tools to build it, and made fliers and dropped them in 300 front doors. And in short order, 25, 50, 75 households signed up and people started using it. Now that kind of thing is old news, but at the time it was fairly unusual.

The evidence was overwhelming that we had something that was worth sharing. And at the same time I was leaving my job [in 2006], I thought I could try to make this work. I hired a web developer I knew to put together a website and just put it out there so people could sign up. And now, after a year and a half, we host 130 neighborhood forums across the metro area. So anyone in this area can put in their physical address and it will land in a pre-existing forum. And now we're at 8,808 total subscribers in Chittenden County, and about 4,600 subscribers in the City of Burlington. Some neighborhoods are as high as 90% [participation].

How do you differentiate what you do from the simple Yahoo Groups or Google Groups that anyone can set up?

Wood-Lewis: In several ways. People sometimes miss what we're doing from a distance. We've banished the term listserve or Yahoo Groups in comparing this, because people generally have a bad experience with them. My wife, for example, is on her computer every day and sometimes she gets into a Yahoo Group, and says, 'I get too much junk, and someone just replied to a 10-page message and didn't erase it when they replied, and why doesn't someone put a headline on this?' It's a hard-to-use interface, and forget about customer service. It's typically a frustrating experience for most people.

We designed our service to be as unobtrusive as possible. It arrives in your in-box because that's where you find everyone. We're trying to get just about everyone in the neighborhood and nearly everyone uses email. Plus, it's moderated and restricted to only nearby neighbors and it's not anonymous…There are people who can cut across multiple forums, and there's interesting things that happen with that. Certain public officials can do that for their jurisdiction. So the representative for Ward 5 can get access into the nine forums that they represent. The same for school board members or police or other neighborhood officials.

The public officials take a lot away because they listen in and tune in quite a bit. My initial thought was that these guys would be inundated with lost-cat messages and their eyes would glaze over. But what I found was that most of the local public officials are very interested in reading these because it's a way to have their ear to the ground with constituents. And they can post announcements about issues, about car break-ins or Wal-Mart plans, or whatever, to get feedback.

A lot of people talk about how the Internet can help public officials stay in touch with constituents. I guess you're seeing that happening.

Wood-Lewis: Definitely. And it's not all smooth sailing. There are challenges and occasionally the citizens are unreasonable and some officials don't always do well with engagement. There's a bit of a learning curve but eventually it's a positive experience.

We also have Neighborhood Volunteers, and anyone can sign up to do that and be a booster. And by doing that, they have access to a forum of all the volunteers across the county. And there are now 250 to 300 volunteers. So for anyone who does community organizing, they can use this to reach other active organizers, who then have access to dozens of their neighbors. So if you're trying to organize something, a charity drive, you can post it to the volunteer forum, and then reach thousands of people.

Do the volunteers moderate the forums? Have they blocked messages from going through?

Wood-Lewis: No. I don't think we've ever forbidden a message. Front Porch Forum does have a moderator, and that's me. We're looking to make our first hire and have someone take off some of the load. We don't run into too many issues with content because everyone's clearly identified, and you're talking with your neighbors and you have your street address on it. On the other hand, our local newspaper opened up comments on its articles and there's been some nasty stuff on there.

Do you have any way to protect yourself from someone going on and posing as someone else?

Wood-Lewis: We have some basic precautionary measures. If someone posts something in a neighborhood of 300 households and says he's Dan Smith, that's going to be flushed out pretty quickly. I had one guy sign up like that and his automated welcome message went through, which triggered three people calling me saying there was no such address and they didn't know the name. So I contacted him and never heard back. The only mischief we see is people want to get into the neighborhood forums. We're not trying to be jerks but what gives them their power is that it's just their neighbors on each forum.

Every time we ask people about opening up the content -- and there's terrific content on there -- the reaction we get is, 'Yeah, I'd like to see those, but as far as posting, I would cut posting in half and not post on many subjects.' Posting a letter to nearby neighbors is like talking at a block party. Posting something more broadly is more like a letter to the editor. Those are fundamentally two different things. I'm trying to keep that block party vibe, so we need to keep it segregated.

Tell me about the business model. You have some sponsorships and advertisements. Is that where you see your main revenues?

Wood-Lewis: We went for our first year without attempting to generate any revenue. We just wanted to get the technology going and see if there was a demand for the service first. For the last six months, we've been working to get some revenues, and it's promising, but we're not there yet. The primary source is advertising and getting sponsors. We've had 50 or so local businesses in our county come to us, and it's just me. We don't have any investment capital to date or sales staff. Businesses come to us asking if they can advertise, and we now can say, 'yes.'

We also are selling subscriptions to municipal departments. We have constituents talking about municipal issues, and it's worth it for them to monitor that. We provided it for free for a year and then started charging, and most of the departments have signed on for that. They have full access to all the neighborhood forums in the city and can read and post to all the forums.

We have six or seven departments participating out of 10, including schools, parks & recreation, police, telecom, electric. It's $99 per month for each department. They can engage with an individual neighborhood or forum as much as they want. If they're going to fix a playground, they can interact as much as they want. But if they're going to post a public service announcement, then we limit it to a couple per month. If they want more than that, they can pay an additional fee. Elected officials still get free access, because it makes sense to me, they are the elected representatives for the people and we're helping both parties talk.

How do the advertisements work? Are they text or graphical?

Wood-Lewis: We're low tech, we're email, our emails are plain text. Nothing's anonymous, and it's not instantaneous. When people submit a message, it doesn't get published except in the daily publication. When heavy Web 2.0 users sign up, I usually hear from them in frustration a day later, because they want a Facebook experience where they can push buttons and upload 20 widgets. I tell them to slow down, that this is a different experience. The ads are delivered in plain text emails. We sell them on a per-day basis. Over a three-day period, we hit everybody. It starts at $78 per day and the price drops with volume.

Would you consider getting outside funding?

Wood-Lewis: We are up for a grant from the Case Foundation, which is not a huge amount of money but would be a huge shot in the arm for us…I was involved in a startup in 1999 called ForestWorld.com, a portal for forest products with a sustainable forestry twist. We got a million in investment money, hired 40 people, put up a site and then the bubble burst and the party was over. It was interesting and I learned a lot, but this is a different endeavor.

I want to grow [FPF] carefully. We want to benefit our town, and I'd love to see us grow this across our state and beyond with natural growth out. There might be a chance to grow that significantly, but not yet. I don't want to get ahead of ourselves. I would take venture capital money at the right time, but we're not there yet. It could happen later this year. I don't want this endeavor to be led by the money. We have had some interested parties but we need to stick to our path, but when we need money to accomplish something, then we'll look for the money. I'm pretty optimistic that we'll be able to raise funds when we need them.

What are the challenges with getting revenues with hyper-local sites? Can you do it in a scaled way or is it limited to your own community?

Wood-Lewis: It's a good question and I don't know the answer. My experience in going around to small businesses, they either don't know anything or they're very aggressive and are bidding for Google AdWords. What I've decided with our approach is that we have no marketing budget, it's all been word of mouth. It's been incredibly successful.

I hope we can do the same thing to attract advertisers. We've had 500 local businesses contact us, and 10% of them have put money down. That's all been because they've seen this, and a light bulb went off over their head. It's not like a florist who doesn't get the Internet and needs a consultant to help them figure out how to run Google ads.

My gut feeling is that as the web gets more crowded, especially in "local" served up by Yahoo and Google, genuinely local stuff has got to be increasingly valuable. How do you find it? By living there, by word of mouth. That's why we want to grow it from our neighborhood up to our county, and then to adjacent counties. If we were to parachute into Phoenix right now, it would be tough sledding.

If there is one part of your service that you think you can monetize, what would that be?

Wood-Lewis: I once did a survey about our flagship neighborhood here, after they had the service for five years. I asked how many would be willing to pay a subscription fee. And two-thirds said they would at an average of $40 per year. I was surprised by that. Since then, I added a PayPal button so they can give money voluntarily. Some people came through, and a very small number was OK with paying a regular subscription.

But it's a real bear. People will say they love the service, that it's more valuable than the local newspaper or their Newsweek subscription. But then they'll stop and think about the web, and say it's more valuable than Craigslist, but Craigslist is free. So the web makes people think that everything should be free. So maybe we could give them the first year free and then start charging a subscription. After a year, people are hooked. But that's all to be explored.

*****

What do you think about Front Porch Forum? Do you think there's a way to make it into a successful business? How? And if you use FPF, what do you like about it and what could be improved? Share your thoughts in the comments below.

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Vote to "Seed" Front Porch Forum!

Vermont Peak Oil Network e-Newsletter

Thousands of Online Vermonters up for National Award

Can tiny Vermont win another national online vote a la Springfield and the Simpsons? Local success story Front Porch Forum is taking a shot and needs your help. This online community-building service is in the running to win a $35,000 grant that will provide much-needed seed capital. Front Porch Forum already made the Top 20 out of nearly 5,000 entrants; now they need your help to make the Final Four and secure the funding. Go to http://casefoundation.org/myvote to vote today! And please help spread the word.

Front Porch Forum hosts 130 online neighborhood forums covering all of Chittenden County, VT. More than 8,000 local households subscribe and use it to share news with their clearly identified nearby neighbors. Already 30% of Burlington participates and as much as 90% of some areas.

People use it to find childcare and borrow shovels, to note signs of spring ("first crocus!") and turn out a crowd for a school play. Neighbors organize litter clean-ups and block parties, and form neighborhood watch groups. Action moves from the virtual to the actual front porch!

The Case Foundation is sponsoring this contest and aims to stimulate citizen-centered democracy through its Make It Your Own Awards.

Please vote today and spread the word through email, Facebook, MySpace, newsletters, blogs and more! One vote per email address and the polls close April 22, 2008. And any resident of Chittenden County may sign up for Front Porch Forum... here!

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Vermont Online Forum Competes for Award

WCAX Channel 3 News

By Andy Potter
2008-03-29

An online community discussion board run by a Burlington non-profit is competing for a national award.

Michael Wood-Lewis started the Front Porch Forum a couple of years ago. Today, the service operates 130 separate discussion groups in neighborhoods all over Chittenden County. Now, the Front Porch Forum is competing for a foundation grant to help keep it running. "The Case Foundation is going to provide a $35,000 grant to each of the final four vote-getters. So we hope we're in that lot. We know we're an underdog because we come from tiny Vermont. But we think if Springfield Vermont can win the Simpsons contest, we've got a shot too," Wood-Lewis said.

The Front Porch Forum already has cleared a crowded field of five-thousand entries and is among twenty candidates for the final four. If you want to support Front Porch Forum, You can go to www.frontporchforum.com and follow the directions.

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Vote for Front Porch Forum

Neighborhood BUZZ

Burlington's Front Porch Forum is in the running to win a national contest of innovative community-building projects. It's in a group of 20 finalists winnowed down from nearly 5,000 entrants. The top four vote-getters will each receive $35,000 from the Case Foundation through its Make It Your Own Awards (http://casefoundation.org/myvote).

"We're so fortunate to have Front Porch Forum," said Bruce Seifer of Burlington's Community and Economic Development Office. "It helps people feel part of their neighborhoods and to make real connections. Everyone should vote for it online today... it takes two minutes and anyone may vote. Front Porch Forum's future depends on this support."

Started in 2006 by Michael and Valerie Wood-Lewis of Burlington, Front Porch Forum hosts 130 online neighborhood forums covering all of Chittenden County. Incredibly, more than 8,000 local households subscribe to this free service already, including 30% of places like Burlington, Huntington and Westford. Any Chittenden County resident may sign up for this free local service at http://FrontPorchForum.com

People use Front Porch Forum to share owl sightings, organize group yard sales, report car break-ins, borrow shovels, help ailing neighbors, sell cars, give away strollers, announce concerts, find babysitters, share town meeting insights, and more. And all this is done with clearly identified nearby neighbors.

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Front Porch Forum is finalist for Case Foundation award

Burlington Free Press

The Front Porch Forum, an online neighborhood forum founded and based in Burlington, is one of 20 finalists in the running for a $35,000 award from the Case Foundation.

The Front Porch Forum, where Vermont neighbors write online messages about everything from who-needs-a-bike? to who-heard-the-bird-sing?, is a finalist among a group of organizations that are working in a variety of innovative ways to improve their neighborhoods and cities: From trying to make Denver the most kid-friendly place to an arts/leadership school on the South Side of Chicago to community bonding and building through the Internet (FPF).

"We're so fortunate to have FrontPorchForum.com," said Bruce Seifer of Burlington's Community and Economic Development Office in a news release. "It helps people feel part of their neighborhoods and to make real connections. Everyone should vote for it online today."

Started in 2006 by Michael and Valerie Wood-Lewis of Burlington, FrontPorchForum.com hosts 130 online neighborhood forums covering all of Chittenden County, with more than 8,000 local households subscribing to this free service.

"FrontPorchForum.com needs this funding to add features for our current users and to expand to other communities in Vermont and beyond," Michael Wood-Lewis said in a news release. "We're a long shot, but Vermont has a knack for pulling upsets!"

To vote for your favorite -- or four favorite -- civic projects, go to: http://casefoundation.org/myvote. Voting ends April 22.

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Vote for Front Porch Forum

Burlington Telecom e-Newsletter

Burlington's Front Porch Forum is in the running to win a national contest of innovative community-building projects. It's in a group of 20 finalists winnowed down from nearly 5,000 entrants. The top four vote-getters will each receive $35,000 from the Case Foundation through its Make It Your Own Awards (http://casefoundation.org/myvote).

"We're so fortunate to have Front Porch Forum," said Bruce Seifer of Burlington's Community and Economic Development Office. "It helps people feel part of their neighborhoods and to make real connections. Everyone should vote for it online today... it takes two minutes and anyone may vote. Front Porch Forum's future depends on this support."

Started in 2006 by Michael and Valerie Wood-Lewis of Burlington, Front Porch Forum hosts 130 online neighborhood forums covering all of Chittenden County. Incredibly, more than 8,000 local households subscribe to this free service already, including 30% of places like Burlington, Huntington and Westford. Any Chittenden County resident may sign up for this free local service at http://FrontPorchForum.com

People use Front Porch Forum to share owl sightings, organize group yard sales, report car break-ins, borrow shovels, help ailing neighbors, sell cars, give away strollers, announce concerts, find babysitters, share town meeting insights, and more. And all this is done with clearly identified nearby neighbors.

Can Simpsons' Magic Strike VT Twice?

iBrattleboro

Vermont small business makes cut in national contest
Underdog Front Porch Forum pitted against big city projects
Vote today!

Vermont won the Simpsons' Springfield online vote last year, pulling a major upset over larger places... can lighting strike twice for this tiny state?

Local success story Front Porch Forum is in the running to win a national contest of innovative community-building projects. It's in a group of 20 finalists winnowed down from nearly 5,000 entrants. The top four vote-getters will each receive $35,000 from the Case Foundation through its Make It Your Own Awards (http://casefoundation.org/myvote).

"We're so fortunate to have Front Porch Forum," said Bruce Seifer of Burlington's Community and Economic Development Office. "It helps people feel part of their neighborhoods and to make real connections. Everyone should vote for it online today... it takes two minutes and anyone may vote. Front Porch Forum's future depends on this support."

Started in 2006 by Michael and Valerie Wood-Lewis of Burlington, Front Porch Forum hosts 130 online neighborhood forums covering all of Chittenden County. Incredibly, more than 8,000 local households subscribe to this free service already, including 30% of places like Burlington, Huntington and Westford. Nine out of ten homes subscribe in some neighborhoods, with half posting messages.

"My daughter wanted a canoe outing with friends for her 14th birthday, so I put out a call for help through our neighborhood forum," says Sharon Monette-Owens of South Burlington. "All the canoes, paddles and life jackets we needed arrived on loan and we got to know more of our neighbors along the way! Front Porch Forum saved us $200 to boot!" Front Porch Forum generates dozens of similar stories every month.

People use Front Porch Forum to share owl sightings, organize group yard sales, report car break-ins, borrow shovels, help ailing neighbors, sell cars, give away strollers, announce concerts, find babysitters, share town meeting insights, and more. And all this is done with clearly identified nearby neighbors.

"Front Porch Forum provides the information necessary for people to participate intelligently in the democratic process," reports University of Vermont professor Susan Comerford. "It provides the support and care that meld individuals who live near one another into engaged, civic-minded neighbors."

"I encourage everyone to go to FrontPorchForum.com and vote," says Michael Wood-Lewis. "Then spread the word via email, Facebook, newsletters, blogs... whatever methods you use. Front Porch Forum needs this funding to add features for our current users and to expand to other communities in Vermont and beyond. We're a long shot, but Vermont has a knack for pulling upsets!" One vote per email address and the polls close April 22, 2008.

The first ten voters to correctly pick the Final Four will be given a $2,500 grant to pass to the charity of their choice. So vote early.

Any Chittenden County resident may sign up for this free local service at http://FrontPorchForum.com Dozens of your nearby neighbors are already on board! Please join the conversation. People outside of greater Burlington are encouraged to vote for Front Porch Forum so that it can expand to their communities.

Read the full article

Front Porch Forum in the running for national award

News Release

Vermont small business makes cut in national contest
Underdog Front Porch Forum pitted against big city projects
Vote today!

Vermont won the Simpsons' Springfield online vote last year, pulling a major upset over larger places... can lighting strike twice for this tiny state?

Local success story Front Porch Forum is in the running to win a national contest of innovative community-building projects. It's in a group of 20 finalists winnowed down from nearly 5,000 entrants. The top four vote-getters will each receive $35,000 from the Case Foundation through its Make It Your Own Awards (http://casefoundation.org/myvote).

"We're so fortunate to have Front Porch Forum," said Bruce Seifer of Burlington's Community and Economic Development Office. "It helps people feel part of their neighborhoods and to make real connections. Everyone should vote for it online today... it takes two minutes and anyone may vote. Front Porch Forum's future depends on this support."

Started in 2006 by Michael and Valerie Wood-Lewis of Burlington, Front Porch Forum hosts 130 online neighborhood forums covering all of Chittenden County. Incredibly, more than 8,000 local households subscribe to this free service already, including 30% of places like Burlington, Huntington and Westford. Nine out of ten homes subscribe in some neighborhoods, with half posting messages.

"My daughter wanted a canoe outing with friends for her 14th birthday, so I put out a call for help through our neighborhood forum," says Sharon Monette-Owens of South Burlington. "All the canoes, paddles and life jackets we needed arrived on loan and we got to know more of our neighbors along the way! Front Porch Forum saved us $200 to boot!" Front Porch Forum generates dozens of similar stories every month.

People use Front Porch Forum to share owl sightings, organize group yard sales, report car break-ins, borrow shovels, help ailing neighbors, sell cars, give away strollers, announce concerts, find babysitters, share town meeting insights, and more. And all this is done with clearly identified nearby neighbors.

"Front Porch Forum provides the information necessary for people to participate intelligently in the democratic process," reports University of Vermont professor Susan Comerford. "It provides the support and care that meld individuals who live near one another into engaged, civic-minded neighbors."

"I encourage everyone to go to FrontPorchForum.com and vote," says Michael Wood-Lewis. "Then spread the word via email, Facebook, newsletters, blogs... whatever methods you use. Front Porch Forum needs this funding to add features for our current users and to expand to other communities in Vermont and beyond. We're a long shot, but Vermont has a knack for pulling upsets!" One vote per email address and the polls close April 22, 2008.

The first ten voters to correctly pick the Final Four will be given a $2,500 grant to pass to the charity of their choice. So vote early.

Any Chittenden County resident may sign up for this free local service at http://FrontPorchForum.com Dozens of your nearby neighbors are already on board! Please join the conversation. People outside of greater Burlington are encouraged to vote for Front Porch Forum so that it can expand to their communities.

Front Porch Forum Video Clip

YouTube

By Meghan O'Rourke and Sam Mayfield
2008-03-01

FrontPorchForum.com helps neighbors connect and build community within the neighborhood. Already 30% of its pilot city (Burlington, VT) subscribes.

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Front Porch Forum Helps Neighbors

The Islander

Milton's Front Porch Forums continue to gather new members. The Front Porch Forum's mission is to help neighbors connect and foster community within the neighborhood. Common sense and a growing body of research tell us that well-connected neighborhoods are friendlier places to live, with less crime, healthier residents, higher property values, and better service from local government and public utilities.

Neighbors contact neighbors with questions and information -- Lost Cat! Need Plumber. Will Shovel Walks. Car Pool Opening. Forums serve as neighborhood watches, as information centers, as a place to chat or announce family friendly events. To connect with yours, go to http://frontporchforum.com

Front Porch Forum was invented in Vermont for Vermont and has been nationally recognized. The service provides online forums for neighborhoods, based on a successful model six years in the making, and capitalizing on our founders' many years of community development work. Michael and Valerie Wood-Lewis launched the Five Sisters Neighborhood Forum in the spring of 2000 in hopes of learning more about their corner of Burlington, Vermont and the people who live there. Six years later, the original forum's incredible success led the couple to launch Front Porch Forum to help others invigorate their neighborhoods too. Come up on the porch and have some hot cocoa!

Innovator in Place: Michael Wood-Lewis

Scenarios: The Orton Family Foundation's Semi-Annual E-Newsletter

Michael Wood-Lewis, with his wife Valerie, founded Front Porch Forum in 2006. In its first year, the Forum's trend setting use of the Internet at the neighborhood level brought 25 percent of Burlington, Vermont (pop. 38,889) into community discussions. The free online service hosts 130 adjacent neighborhood forums covering every part of Chittenden County. About 8,000 households have subscribed, and hundreds more join every month. Michael, recipient of the 2007 Innovator in Place Award, brings to bear an unusual combination of technical background (MS engineering University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign), business experience (MBA), and 20 years of community organizing. John Barstow visited Michael at his home in Burlington's Five Sisters neighborhood to learn about how Front Porch Forum creates community.


JB: Michael, the early promise of the Internet was as a global communications tool, but more recently the online world is blamed for pulling people away from their physical surroundings. So, can Front Porch Forum (FPF) help promote place and community?

MWL: Yes, it's odd to think that the Internet might actually bring people closer together who live near each other. Everyone knows that the Internet can help you connect with someone in Bali who's also interested in the same model train and that's wonderful. But what about the guy next door? And at the same time, aren't people spending more and more time online? Isn't that the opposite of building community in place? And that is a real concern. But there are some exciting new developments, including our project, Front Porch Forum, where people are using the Internet to build community--next door, down the block.

JB: What is Front Porch Forum in a nutshell?

MWL: Front Porch Forum is a collection of online neighborhood forums. In our pilot area, around greater Burlington, Vermont, we host 130 of these forums. So anybody who lives in Chittenden County, Vermont, may go onto our site, type in their street address, and be placed in the neighborhood forum that serves the area where they live. Front Porch Forums are private--they're not open to the whole worldwide web--so they're a place where neighbors can come on and post messages about simple stuff like a lost cat or seeking a plumber or announcing a school play or they might use the service to organize something, like a block party or a petition to get the municipal government to put in a stop sign or whatever it might be. Or it might be used for political back-and-forth. People use it for all sorts of things.

JB: How did you come to create FPF?

MWL: Several years ago my wife and I were new in the community (Burlington, Vermont's South End), and we were so pleased to live in a wonderful neighborhood, now called the Five Sisters for the street names. It's a well-regarded neighborhood and known to be very friendly, and yet we were having trouble getting to know the neighbors. And perhaps it was us, but I don't think so. It was just that people were busy.

A couple of incidents sparked our desire to try something else. First my wife said, "When I was a girl, neighbors would bring a plate of homemade cookies over to the folks who had moved in." And so we waited. And we waited. Three months went by and no cookies and my wife's a take-charge kind of girl and so she said, "Well, I'll make cookies and I'll take them around." And so she did and as she's heading out the door with paper plates and cookies she says, "Oh, wait, I'll put them on china and that way people will have to return them, so we'll get two opportunities to talk with them."

Well, people were very friendly and glad to get the cookies, but... we never saw the plates again. Of course, they're not terrible people, just busy. So I said, "Well, I understand there's some kind of neighborhood gathering this summer and when that happens, let's see how that goes." One day we came back from an outing and we saw people packing up barbeque grills on the street and putting away folding tables, and we asked, "What happened?" One of the neighbors said,

"Oh, we had our annual picnic."

We were crestfallen.

"Oh," I said.

"Oh, you didn't hear about it?" he asked.

"No. How do you find out about these things?"

And he said, "Oh, well, I guess you gotta live here 10 years before you're really on the grapevine."

And I thought, well, we can do better than that and I'm not patient enough to wait around for ten years. So we went ahead with our second apprehensive "cookie attack" and created this concept of a neighborhood online forum. This was back in 2000. We made an initial investment of $15 at the local copy shop and printed up a stack of flyers and delivered them door-to-door. Our neighborhood has 350 households and right away ten percent signed up and then 20 percent and it kept growing. We live in a neighborhood full of active people with something to say. So people saw it as an easy way of being in touch. And then the commerce kicked in and free stuff and, you know; hey, I'm looking for a stroller, has anybody got one they want to get rid of and, you know--kid kind of stuff. And word-of-mouth kicked in.

It took off to the point where six years later we're up to 90 percent of the households participating and when we did a survey, half of them said they've posted a message in the last six months, which is remarkable because with most online services, 99 percent of the people just read and 1 percent post messages; that's the industry norm. And so it's an unusually high degree of participation. And then in 2006 we won a national award. We were on a list of top ten neighborhoods in the country. It struck me as valuable that the reporter went around and talked to as many people as he could in the neighborhood. He came back to me at the end and he said, "You know, the one thing everyone said helped make this neighborhood special is the neighborhood forum. Nowhere else across the country in the ten different great communities was there a consensus on anything. They all had their own ideas. But this is the one place where there's a common thread."

It was at that point we decided to give this a shot and we launched Front Porch Forum.

JB: How do you measure success?

MWL: Ultimately, success is fulfilling our mission. And our mission is all about helping people connect and foster a sense of community in their neighborhood. So success to me is when someone comes up on the street and tells me a story, something about, "Hey, I sold my car." And that's great. We love that direct result through our service. Then they'll say the next part of the sentence, and that's real success: "And now I know more of my neighbors because four of them got in touch with me. And I had a discussion with each one and it turns out one guy lives right across the back fence. We never met each other before and now when we're both working on our yards, we can strike up a conversation, not just wave from a distance."

So it's a little thing on the one hand, but it's huge on the other. It's regaining... really in a very fundamental way, a sense of place.

JB: So a lot of the activity starts online and winds up in backyards and homes? It goes from virtual to actual?

MWL: Yes. Conversations start online and then they move onto the sidewalk or they go from the virtual to the actual front porch. One of the conventional ways to measure success in the dot com world is all about traffic and how many people visit a site and how much time is spent on a site, how many clicks and click-throughs. And those are all important, but ultimately that's not what our mission is about at all. Our mission is about people turning their computers off and going outside and going to the corner store, going to the post office, going to the school, and connecting with their neighbors.

Time and again we see that one posting might result in one or two responses on our service, but then might result in 10 or 20 or 100 exchanges off our service, so sidewalk conversations, people emailing each other directly, phone calls, public meetings. You know, one little message often sparks lots of community discussion.

JB: Tell us how Front Porch Forum has helped someone in your neighborhood?

MWL: There was a couple who were moving across the street, out of a rental upstairs apartment into a house a few doors down and they were going to do it themselves. And they have two young children. They're all set and they realize at the last minute they're going to need help with a few things. So they thought, well, let's see if this works. They put a note on Front Porch Forum, just in their neighborhood, saying, hey, Sunday, two o'clock, if you could help us out, we could use a couple strong backs.

Well, Sunday two o'clock rolls around and 36 neighbors show up and move the entire house in an hour and a half. People got busy. They weren't just having a party. In the old apartment, people were going in and pulling the picture hanging nails out of the wall and spackling--they were just doing everything. They ended up setting up the crib in the new space. That night the couple went to bed and they couldn't fall asleep. The couple ended up staring at the ceiling, asking themselves: What just happened? All the boxes were broken down in the garage and ready to go to the recycling center. But the kicker again here isn't just the wonderful direct result. It's the secondary piece that is even more wonderful; now they can take a walk around the block and recognize 36 of their neighbors.

That's the kind of thing that happens, and that's neighborhood. That's not solving any world crises or anything like that, but it's a fundamental building block.

JB: Roughly, what's the size of a Front Porch Forum neighborhood?

MWL: It turns out that scale is critical in designing these neighborhood forums. If you design it small--for us, that would be 20 or 30 households--it's simply too small to sustain conversation. If you design a neighborhood large--2000 to 3000 households or bigger--then it's too big to bring about the personal connection. So the sweet spot seems to be 200, 300, and up to 500 households, big enough that you definitely would share something in common with some of the other people online. You may know a lot of them, or you may not.

JB: Is Front Porch Forum part of a larger trend? Are there others working on this?

MWL: Yes, it is. If you look at the life of the Internet, people talk about the first big wave being communication--with AOL, Netscape--and the next big wave being commerce--with eBay, Amazon--and that was followed by search--Google, Yahoo!--and now more recently we're all in the middle of social networking--Facebook, MySpace and others. All the future lookers are asking, "What's next?" And many people are coming up with the answer: local.

Everything to date has primarily focused on the global. Most of us, however, spend the vast majority of our time within a few miles of home working, going to school, sleeping, eating, recreating, whatever. And so the notion is, well, what about local? And, in fact, there's millions if not billions of dollars being invested in local, online efforts right now. And the big players are turning toward local--Google and Yahoo! and others. But most of them have what feels like the equivalent of Wal-Mart-as-a-local store approach. Wal-Mart's a local store in that each store is located in a particular town or county. But, of course, it doesn't feel very local. Yahoo! is a local service in your town, but its server is based somewhere else harvesting data from databases. It's very impressive, but it's not here in town. It's not a trusted, local meeting spot. And so, Front Porch Forum is a much smaller subset of global.

JB: What's next for Front Porch Forum?

MWL: We want as many of our neighborhood forums as possible to be successful. So we're going to continue to encourage word-of-mouth. We depend on residents out there to get excited about it and tell their neighbors. And that's how it's worked in all of our successful neighborhoods. And we provide the service if they provide the local participation. So we want to help continue that and have that happen in every Burlington area neighborhood forum. We also are eager to spread this service to other communities and so we're hoping to get to other parts of Vermont and from there even further. We've seen other examples of online services spread themselves too quickly and shut down. There are a number of those. We want to be careful and locally successful, primarily, because that's our mission. We created this service for the benefit of the community where we live. And we want to continue that.

Visit Front Porch Forum at FrontPorchForum.com.

John Barstow is Director of Communications for the Orton Family Foundation, and has been involved in the writing and publishing worlds for nearly thirty years. He lives in Middlebury, VT with his family.

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Easy way to Spread the Word! Front Porch Forum(s)

Results Matter: An eNewsletter from United Way of Chittenden County

Did you ever want to tell lots of people about a fundraiser, volunteer opportunity or community-building event? Well, try this...

Join Front Porch Forum and reach dozens (or even hundreds) of your neighbors by posting a single message. Consider using your neighborhood Front Porch Forum to post notices about any community events, policy discussions and more.

Front Porch Forum hosts 130 online neighborhood forums covering all of Chittenden County. More than 7,500 households subscribe to this free service, including 30% of Burlington. Local couple Michael and Valerie Wood-Lewis launched this site in Burlington's Five Sisters neighborhood in 2000. Now all the great community-building happening through FPF is attracting national recognition.

Michael also suggests that local mission-driven organizations ask everyone in their network to subscribe (each person in his/her own FPF neighborhood forum). "Then when you want to announce your annual fundraiser, or whatever it may be, send your message to all these local contacts and ask each one of them to post your announcement. This is a powerful way to generate a genuine word-of-mouth campaign." Sponsoring agencies also use FPF to get the word out about their programs.

Join the service and the conversation at FrontPorchForum.com or 540-0069.

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Join the Front Porch Conversation

Local Motion's Walk 'n Roll eNews Jan 2008

Did you ever want to tell lots of people about an important cycling or pedestrian event? Well, try this...

Join Front Porch Forum and reach dozens (or even hundreds) of your neighbors with a single email message. Consider using your neighborhood Front Porch Forum to post notices about walking and biking in the community.

Front Porch Forum hosts 130 online neighborhood forums covering all of Chittenden County. More than 7,500 households subscribe to this free service, including 30% of Burlington. Longtime bike/ped/wheelchair advocates Michael and Valerie Wood-Lewis launched this site in Burlington's Five Sisters neighborhood in 2000. Now all the great community-building happening through FPF is attracting national recognition.

Local Motion found about the public meeting for the Shelburne Rd. traffic circle (see article above) on Front Porch Forum. Join the service and the conversation at FrontPorchForum.com

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Let's Help Spread the Word

The UU News - First Unitarian Universalist Society of Burlington, VT

Did you ever want to tell lots of people about an important charity fundraiser, political gathering or social event? Well, try this...

Join Front Porch Forum and reach dozens (or even hundreds) of your neighbors with a single email message. Our congregation is in the middle of so many important actions and they all need help in getting the word out. So please consider using your neighborhood Front Porch Forum to post notices about our shared work in the community.

Front Porch Forum hosts 130 online neighborhood forums covering all of Chittenden County. More than 7,000 households subscribe to this free service, including 30% of Burlington.

Join the service and the conversation at FrontPorchForum.com!

Front Porch Forum

Results Matter: An eNewsletter from United Way of Chittenden County

If you live in Vermont's Chittenden County, you have access to a free online neighborhood forum that serves just you and your nearby neighbors. About 7,000 local households spread across 130 neighborhood forums, including more than 25% of Burlington, have already joined! People get great results from things like borrowing a ladder, hiring a babysitter, referring a plumber, finding a lost kitten, organizing a block party, reporting a break-in, and much more.

Front Porch Forum is based on the award-winning, seven-year-old Five Sisters Neighborhood Forum. To join, visit www.frontporchforum.com.

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Getting to know your neighbors leads to economic opportunities...

Money in the Mountains

If you're a Burlington resident, you've probably heard of Front Porch Forum. The service was started in the Five Sisters neighborhood by Michael Wood-Lewis and his wife, Valerie as a way for neighbors to share news by email.

Front Porch Forum has gotten a lot of press and recognition lately as a community building tool. It's interesting that beyond building social capital, being neighborly and coming together on community projects, members have found FPF to also be a place to be creative economically.

In the Old North End Central neighborhood, the Soup Mama, started a business delivering soup to neighbors - by bike! - and has been advertising weekly on the forum. A student has taken the fundraising-for-a-school-trip-bake-sale online by offering pumpkin pies delivered to your door the week before Thanksgiving.

Testimonials featured on the website list people who have found plumbers, bought and sold homes, and found tenants for rental properties.

Many of us have skills that we couldn't pursue full time in the market economy but that could be used to supplement our income. People can sometimes find communities of interest online or in their area that might make a transaction possible, but Front Porch Forum has made it possible to market those skills to your geographical community.

To strengthen and diversify our local economy, there are two strategies we must pursue: creating the capital and creating the market. Front Porch Forum has filled a gap in marketing and exchanging services among neighbors while building community.

If you're in Chittenden County, and would like to join your neighborhood forum, link here.

Orton Family Foundation Awards - 2007 Innovator in Place to Michael Wood-Lewis

Orton Family Foundation

MIDDLEBURY, Vermont - The Orton Family Foundation takes great pride and pleasure in naming Michael Wood-Lewis winner of the 2007 Innovator in Place Award. Michael and Front Porch Forum http:// frontporchforum.com, his free on-online service, excel at building social capital and community capacity for change.

In choosing Michael, the Foundation decided he best fulfilled the spirit of the award, which aims to honor successful grassroots community activists and leaders not typically recognized for their efforts. Michael accepted his $3,000 award at a reception at the ECHO Center on Burlington's waterfront during the COMMUNITYMATTERS07 conference.

"Some argue that the Internet isolates people, further tearing the social fabric," said Orton Family Foundation President and CEO Bill Roper, "but Michael proves the opposite can be true. His innovation, civic spirit and commitment enable the kind of friendship, trust and interdependence among neighbors that the Foundation believes are key to vibrant, sustainable community. His tool is enhancing Burlington's heart and soul."

Michael Wood-Lewis, with his wife Valerie, founded Front Porch Forum in 2006. In its first year, the Forum's trend setting use of the Internet at the neighborhood level brought 25 percent of the citizens of Burlington, Vermont (pop. 38,889), into community discussions. The free on-line service hosts 130 adjacent neighborhood forums covering every part of Chittenden County. About 7,000 households have subscribed, and hundreds more join every month.

"We hear from people all the time who lament not knowing their neighbors," said Wood-Lewis. "When Front Porch Forum kicks into gear, those connections begin to form. It's a wonderful thing to watch take root, grow and blossom."

Neighbors put Front Porch Forum to good use, connecting with neighbors and building community by posting all sorts of messages: borrow a ladder, refer a plumber, look out for a lost kitten, organize a block party, discuss traffic calming, report a break-in, announce a school play, debate zoning, and on and on.

In addition to direct results ("Kitten Found!"), it's the growth of community offline that is the true measure of Front Porch Forum's impact. Each message comes from a clearly identified nearby neighbor, so over time participants get to know each other better. This familiarity spills over from the virtual to the actual front porch.

The webs spun by Front Porch Forum that connect people are strengthened by 250 Forum Neighborhood Volunteers who champion the forums in their own areas and 140 local elected and public officials who participate across their jurisdictions. Police and other government officials use the site to better respond to problems in their area.

A remarkable Burlington innovation actively cultivating the development of rich, vibrant community, Front Porch Forum is exploring replication options and has a waiting list with more than 150 communities represented. Michael Wood-Lewis's groundbreaking social innovation is a blueprint for community development of the future.

Michael's previous experience includes steering a regional trade association to a position of national prominence. He also led a consortium of municipal leaders from across the country in developing environmental technology. He is active on the advisory board of Burlington Telecom, a cutting edge municipally owned "fiber optic to the home" utility, providing data, voice and video. Wood-Lewis brings to bear an unusual combination of technical background (MS engineering University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign), business experience (MBA), and 20 years of community organizing.

CONTACT:
John Barstow
Director of Communications
The Orton Family Foundation
152 Maple Street, PO Box 111
Middlebury, VT 05753
www.orton.org

Your Hinesburg Neighbors are Talking!

The Viking - Hinesburg Community School

What do more than 200 Hinesburg households have in common? They're tied into their community through Front Porch Forum. This new local service hosts online neighborhood forums across Hinesburg and Chittenden County.

Neighbors discuss car break-ins, block parties, furniture for sale, traffic calming, borrowing a ladder, announcing school plays, recommending a plumber, and so much more.

Front Porch Forum is great for young families… find a babysitter, organize a playgroup, give away a stroller, seek advice on cloth vs. disposables, borrow accommodations for visiting family, address local environmental/health threats, get the scoop on kid-friendly events, etc.

Here are some recent examples from your neighbors:
Missing Shaggy Dog
Kale Exchange Offered
Dr. Trixie's Book Reading Tonight!
Dog Found!
Lake Iroquois water quality
Charlotte Rd and 116 Intersection Projects
Carpool Anyone?
Tennis Anyone?
Seeking Lost Cat
Raw Milk for Sale
Free Desk
Truck and Trailer for Sale

Any resident of Chittenden County may sign up. Each neighborhood has its own online forum open only to those who live there. More than 6,000 local households have joined already! Join today at FrontPorchForum.com

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Front Porch Forum connects neighbors online

The Essex Reporter

When Henry, a six-toed marmalade tabby cat with a penchant for adventure, wandered off last Halloween, his owner did not have to resort to posting flyers around the neighborhood. Instead, Sue McCormack turned to her neighbors via the Front Porch Forum.

McCormack, a member of the Maple Street Forum, is one of hundreds of Essex and Essex Junction residents who take advantage of this service. The forum aims to recapture the days when advice was traded over backyard fences, and recipes were shared during visits to the neighbor’s front porch.

For McCormack, there was a quick and happy ending. Soon after her message had been posted, Henry returned on his own to his Essex Junction home.

While the Internet may at times seem impersonal, the forum is providing both a social outlet and a connection for community members around Chittenden County in a day and age where communication and technology are increasingly interdependent.

Front Porch Forum, while less than a year old in most communities in Chittenden County, has been around for six years in the Five Sisters neighborhood of Burlington before going countywide. Michael and Valerie Wood-Lewis conceived and implemented the forum shortly after moving into the neighborhood.

"My wife and I had a heck of a time getting to know our neighbors. People are just so busy," Michael said. After trying a couple of approaches, the couple spent $15 printing flyers promoting the idea.

Today, the Five Sisters forum boasts 350 members. This past fall, the pair introduced their concept to the rest of the county. Michael and his wife set to work pouring over zoning maps and historical society documents.

"Our goal," he said, "was to have every household land in a forum." Because of their efforts, Front Porch Forum now hosts 130 forums that fall pretty close to logically divided neighborhood lines.

Michael said he's ecstatic about the positive reception to the forums. Twenty percent of Burlington communicates via the forum, as does 10 percent of the county, he said. "The neighborhood forums are really reaching a cross-section of the population," he said, adding that in time, he would love to see the concept go statewide.

He and his wife are looking at the venture as a start-up business, and currently serve as moderators of the forum. Michael said he spends a couple of hours a day managing the many messages that come in, deleting any of the extraneous server-related text, and adding headlines to the short queries and articles.

The combined town of Essex and village of Essex Junction boast 17 neighborhood forums of varying participation.

Julie Miller-Johnson, who spearheaded the Countryside Front Porch Forum, said 132 members, about half of the neighborhood, have joined the service. Their forum is active, she said, with postings coming through every couple of days.

Others, like the Maple Street Front Porch Forum are less so, with postings more like every couple of weeks. Still, neighbors are comparing notes over cable TV versus satellite dish service, seeking recommendations for housepainters and tailors, and selling wares and services on a regular basis.

In some cases, the forum has become a way to reach out to those in need. Miller-Johnson recalled a fire in the neighborhood this past winter. Neighbors, she said, were actively communicating about ways in which to help the family.

"We're not a front porch society anymore," she said, adding, "The forum changed the way this neighborhood feels. People talk to each other."

The 17 local forums have also become an easy way for municipal and school board leaders to communicate with taxpayers.

Openings on school boards, reminders to vote, and suggestions for municipal survey questions are just a few of the issues that have reached Essex-area residents via the forums.

Local residents not currently members of their neighborhood forum need only to visit www.frontporchforum.com to sign up for this free service.

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Next Generation Social Networking: FrontPorchForum

DevLife

I tried a lot of the social networks early on. But the last one I dove into was Orkut (over three years ago) and I quickly jumped out after a few weeks when I saw that I had 26000 new contacts.

I have passed up many invitations to LinkedIn for the same reason. I've never joined Facebook or myspace.

Even without these networks, I have more than enough people to keep up with and stepped way back on my blog reading about a year ago when I realized I was losing touch with my personal friends because of my many new virtual friends.

However, there is a new social networking tool that was actually created right here in Burlington Vermont, that I joined over two months ago and I just love it! It's called FrontPorchForum. I've referred to it as Facebook for grownups. But it's really not anything like that.

What FrontPorchForum focuses on is your very local community. It creates an online forum, also distributed every few days in an email, that allows you to connect to your neighbors. So the people in my town of Huntington are the only people who's posts I read and who see my posts (and my email address).

It is an amazing way of connecting with your community and helping each other out. I've seen neighbors find (and get rid of) used stoves and offer to visit another neighbor to give woodstacking tips. I was able to find out how Sprint cell service works right in my neighborhood by asking on the forum. People are sharing community news, finding a taker for a last minute extra ticket to see an Emmy Lou Harris concert, finding house sitters, local plumbers and discovering what's fresh at the local farmstand.

I also feel that I've suddenly become so much more connected to this community that I moved into almost 4 years ago. I know who lives in those houses, the name of the local blacksmith and that there are so many really interesting people living a stone's throw away. I did keep silent when a rash of Mac users got excited about starting a local Mac user group.

It is an interesting phenomenon to me because in the past six or seven years, the internet and blogging has made me part of a worldwide community of software developers. I have made so many new friends in the .NET world. Conferences turned into a big party because you suddenly knew so many of those faces, rather than just being one in a sea. And of course, having people come up and say "hi" because they know me (and my face - or more likely my hair) from my blogs has been a lot of fun.

But FrontPorchForum has come full circle because it has used this same technology to bring me back into my own local community which, although initial connections are through the web, enables me to walk out my door and down my road and meet up with many new friends and neighbors.

FPF is still fairly new and local. The founder, Michael Wood-Lewis, started it in Burlington and has added communities bit by bit around the Burlington area.

I've already talked to him about what he's going to do when it goes nationwide or even worldwide; what technologies he's vested in currently and what is on his mind for scaling out. Because as far as I'm concerned, that is inevitable!

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Front Porch Forum Fans Adore Hyper-Local Email Reports

MediaShift - PBS Blog

Yesterday, when I heard a shooting take place in broad daylight down the street from me in San Francisco's Potrero Hill neighborhood, I wondered what happened, who got shot and thought about how lucky I was not to be out and about with my son at that moment. Later, I got an update from an email list serving Potrero Hill parents and found out that no one nearby was hurt in the shooting.

It made me think about how I get neighborhood news, and the way we all might get these types of hyper-local news tidbits in the future. When I put the question to MediaShift readers about where they get neighborhood news, I was inundated by fans of the Front Porch Forum service in Burlington, Vermont, thanks to the prompting of its founder , Michael Wood-Lewis.

Normally I tend to discount these types of write-in campaigns, but I have to admit that I like what Front Porch Forum is doing. The service is currently in a test phase covering 130 neighborhoods around Burlington. You can only sign up for the neighborhood you live in, and then you start getting email newsletters with news tidbits, items for sale, business openings, and more - submitted by people in the neighborhood. They are closed lists that aren't accessible to the public, and each posting includes the person's name, mailing address and email address to verify who they are.

Wood-Lewis told me he had been doing a version of Front Porch Forum for his own neighborhood since 2000, but just opened up the service to more neighborhoods last fall. Eventually, he would like to unleash it to more communities around the U.S., but also is figuring out how to add local sponsorships to pay for the service. At present, neighborhood volunteers take on the task of moderating the newsletter content and spreading the word about them to people in the area.

"We've got something remarkable going on here," Wood-Lewis said via email. "We're working to flesh out the local pilot and then we'll be looking at scaling options."

Here's a sampling of the testimonials I got on MediaShift from fans and volunteers for Front Porch Forum:

"We have collected 150 sets of silverware from garage sales and tag sales and let our neighbors know through Front Porch Forum, so that they can borrow our bucket of silver whenever they have a large gathering. So much better than using those petroleum-based plastic forks and spoons. We found out through Front Porch Forum when our neighbor's son was shipped out to Iraq and were able to contribute to weekly care packages sent by another neighbor. We find out about everything from public hearings to lemonade stands through this service and as a school board trustee I get direct feedback from my constituents." -Jeff Forward

"In days gone by we would all be visiting with our neighbors and getting news that way. That still happens here in Vermont, but the Front Porch Forum helps the news travel faster and to a larger audience." -Amy Todisco

"The Front Porch Forum is a postmodern return to citizen democracy which is nurturing the burgeoning hunger for community in our society. Feeding the mind and the soul, the neighborly interchange provides the information necessary to participate intelligently in the democratic process, develop deeper connections with those around us, and provides the support and care that meld individuals who live near one another into neighbors." -Susan Comerford

After the initial influx of comments from Front Porch Forum boosters, I wanted to know a bit more from them: Do they trust the information on the forums? And do the forums provide a check on the power centers in the communities? Lorinda Henry pointed out that she trusted the information because it came from a trusted source, the people who live around her. "These are truly MY neighbors - and why would they lie to me about a lost cat, the time of the school board meeting, or wanting to borrow a garden tractor, for Pete's sake?" she wrote.

Jeff Kaufman explained how a recent forum posting helped inform people about what was going on in local government:

"Recently a pivotal vote was held in one of our local city government affiliated meetings (NPA). [In case] some disliked the results of the vote, the normal distribution channel for publicizing the vote results were disrupted: Minutes of the meeting were not mailed out nor posted on the city website. Thank G-D for the Front Porch Forum. Readers were quickly able to learn that an 11th hour amendment to our zoning ordinance was about to be quietly passed; that our parking availability was being reduced; and that their neighbors voted against this proposed amendment at their NPA meeting. The Front Porch Forum helped level the playing field, helping folks inform each other; and bringing light to activities some 'local power centers' seem to wish had been kept in the dark."

It will be interesting to see if this closed approach via email - similar to the closed approach of the early Facebook - will foster a better way of keeping tabs on community news beyond Burlington. And of course, the question remains how to make money off of email lists, and including local businesses in the mix.

The Reliable Mother-in-Law
With the Front Porch Forum inundation, one reader named Jordon wondered, "Am I the only reader of MediaShift that doesn’t live near Burlington, VT?" Luckily, no. In fact Jordon himself had commented earlier about where he gets hyper-local news in his area:

"Mainly blogs. Philadelphia, my adopted hometown, has a vibrant community of bloggers. But I also subscribe to an RSS alert for my particular township on Topix, though that doesn't seem to yield much, so I’m open to suggestions. There are lots of good community newspapers here, but since I tend to stay away from print media - I don’t like to get that black ink all over my fingertips - I don’t read them that often."

And yet, there are people in the local newspaper business who believe the ink-stained types will have a role in hyper-local news. Alastair Machray, the editor of the Liverpool (UK) Echo (and a blogger ), noted that he gets local news from his mother-in-law — but he can't always trust her information.

"The ideal has to be a mother-in-law one can rely upon," he wrote. "That means a trusted brand processing her information and giving it in a reliable form to the consumers. As traditional media producers, we can still add value to citizen journalism without taking it away from the citizens."

Lee Roberts, an assistant editor at a local weekly, also gets neighborhood news from the paper, and notes some of the problems with relying on the Net for news in an area with spotty broadband availability.

"DSL access problems have limited the use of the web as local social networking and local news in this rural area," Roberts wrote. "The paper is in the early stages of figuring out how best to use the web in a way that doesn't cost the company money. Lately, I've been thinking about the citizen journalist. Because our budget is tight, we depend on press releases for many of our 56-ish pages in a circulation of 9,000 or so. We also have Town Correspondents, ultra-local social news writers…Though press release writers may have a vested interest, around here it's generally vested in some community non-profit or local chapter of a bigger picture, from Rotary to watershed associations. In any case, they’ve been making local papers local for a long, long time."

Among the other comments, Phil Shapiro said he likes his local Washington, DC, email newsletter, DCwatch , that's been around since 1995, while Penny Okamoto likes a newish service in Portland, Ore. (and Belgium!), called PublicPress.org .

"PublicPress.org is great because anyone in the world can create their own hyper-local, digital newspaper for sharing and archiving their community's local news, events, reviews, and information," she wrote. "It lets users upload incident reports, news articles, community events, garage sale information, lost and found information, help wanted posts…I can trust what is posted because PublicPress encourages fellow citizens to review, edit, and vet the stories. So reputations for credibility are established and maintained by other journalists on the site."

What other hyper-local or neighborhood news services do you like? Do you think the Front Porch Forum model of closed email lists can be replicated in other communities, and is there a way to make it a profitable enterprise? Share your thoughts in the comments below.

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What's your favorite way of getting hyper-local or neighborhood news?

MediaShift - PBS Blog

Lately there have been a lot of happenings in the world of hyper-local citizen journalism projects. The venture-funded Backfence series of sites crashed and burned, Pegasus News was sold to Fisher Communications, and the Washington Post launched its first hyper-local effort, LoudonExtra . The idea behind many of these sites is to capture the smaller stories that newspapers, TV and radio can't cover because they happen at the neighborhood level. They also aim to get average citizens involved in the process of gathering and reporting what's happening. The problem is that there is no easy business model for these sites, and they require a lot of effort in community organizing and outreach. (Check this MediaShift post on some of the lessons learned by pioneers.) But I'm wondering where you go to get your hyper-local news: a community newspaper, the coffee shop, a local blog or website or somewhere else? What would you want to see in an ideal hyper-local site covering your own neighborhood? Share your thoughts in the comments below and I'll run a selection of them in the next Your Take Roundup.

[Many Front Porch Forum members added comments to this PBS blog. Mark Glaser responded with... ]

Welcome all you folks from Front Porch Forum! Glad to have you on the blog. I'm curious if some of you can explain how you first heard about it, and why you trust the information there. Also, what new features would you like to see on that service or similar ones? And finally, can Front Porch Forum or other services really call out public officials or businesses if there are problems, or are they too tied in to those local power centers?

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Couple honored for Web site

Burlington Free Press

South Burlington - This year's recipient of the Community Appreciation Award, which is given out each year at National Night Out, will go to Michael and Valerie Wood-Lewis, who founded Front Porch Forum. The Front Porch Forum is an email based service organized by neighborhoods, where neighbors talk about topics from baby-sitting to vandalism.

The Community Appreciation Award "recognizes someone in the community whose efforts have made a difference in our community" and who has worked toward crime prevention and youth services, said National Night Out coordinator Catherine Welch. The Wood-Lewises will receive the award at 7 p.m. on Aug. 7 at the Dorset Park band shell. Gov. Jim Douglas will present the award.

"After only a half-year of operation, more than 5,000 Chittenden County households have joined Front Porch Forum," Michael Wood-Lewis said in a press release. "FPF hosts 130 contiguous online neighborhood forums covering the entire metro-Burlington area. People use the free service for many ends, including finding a babysitter or lost cat, selling a canoe, recommending a plumber, announcing a school play, reporting a car break-in, organizing a block party and so much more. And, the best part of it, all of these activities are done with clearly identified nearby neighbors, so the sense of community in each neighborhood grows."

Wood-Lewis said he and his wife are "humbled" to be nominated for the award and they will share it with the thousands of local Front Porch Forum members, volunteers and sponsors.

Networking Site Prompts City Response to Park Assault

Seven Days

BURLINGTON - When residents living near Pomeroy Park in the Old North End first learned about the late-night assault last month on one of their neighbors, they probably didn't get the news from the daily newspaper. More likely, they read about it on the Front Porch Forum. This online social-networking site has become a useful tool for Chittenden County residents to alert one another about what's happening in their neighborhoods, from garage sales to lost cats to car burglaries. As a result, police and other government officials are now using the site to respond better to problems in their area.

On Saturday, June 16, a woman living on Booth Street was awakened at about 3 a.m. by four young men playing basketball and "swearing loudly" in the park near her house. The woman (who requested not to be identified) approached the youths and asked if they knew the park was closed. To her surprise, they said they did and agreed to leave. But after the woman turned her back on the men - "which I realize now was a mistake," she says - a tall, white male, about 22 years old, shoved her to the ground and told her, "Don't ever do that to me again." The woman suffered a split lip, a damaged tooth and multiple cuts and bruises.

The victim, who has lived in the neighborhood for 11 years, says she's had to ask other late-night rowdies to leave the park "at least 30 times" in the past. This was the first time she was assaulted as a result. The victim didn't go to the hospital for her injuries, though she did file a police report.

This incident, like many relatively minor crimes that occur each day in Burlington, might have gone unnoticed and unaddressed were it not for the victim's neighbor, Samuel Press. He asked her permission to post an account of the incident on their neighborhood's Front Porch Forum. This ultra-local email newsletter was launched last fall to help citizens build community and to encourage more neighbor-to-neighbor dialogues.

Press' posting sparked a flurry of email responses from other residents of the Old North End, some of whom recounted similar experiences with unruly and foul-mouthed park users. Others expressed dismay at the Parks & Recreation department and the police department's unwillingness and/or inability to address their concerns, which appear to have existed for years.

The online back-and-forth eventually prompted official replies from Parks & Recreation Director Wayne Gross and Burlington Police Lieutenant Jennifer Morrison. Both sought to assuage neighbors' grievances, and outlined actions they've taken to address the issues.

Gross wrote that he asked the Burlington Electric Department to fix the street lamp that was bleeding light onto the court, enabling late-night play to occur. Likewise, Morrison informed residents that the police have stepped up nighttime patrols of the area, and asked residents to get good descriptions of anyone else engaged in suspicious activities.

Morrison, who monitors "eight or so" FPFs in her patrol district, emphasizes that "no technology can replace the face-to-face interaction of humans." She strongly encourages citizens to call the police to report crimes when they happen, rather than just posting them online. That said, Morrison thinks the FPF is another tool to help police keep their fingers "on the pulse of each neighborhood."

Apparently, other public officials feel the same way. Michael Wood-Lewis, founder and online mediator of FPF, says there are now 130 neighborhood forums throughout Chittenden County, totaling about 5200 households. Any resident can join the forum where he or she lives. Local public officials are also granted access to the neighborhoods within their jurisdiction. Since FPF's countywide launch last year, about 150 public officials have signed up, including city councilors, school board members, select board members and local police. According to Wood-Lewis, about half the city's wards now have a police lieutenant who monitors the sites to stay informed about local occurrences.

He concedes that he was initially hesitant about giving police and other public officials access to the forums, fearing that it might change the nature of the dialogue. His concern quickly proved unfounded.

"Rather than worrying that Big Brother is looking over our shoulder," Wood-Lewis says, "we'd much rather know that the police lieutenant hears about every little car break-in, so we get more police presence when we need it."

As for the victim of last month's assault, she admits she wasn't a member of FPF and was surprised by how much dialogue her incident fomented. She's glad it prompted official attention to a problem that she feels was long unaddressed. "Sometimes it takes someone getting hurt before someone starts listening," she says. "But if it did [draw notice], my split lip was worth it."

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Summer a Great Time for Forum

The Islander

Would you like to post your lawn sale, ask for help, celebrate with your neighbors?

Join your local Front Porch Forum, and be in touch with your whole neighborhood practically instantaneously. Lose a pet, need someone to mow your lawn, want to borrow a tent for your visiting in-laws? All of these and much, much more can be done in your online neighborhood, and you will not become a victim of anyone’s mailing list, either. Front Porch Forum's mission is to help people create healthy and vital community within their neighborhoods. Common sense and a growing body of research tell us that well-connected neighborhoods are friendlier places to live, with less crime, healthier residents, higher property values, and better service from local government and public utilities.

The service provides email forums for neighborhoods, based on a successful model six years in the making, and capitalizing on our founders' many years of community development work.

Michael and Valerie Wood-Lewis launched the Five Sisters Neighborhood Forum in the spring of 2000 in hopes of learning more about their corner of Burlington, Vermont and the people who live there. Six years later, the original forum's incredible success led the couple to launch Front Porch Forum to help others invigorate their neighborhoods too. For information about your Milton neighborhood, contact at frontporchforum.com or sign on http://www.frontporchforum.com. Come and sit on our porch and have a glass of lemonade.

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Featured Website

Orton Scenarios E-Journal

Burlington, VT's Front Porch Forum creates community through online forums for all City neighborhoods.

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Getting a community online

PodTech

By Robert Scoble
2007-06-20

In Burlington, Vermont, 20 percent of the real-world residents have joined a new online service called Front Porch Forum. Here, you meet Michael Wood-Lewis, co-founder, and we talk about why he started the service and why it's been so successful in his hometown. We met him at the Personal Democracy Forum, and I interviewed him at Google's New York office.

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Negative Reaction to Rent-a-Husband: A Wrench in the Works?

Seven Days

BURLINGTON - At Bibens Ace Hardware on North Avenue, you can buy all the standard DIY paraphernalia: paint, grass seed, light bulbs, plungers, stud-finders, mousetraps. Not so standard is what's for rent. Near the exit door, a life-sized cardboard poster of a handsome young man in a tool belt advertises the store's repair service. "Rent-a-Husband," it recommends, "for those jobs that never get done."

Question is, can the handy hunk fix a growing public-relations problem? Since the "Rent-a-Husband" program launched, a number of neighbors have criticized Ace - in letters to the editor, and on blogs and local listservs - for perpetuating negative gender stereotypes. Such cliched characterizations "limit how people understand the capacities and potential of men and women," as John Grimm put it in a post on his neighborhood Front Porch Forum. Sarah Mell of Washington Street and her lesbian partner see it as another "inherent mark of heterosexism in the world" - not to mention "sexism in general."

Gail Compton is more plainspoken. "It's insulting to men, and it's insulting to women," says the single mother of four boys. "When I was married, I was the one who owned the power tools." Compton's 20-year relationship with her neighborhood hardware store ended abruptly the other day, when she told the man she believed to be the owner what she thought of the "Rent-a-Husband" promo. She claims Rick Bibens followed her outside and angrily announced, "I never want you in my store again. You’re banned for life. We don’t need customers like you." ...

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Seniors Join Neighbors On Front Porch Forums

Vermont Maturity Magazine

Three years ago when Betty Goyette was dying of cancer, her neighbors in Burlington's south end supported her and her husband Art with daily meals and special gifts. This is how a close neighborhood often acts, but in this case, the neighbors' efforts were eased and enhanced because they are all linked together by an email program where they can post and receive messages.

"Our neighborhood was always great," says Art Goyette, 71, but this put everyone on the same page. You don't have to make 38 phone calls to reach people."

In 2000, Michael Wood-Lewis created the Five Sisters Forum, named after the five streets in his south end neighborhood, to "help his neighbors connect." He has been concerned for a long time, he explains, that modern life - suburban sprawl, long solo car commutes, fewer stay-at-home parents, television, and the Internet - has fostered a high level of isolation. Six months ago, he expanded his idea, now called the Front Porch Forum, to 130 neighborhoods across Chittenden County. Based on his successful experience with the Five Sisters, Wood-Lewis has defined neighborhoods as groups of 200 - 300 households. Front Porch Forum now includes 4300 subscribers. " Over 100 public officials - state representatives, city councilors, school commissioners, select board members - use forums in their districts to communicate with their constituents

In March, Front Porch Forum was recognized for its service to the community by two awards. The city of Burlington gave Michael Wood-Lewis its Neighborhood Leadership Award, and Preservation Burlington gave him its Community Improvement Award.

Art Goyette lists many ways the Front Porch Forum helped him - some mundane, others more dramatic. He found someone to take care of his lawn, located a used bicycle for sale, found out about a "peeping Tom" in the area. He joined the neighborhood discussion lamenting the fact that the south end bus gets to Burlington High School just a few minutes after classes start. When he posted a message on the forum that his house was for sale, he received an email early the next morning from a prospective buyer from Tennessee. The buyer had gotten the word from one of Goyette's neighbors.

Goyette's most meaningful Front Porch Forum connection came when Betty was dying. Knowing that Betty had never ridden in a convertible and had always wished to, the neighbors arranged for the loan of a new Chrysler convertible and had it delivered to the Goyette's door. The only requirement was that Art drive it down Caroline Street. Because it was a cool night, it was uncomfortable to keep the top down for long, so three days later, another convertible turned up at the Goyette's door for another ride.

"You find out about new neighbors and keep up with old ones," says Goyette. "The forum is the eyes and ears of the neighborhood."

Wood-Lewis describes the forums as a "combination list serve and blog." Each forum is limited to the people in the neighborhood. Any resident can join, and the service is free. All messages are signed with the name, street address, and email address of the sender. Any message posted by a resident is fine, says Wood-Lewis. As moderator, he does not edit messages, but he stops, he says, perhaps one in a thousand that are "inappropriate."

Older people may particularly benefit from participation in their Front Porch Forum because a key to helping frail seniors live independently at home is support from their neighbors. "This is more likely to happen in a neighborhood with a well-developed sense of community," says Wood-Lewis. "Members don't have to feel isolated or alone. When they do need help, it's not like asking strangers."

"People are very positive about the Front Porch Forum and the type of neighborhood connection it produces," says Jennifer Wallace-Brodeur, director of AARP's Burlington Livable Community Project, which is exploring ways to make Burlington a great place to grow old. She says that the project may solicit volunteers to join their neighborhood forums to promote community activities and events of interest to seniors. These volunteers could also watch out for seniors who may need assistance.

Beverly Hill, volunteer coordinator for the Champlain Valley Agency on Aging, is using the Front Porch Forum to respond to seniors' requests for assistance, such as: help with grocery shopping, shoveling snow, yard work, and paper work. "We always have a backlog of fifty requests," she says. "You find three volunteers. You need three more." Accessing individual forums with the help of CVAA staff members and other volunteers who have registered in their neighborhoods, she can focus the requests for volunteers in the area where the need is.

What about people who do not have computers or access to email? According to a Burlington Livable Community Project survey conducted last fall, 70 per cent of respondents reported that they had accessed the Internet during the past twelve months. Of these, 72 per cent went on-line every day. Many seniors without computers in their homes use them at their local libraries or senior centers. Both senior centers in Burlington already encourage their members to open email accounts on the centers' machines, and staff support seniors in signing up for their neighborhood forums.

Forum use by seniors is as varied as the users themselves. Susan Linnell, 63, of Burlington posted a plea for assistance with her snow blower. Her husband had died recently, and she did not know how to use the machine. Offers of help came pouring in. "I ran dorms when I was in college," she says. "Front Porch Forum is as good as leaving a note on the front door. It works."

Dave Eaton, 76, of Jericho has posted notices about a Democracy for America meeting, help wanted for lawn mowing, and his reaction to Stephen Kiernan's recent book, "Last Rights: Rescuing the End of Life from the Medical System." He goes beyond the index in the forum, he says, and reads everything. "Front Porch Forum has a special relevance for older people, says Eaton. "Maintaining community gets difficult as mobility declines. With the forum, people can really share a concern for others."

For more information and to sign up for Front Porch Forum, go to FrontPorchForum.com

FPF subscribers can sign up with Champlain Valley Agency on Aging volunteer coordinator Beverly Hill to spread the word about people who need a little help in their neighborhood. Call Beverly Hill at 865-0360 or 1-800-642-5119.

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Media Mavens: How to Build an On-line Community

Channel 17 CCTV

By Lauren-Glenn Davitian
2007-04-19

In it's ongoing Media Maven training series, the Center for Media & Democracy featured Michael Wood-Lewis discussing his experience with Front Porch Forum. Michael's portion begins at the 32-minute mark and goes nearly to the end of this 117-minute video.

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Business Monday: Companies

Burlington Free Press

FrontPorchForum.com garnered two awards recently. Preservation Burlington bestowed its 2007 Ray O’Connor Community Improvement Award on Michael Wood-Lewis, founder of FrontPorchForum.com. And the City of Burlington recognized FrontPorchForum.com with its annual Technology Fostering Community Award at its 7th Annual Neighborhood Night of Success.

Front Porch Forum Encourages UVM Staff to Participate!

Staffline: A Newsletter by UVM Staff for UVM Staff

Residents of neighborhoods and rural areas across Chittenden County are connecting with neighbors and fostering community through a new local service called Front Porch Forum. Six months ago, Burlington residents Michael and Valerie Wood-Lewis launched 130 neighborhood forums. Now, more than 15% of Burlington is on board (3,700 households county-wide). Recent sample postings: Babysitter available, plumber recommendation, need help shoveling, house break-in report, block party coming together, school board report, keys found, and more. The service is free and won't overfill your inbox. It's like a neighborhood newsletter delivered by email every few days and written by you and your neighbors. Read testimonials and media accounts at http://frontporchforum.com. Join today!

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Honors and Awards

Business People Vermont

Michael Wood-Lewis, president and founder of FrontPorchForum.com in Burlington, spoke at a Harvard conference in Cambridge, Mass., about innovative local uses of the Internet. Wood-Lewis was one of 20 featured speakers from across the country. FrontPorchForum.com is a free online service hosting 130 neighborhood forums covering Chittenden County.

Neighbors connect via Front Porch Forum

Career Clues: SBHS Career Development Center Newsletter

A local couple bought their first house and planned to move themselves, but they needed a little help to move the heavy stuff. They tapped into Front Porch Forum and were shocked when 36 nearby neighbors showed up and moved them out of the old place and into the new one in 90 minutes! So, what is Front Porch Forum?

Six years ago, Michael and Valerie Wood-Lewis started an e-mail forum for their neighborhood in Burlington's South End after finding it difficult to get to know their neighbors and learn about community events. What seemed like a simple idea blossomed, and in 2006, the Five Sisters area was named a "top ten" neighborhood in the United States by Cottage Living magazine with many residents crediting their online forum for a good part of that success.

Michael and Valerie decided to share this successful model with others, and started the Front Porch Forum (FPF), launching 130 neighborhood forums covering 100% of Chittenden County. Now, four months later, more than 3,000 local households have joined. Neighbors post all sorts of messages, from those seeking a babysitter or cars for sale, to block parties and and plumber recommendations. Only residents of a given neighborhood are eligible to join that forum, which enhances the community focus.

South Burlington is covered by 22 neighborhood forums and more than 300 households signed on already. Families of SBHS students are encouraged to join the neighborhood forum serving their part of town. Recent announcements about the SBHS Job/Career Expo and the Chamber Singers have been posted in forums all across town.

Joining a forum is easy and membership is free. To learn more and sign up, go to FrontPorchForum.com.

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Spring into Action: Neighbors of a defunct corner store consider its future

Seven Days

The Springflower Market on St. Paul Street in Burlington is up for sale. But, rather than letting real-estate supply and demand determine its next incarnation, residents of the neighborhood want to weigh in. After a rousing discussion on the online network Front Porch Forum, Joey Corcoran of South Winooski Avenue offered to host a meet-up at her house.

A dozen people showed up, including Gregory Clairmont, the realtor who is representing the property, Democratic City Councilor Andy Montroll and Emily and Chris Conn, who live right across the street from Springflower. The Conns dream about opening their own café and market. Although they don't have the money to buy the place outright, they hope to find an investor willing to put up the capital. The couple came to the meeting with business plan in hand.

The Conns would like to sell espresso drinks, food cooked over a wood-fired grill and high-quality staples, such as milk, bread and eggs, from local producers. Chris, who cooks at Stone Soup, mentions that he and Emily saw "a coffee shop on nearly every corner" during a recent visit to Brooklyn. He points out that the Fresh Market, half a mile away, does a booming business.

The Conns have a goal beyond providing tasty food and beverages: "To support what people in the neighborhood want," says Chris.

Other ideas for the space? Some would love to see a community center where people could hold meetings and practice yoga. Another attendee hopes to open a furniture and art consignment shop in the space. One thing everyone seemed to agree on: The building needs to be better maintained, inside and out.

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Front Porch Forums Connect Neighbors via the Internet

The Other Paper - South Burlington's Community Newspaper since 1977

Michael Wood-Lewis and his family, including wife, Valerie have lived in the five sisters neighborhood in Burlington for nine years. Seven years ago they were frustrated with getting to know their neighbors in the area. One friend suggested "not to worry you'll get on the grapevine in ten years."

Realizing there was some truth in the statement, Wood-Lewis and his wife decided to devise a neighborhood email list for neighbors to sign up called the "Front Porch Forum." It was embraced by neighbors who used it for a lost cat, carpooling, borrowing a ladder, to neighbor helping neighbors through life crises like fire, cancer, and births. The Front Porch Forum creates a quick and easy way for neighbors to contact each other. Participants quickly contributed to the design of the forum from the beginning including providing an individual's full name, street and email address. Over time it became more popular. In South Burlington the Front Porch Forum provides an exchange of communication with neighbors in 350 households and 22 forums. At least 5 of those neighborhoods are using the forum as a community connection.

South Burlington resident, Pam MacPherson says, "I have seen what a wonderful tool FPF is in connecting neighbors, known and soon to be known. Michael and Valerie have done such a good job in getting this going. It is community service at its best. We are gathering a few people in different parts of our neighborhood to make a plan so that all of our neighbors are aware and can join in."

Nancy Osborne commented, "I think the Front Porch Forum will be a wonderful way to knit our already friendly neighborhood closer together, which appeals to me very much! Already, since we joined it this past summer, we are interacting more than we had previously. I love to hear news of other folks, events occurring, and ideas or questions my neighbors may have. It's a great place to ask for advice, too. I've asked, and received, for help in finding a good carpenter, electrician, getting my gutters cleaned [several neighbors volunteered] and more. I think the more people use it, the more effective & powerful it will be in fostering a caring neighborhood. That's very important to me because I have no family in the area, and one of the reasons I like living in this neighborhood--it's very friendly!"

Sgt. Thomas A. Fraga forwarded an email: "I'm the Crime Prevention Youth Services Unit Manager for the South Burlington Police Department. One of my primary responsibilities is to learn the concerns of the community so we can serve them better. The front porch forum has provided direct and indirect communications to us, regarding concerns we may not have heard of before or in a timely manner. This format is friendly and open to us, for the community to learn of police efforts and our limitations. This sometimes opens the door for community support with issues like graffiti, drugs, and suspicious incidents involving vehicles or persons and how to respond to these concerns.

"Many times I inform the patrol supervisor of neighborhood concerns so we can assist with directed patrol efforts. Other times the animal control officer is advised or the detectives. The School Resource Officers can also add their support with youth issues.

"We also use it to offer programming and announce community meetings that relate to neighborhood concerns. Many of our crime tip alerts go out to our neighborhood watch captains and the Front Porch Forum. I received many e-mails directly in response to concerns that are reported. Community policing never was this easy, until the forum offered its services to us. Our mission statement is 'committed to community needs,' I think the Front Porch Forum shares that same mission."

Front Porch Forum hosts 130 online neighborhood forum across all of Chittenden County. More than 3,500 local households subscribed to this free service in its first months of operations. Those who have joined share messages with their nearby neighbors about all sorts of things, including... borrow a ladder, lost cat, ailing neighbor needs help, car for sale, plumber recommendation, block party, etc. Check it out and sign up at FrontPorchForum.com.

Operation Snow Shovel Thanks more than 100 Volunteers

Neighborhood BUZZ

Operation Snow Shovel, a City of Burlington program that matches volunteers with those physically unable to shovel their snow, has had amazing success lending a helping hand since the blizzard. On behalf of the City of Burlington, a big "Thank You" goes out to every person who contacted us willing and ready to shovel for an elderly or disabled neighbor.

Operation Snow Shovel volunteers responded to 85 calls for assistance from December 15th through today. 33 of those who shoveled were permanent volunteers (those who had already been matched with someone to shovel each time it snows 3 inches or more), and the other 52 were volunteers who called in response to the emergency situation.

103 volunteers (30 long-term and 73 emergency) made themselves available. Emergency volunteers were made aware of the crisis by stories on Channel 5 and Channel 3 news, the Burlington Free Press, UVM and Champlain student listservs, and every neighborhood's "Front Porch Forum" in Burlington. Volunteers ranged from high school students to 60-year-olds. As a result of the amazing response, every single person who called in for assistance was accommodated.

Volunteers have helped clear a driveway so that a very sick elderly woman could get out quickly to see a doctor, shoveled out cars for heart and MS patients, made paths out of the house for pregnant women and even prevented roofs from caving in, in some cases. Some volunteers have shoveled at multiple houses and put in hours and hours of work. There were also dozens of folks all over the city who simply shoveled for neighbors on their own, as well as some who were coordinated through the Champlain Valley Agency on Aging.

To volunteer or if you are interested in receiving this service in the future, please call 865-7548 or email Angie Spong at aspong@ci.burlington.vt.us.

This service is offered through The Center for Community and Neighborhoods (CCAN), a program of the City of Burlington‚s Community and Economic Development Office.

Front Porch Forum

Richmond Area Business Association

Richmond and Huntington residents are connecting with their neighbors online through a new service called FrontPorchForum.com based in Burlington.

Started six months ago, more than 3,600 households in Chittenden County already have joined. About 100 members are scattered across Huntington and Richmond's four neighborhood forums.

People use their forum to borrow a ladder, get a mechanic recommendation, find a babysitter or lost keys, hear from elected officials and more.

Ultimately, all those little messages add up to getting to know more neighbors and fostering a stronger sense of community. In fact, this is all based on the Five Sisters Neighborhood Forum in Burlington's South End. The Five Sisters was named a "top ten" neighborhood in the United States last year by Cottage Living magazine and many residents credit FrontPorchForum.com for a good portion of that success.

Connect with your neighbors at http://frontporchforum.com

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Northgate News

North Avenue News

When you suggest to people that they get involved in their community they either panic or think "not me" or "oh, no what will I have to do?" Getting involved can be anything from running for an office to simply attending school board or city council meetings. Tuesday, March 6th is Town Meeting Day and while it's not a U.S. Congressional election or a presidential one, it is equally as important. We, at Northgate, continue our efforts to register residents to vote.

A wonderful place to begin getting involved is at the Ward's NPA meetings. These are extremely well organized, coordinated and kept on time. Your elected officials, city and state leaders are frequently in attendance to update and inform residents about issues and legislative items. The Ward 4 and 7 NPA meetings are on the 3rd Wednesday of the month. If you have questions about these meetings you can find out more about them on the CEDO website.

Another great community building tool that we have is the Front Porch Forum.

These are small online community forums designed to foster community building and share amongst neighbors from the privacy of your own home! You access the FPF online and join the forum where your street address is located for FREE! Then, you are able to send notices, needs, requests, or thoughts out to others in your direct community. Whether you are organizing an event for Green Up Day (plans are in the making now), trying to sell something, in need of a babysitter, the forum can be a powerful tool. Go to http://frontporchforum.com to sign up for this amazing resource.

Getting involved in your community and sharing your strengths, knowledge, and interests with your neighbors will only make our communities better, stronger and more wonderful places to live!

Meeting Your Neighbor without Leaving Your House

The Times Ink! of Richmond and Huntington

Josh Brown and Zoe Richards of Burlington needed a hand lifting the heavy stuff. They planned to move their four-person household across Catherine Street into their new home over the course of several days recently, and they figured they could handle most of the things themselves. Their two young children wouldn't be much help in getting the couch down the stairs though. So they put the word out to neighbors through Front Porch Forum.

When one person showed up at the appointed hour, Josh and Zoe breathed a sigh of relief. Then something remarkable happened. Thirty-six neighbors showed up and moved everything they owned in an hour and a half! Picture-hanging nails were pulled, carpets were vacuumed, the baby's crib was moved and reassembled in the new nursery, and more. Every chore got done.

"We were astounded," said Josh. "What incredible neighbors."

Stories like these are playing out across the area as neighbors connect and foster community through Front Porch Forum, a new local internet service.

Front Porch Forum offers email forums for neighborhoods and towns. Founders Michael and Valerie Wood-Lewis launched the service from their home in the Five Sisters neighborhood in Burlington's South End earlier this year. After only a few months of operation, they are hosting 130 neighborhood forums covering all of Chittenden County and nearly 3,500 local households have joined. About 50 Richmond homes participate so far in the three forums covering the town. More people register every day.

"I've seen Front Porch Forum bring neighbors together in other local communities, and now it's starting to catch on in Richmond" said Steven Hanson, who lives off of Wes White Hill Road. "People are busy these days and this service helps neighbors meet and stay connected. And, hey, it's free and doesn't overfill my inbox."

Another resident told her forum why she and her husband signed up: "We want to know our neighbors as well as our dog does."

Richmond residents already share many messages; recent subjects include: Richmond natural food buying coop, help needed with snow removal, a free Celtic event button, gingerbread house invite, election night party, good running routes around town, and more. People in other areas use their forum to find a babysitter, organize opposition and support for highways and landfills, help neighbors during pregnancy and illness, borrow ladders, recommend a roofer, and much more. Loads of free kid and baby gear changes hands through the neighborhood forums.

While the forums yield many direct results (e.g., sold a used desk, found a reliable plumber), the bottom line is that people are getting to know each other better. Josh and Zoe didn't know each of the three dozen volunteer movers that came to their rescue, but they do now!

Signing up is fast, easy and free. If you use email and live in Chittenden County, you can participate. Anyone interested can learn more and register at FrontPorchForum.com. The service is based on the award-winning Five Sisters forum. This part of Burlington was recognized as a 2006 "top ten" U.S. neighborhood by Cottage Living magazine, and many folks who live there give significant credit to their neighborhood forum for the great sense of community.

"My friends who live in the Five Sisters love their Front Porch Forum," reports East Hill Road resident Cathy Aikman. "I'm thrilled that it's now available in Richmond. I encourage everyone who uses email to sign up and take part in the community-building potential of this great new service!" She notes that some rural addresses don't show up in the online registration process and that people can still join by emailing contact@frontporchforum.com.

Bridge Street resident Morgan Bender concurs. "This is such a great idea and a wonderful resource! I'm glad to have another way to connect with my neighbors during our long winters."

Growth Industry: A new breed of Vermont farmers comes to the land via the ivory tower

Seven Days

Chris Siegriest doesn't bitch about being a farmer. Quite the opposite: "I love that I have to be a meteorologist, a tractor mechanic and a compost guru," she says. Siegriest, 30, and business partner Laura Williams, 31, are preparing for their first season at 4-acre Bread and Roses Farm in Westford. Considering the women's backgrounds, farming seems an unlikely vocation. Williams, a native of Southern California, "grew up in suburbia, right off the freeway," she says. Her family "shopped at the biggest chain grocery stores." Siegriest, a Vermonter, earned a degree in East Asian studies from prestigious Smith College in Northampton, Massachusetts. In addition to spending a year in Japan, she has traveled through Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam...

At Bread and Roses, Siegriest and Williams are striving to reduce the use of fossil fuels and to encourage local food consumption. "It's a radical act for each community to have their own farm and take responsibility for their own food," says Siegriest.

She and Williams also hope to bring something new to the people of Westford. "What I hear is the real need for a social or community nexus that doesn't exist yet," Siegriest says. Pointing out the number of people joining the online neighborhood newsgroup Front Porch Forum, she suggests, "They want to connect."

The freshly printed Bread and Roses brochure states, "It is our belief that healthy communities and healthy farms are intricately linked . . . we hope to create a place for community to grow and connect." Williams feels this connection most deeply when she sells vegetables at farmers' markets. "It's just such a high for me," she says. "When somebody buys a bunch of beets, I think about what I was feeling when I sowed those beet seeds. I'm sharing that with the people who eat them."

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Front Porch Forum Earns Praise

WCAX Channel 3 News

By Andy Potter
2007-02-25

Winooski, Vermont - The blizzard that clogged streets, sidewalks and furnace exhaust vents brought out the best in the way neighbors helped each other over the last week-and-a-half. And technology played a part in the clean-up as well.

The streets of Winooski are relatively back to normal after the Valentine's Day storm. Looking back on it, Mayor Clem Bissonnette says his city faced a problem in getting information out to the public as the cleanup continued. "Last week we had a situation where they were coming in from four in the morning to four in the afternoon to widen the streets and remove snow," Bissonnette said.

This old city has seen a lot of new changes, and one of them is the demise of the community newspaper. The Winooski Eagle stopped publishing over a year ago. It was an important function in the city. Fortunately, they found a replacement. It's called the Front Porch Forum, an email-based service that links neighbors and neighborhoods. "So we were able to use the Front Porch Forum as a medium to do this," Bissonnette said.

Michael Wood-Lewis, a resident of the Five Sisters neighborhood in Burlington's South end, started Front Porch Forum six months ago. "Each neighborhood forum across the county is kind of developing its own personality, if you will. Some places, it's very focused on official announcements from a municipality," Wood-Lewis said.

He says it has grown by leaps and bounds. There are 130 individual forums in Chittenden county, some more active than others. After the storm, information including snow removal and safety issues like carbon monoxide became the most important messages on Front Porch Forums. Even its creator was surprised. "We were not expecting the Fire Marshall's office to call us and say, can you get these gas powered appliances -- their vents getting blocked by the snow -- can you get that out to the neighborhoods in Burlington? And we said, sure, we'll give it a shot," Wood-Lewis said.

The Burlington Fire Department found that it helped get their messages out. "As we speak today, if you can call a storm successful, you know, as far as keeping the public safe, we've been able to do that," said Burlington Fire Chief, Mike O'Neil.

Getting that message out, urging people to make sure that heating vents were cleared of snow, probably saved lives. Mayor Bissonnette says his city will rely on the Front Porch Form even more in the future.

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O'Brien unopposed in mayoral election

Burlington Free Press

Michael O'Brien is vacating his City Council seat to take a shot at becoming mayor of Winooski.

O'Brien, a Winooski native, is running unopposed and has served on the council for nine years. He and his wife, Sue, have lived in the same house in Winooski for 22 years and raised their three children there.

Mayor Clement Bissonnette, is not seeking re-election after four terms, to focus on his new position as Winooski's representative in the Legislature.

O'Brien said he hopes to be a positive and supporting voice for Winooski and will be available to talk to people from his home as well as from city hall. O'Brien's plans include staying involved with the downtown redevelopment, supporting the creation of a community center and working closely with City Manager Gerry Myers and the City Council to improve the city.

Erik Heikel, 29, is running a write-in campaign to fill O'Brien's one-year vacated seat. Heikel has been a member of the city's Development Review Board over the last year, rewriting Winooski's zoning ordinance. He said the experience will serve him well when the ordinance has to be reviewed by the council.

Heikel sees himself as part of the new population trend of Winooski -- people in their late 20s and early 30s moving into Winooski to find affordable housing for their families. "I can provide a fresh perspective on City Council, because I'm part of the changing Winooski, moving here only five years ago," Heikel said.

Heikel has been involved with Winooski's "Front Porch Forum," a neighborhood Internet site. Heikel said he wants to use the forum to keep younger people involved in city government.

Heikel plans to address the low home ownership rate in Winooski. He said the 2000 census shows that 60 percent of Winooski residents rent. Heikel would like to develop a program with incentives to help renters become homeowners.

Incumbents Michael Mahoney and Kathy Picard are seeking re-election to two two-year seats on the City Council. Stephen Ticehurst is running to wrest one of those seats for himself. This is Ticehurst's first City Council bid but he has experience working on citizen advisory boards for the School Board.

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Volunteers Dig in to Help Neighbors in Need

WCAX Channel 3 News

By Andy Potter
2007-02-18

Burlington, Vermont - February 18, 2007

It's been said that Vermont runs on volunteerism. A lot of people give their time and energy for a variety of causes in the Green Mountain State and four days after the blizzard, the volunteer spirit is working stronger than ever.

The familiar sound of shovels biting into snow continued on Sunday. In Burlington's older neighborhoods there isn't much room to put the snow. In some cases the residents need help - like Ed Bemis, who's pushing eighty. "I think I actually could shovel the snow myself," he said, "But my wife - I'm leaving 'septuagenarianism' and I'm getting to 79 in May. So my wife, she feels better if I don't do it."

Enter Operation Snow Shovel. Since the volunteer program was begun more than twenty years ago, young people with plenty of strength, energy and community spirit have shoveled walks and driveways for those who can't handle the strain. Angie Spong works for Americorps-VISTA out of city hall. She keeps tabs on 35 permanent volunteers, plus another forty who stepped forward after the blizzard upped the ante. "People who can ordinarily take care of a few inches -- but in circumstances like these, need a lot of help," Spong said.

This was Lisa Robinson's first time with the volunteer program. She discovered the service through a community network on the Internet known as the Front Porch Forum, after Operation Snow Shovel put out a plea for emergency help following the big storm. "Well, I had plenty of days off from work so I was able to have my fun," Robinson said. "So I think it's time to pay off and work a little too - help others."

It came as a relief to those who couldn't move all this snow by themselves - thanks to the spirit of volunteerism.

Andy Potter - Channel 3 News

Read the full article

The Charlie and Ernie Show

WVMT 620 AM

By Charlie Papillo
2007-02-16

Audio clip (13 minutes) from local radio news show.

A Shovel and FrontPorchForum.com get Folks through Blizzard

CONTACT
Michael Wood-Lewis
FrontPorchForum.com
802-540-0069
contact@frontporchforum.com

NEWS RELEASE
February 15, 2007

Public safety and neighborliness during a snowstorm have a new ally in Burlington, Vermont.

While Chittenden County is digging out from the season's heaviest blizzard, people face the usual challenges of recovering from such a storm. However, this winter many local folks may find it a bit easier thanks to FrontPorchForum.com. This new free online service connects neighbors within neighborhoods or rural areas.

When the drifts started piling up, subscribers began posting messages. "Our very own front porch is laden with snow. Any eager souls or young sons out there willing to shovel our two decks out? Paid of course," wrote Sue Krajac of Old Number 11 Road to her Westford neighbors.

"Does anyone know someone who will be plowing driveways in our development tomorrow morning? Our snowblower just died, and with this huge storm, it will be too hard to shovel it by hand." said Lhea Wannamaker of Beech Street in the Countryside neighborhood in Essex Junction.

Lee Bouyea of Bower Street in South Burlington simply had enough, writing to his neighborhood forum "My shoveling efforts are an exercise in futility. I am looking for a snow plowing service that is willing to take on new clients in the Dorset Farms neighborhood."

And unsolicited offers of help were made too. Sharon Muellers of Burlington wrote on the Village Green Neighborhood Forum "If anyone needs help shoveling out from the storm, or if you know of a neighbor who needs help, post to the Forum and hopefully among a number of us on the Forum (three at my house) we can respond to the need."

FrontPorchForum.com member Gretchen Verplanck of Burlington's Old North End has another reason to be grateful. "After reading the message posted about clearing your vents I braved the outside at 11:30 PM and couldn't even find my vent. I came back with my shovel and after poking around a bit I found it and cleared it... I'm sure I'll have to do it every hour with the wind but thank you for the reminder!"

Burlington's Assistant Fire Marshall Thomas A. Middleton posted a warning in all 40 Burlington neighborhood forums on Wednesday night because his department had responded to multiple emergencies since the storm began. Snow was drifting over furnace direct vents and leading to carbon monoxide poisoning. "Our crews are going door-to-door in the Northgate area and we've found several covered vents already." One household ended up in the emergency room. Middleton said "I was amazed to learn that we could reach more than 15% of Burlington homes through FrontPorchForum.com."

Michael and Valerie Wood-Lewis of Burlington started FrontPorchForum.com six months ago modelled on the Five Sisters Neighborhood Forum that they've hosted in their neighborhood for seven years. Of the blizzard, Michael shared "I just posted a thank you note on our neighborhood forum to the three or four good Samaritans who cleared a patch of our sidewalk at different times today. What generous neighbors!"

FrontPorchForum.com's mission is to help neighbors connect and foster community within neighborhoods. Started last fall, the service hosts 130 neighborhood forums covering every address in Chittenden County. More than 3,600 households already subscribe, most having joined after hearing about it from a neighbor. The Five Sisters was names a "top ten" neighborhood in the United Stated by Cottage Living magazine in 2006 and many residents point to FrontPorchForum.com as a significant contributor to that success. Also, FrontPorchForum.com was featured at a Harvard conference on innovative local uses of the internet last month.

Any resident of Chittenden County who uses email is eligible to sign up for this free service. To learn more or join, visit http://FrontPorchForum.com

END

Q&A with Lt. Scott Davidson

Writing on the Wall

Q: Do you think a neighborhood water is a good idea?

A: Not in the formal, 1970-80s kind of way. People with full-time jobs can't feasibly stay up all night long on a regular basis to maintain a watch. The Front Porch Forum seems to be a much better idea.

People can post a message on the forum that says "my car was vandalized" or my house was tagged" and it creates awareness. People know to be more careful and to be on the lookout. It gets people to look twice when things seem suspicious, and to pick up the phone and call the police! Citizens can be on watch all the time - coming home from work, walking the dog, working around your home, etc. We need citizens to immediately call us and provide statements when they witness a crime.

Business Monday: Careers

Burlington Free Press

Michael Wood-Lewis spoke on Martin Luther King, Jr. Day at a Harvard conference in Cambridge, Mass. about innovative local uses of the internet. As the president and founder of Burlington-based FrontPorchForum.com, Wood-Lewis was one of 20 featured speakers from across the country at the event co-sponsored by the Berkman Center for Internet and Society and the Sunlight Foundation.

Online service builds neighborhood connections

Williston Observer

Many have remarked on the increasing social isolation of Americans. The Internet is sometimes blamed, with critics saying it encourages interaction among far-flung strangers while reducing time spent with next-store neighbors.

But a free online service by Burlington resident Michael Wood-Lewis could turn that conventional wisdom about the Internet on its head.

Front Porch Forum (www.frontporchforum.com) is an e-mail newsletter that connects neighbors in Williston and throughout Chittenden County. Those who sign up receive regular messages containing recent posts only from neighbors. The messages can be anything from someone trying to find a car seat for their child to commentary on a neighborhood controversy.

"Our goal is that people feel like they know their neighbors," Wood-Lewis said.

Wood-Lewis moved with his wife, Valerie, from Washington, D.C. to the Five Sisters neighborhood in Burlington several years ago. After learning he had missed a block party, he wondered how he could improve communication and foster friendships in his neighborhood.

"We were having a heck of a time meeting our neighbors," he said. "It's not that it was an unfriendly place - quite the opposite. It's just that people were busy and on the run."

So he decided to start a neighborhood e-mail list. Now more than 90 percent of the 350 households in Five Sisters subscribe.

The effort was so successful that he decided to launch Front Porch Forum last year, a Web site that allows people in other towns like Williston to sign up. Now more than 130 neighborhood forums cover every address in the county.

Sitting in his sunny kitchen last week, Wood-Lewis displayed on his laptop computer maps showing the location of each forum. Boundaries were outlined in red and each had a little bubble containing the number of members.

Roughly 3,300 households have signed up, about 7 percent of the county, Wood-Lewis said. In Burlington, some 15 percent of households are members.

In Williston and other outlying towns, the numbers are smaller, at least so far. Only about 9 percent of households in Williston have subscribed.

Brennan Woods, the town's largest subdivision, is the only neighborhood with large numbers. About 85 percent of the households there are signed up.

That high percentage was achieved thanks to the Brennan Woods Homeowner's Association, which sent out a group e-mail to all residents saying they would be signed up to Front Porch Forum unless they opted out. No one did.

"Instant critical mass was achieved," Wood-Lewis said, noting that he is willing to work with other homeowner associations to spur sign-ups.

Lisa Roy, treasurer of the Brennan Woods Homeowner's Association, said the neighborhood was a good candidate for Front Porch Forum because the vast majority of residents use e-mail. She said the service supplements newsletters sent out by the association.

The forum, which started in the fall, has seen limited activity to date. "My guess is that most people read them, but there's not a lot of people posting yet," Roy said.

However, the forum has served as a neighborhood watch, with a post telling people to be on the lookout for teenagers ringing doorbells, Roy said. The Williston Police Department has been asked to use the forum to notify residents about break-ins or other crimes in the neighborhood.

Brennan Woods resident Marty Bonneau submitted a post asking for advice on deep-frying turkey and another one asking for help with a bottle drive.

"I really see it as beneficial because a lot of people are online here," said Bonneau, who is vice president of the homeowner's association. "At least for the little things, it's getting more information out there than usual."

Front Porch Forum contrasts with other online services such as MySpace because it is narrowly tailored to specific neighborhoods. Only residents can access their neighborhood's forum, and can send messages only to the group as a whole. All posts are periodically condensed into a single e-mail message and sent to forum members, avoiding a flooded in-box.

Also contributing to the community feel is the fact that all posters are identified by name, street and e-mail address. That helps keep inappropriate messages to a minimum, Wood-Lewis said. He said he has only removed a couple of the thousands of messages posted since the service started.

A typical message falls into the "my cat is lost" category, which includes people looking for help from neighbors in finding some item or service, Wood-Lewis said. But more importantly that type of interaction leads to people getting to know each other and sometimes meeting in person.

"When these things start working, you're dealing with your neighbors," he said. "Neighbor-to-neighbor connections grow and multiply."

How much the venture will grow remains an open question. Wood-Lewis, who previously worked as the executive director for a regional trade association, said running Front Porch Forum has become a full-time job. The only revenue so far has been $50 from a couple of Google advertisements.

But he hopes to sell more ads in the future, perhaps to small businesses that can't afford the rates charged by large publications but want to target specific neighborhoods.

In the meantime, Wood-Lewis said he is excited about building a sense of community throughout Chittenden County - one e-mail at a time.

"I see it as having a huge potential to spread," he said.

Online service builds neigborhood connections

The Charlotte Citizen

Many have remarked on the increasing social isolation of Americans. The Internet is sometimes blamed, with critics saying it encourages interaction among far-flung strangers while reducing time spent with next-store neighbors.

But a free online service by Burlington resident Michael Wood-Lewis could turn that conventional wisdom about the Internet on its head.

Front Porch Forum (www.frontporchforum.com) is an e-mail newsletter that connects neighbors in Williston and throughout Chittenden County. Those who sign up receive regular messages containing recent posts only from neighbors. The messages can be anything from someone trying to find a car seat for their child to commentary on a neighborhood controversy.

"Our goal is that people feel like they know their neighbors," Wood-Lewis said.

Wood-Lewis moved with his wife, Valerie, from Washington, D.C. to the Five Sisters neighborhood in Burlington several years ago. After learning he had missed a block party, he wondered how he could improve communication and foster friendships in his neighborhood.

"We were having a heck of a time meeting our neighbors," he said. "It's not that it was an unfriendly place... quite the opposite. It's just that people were busy and on the run."

So he decided to start a neighborhood e-mail list. Now more than 90 percent of the 350 households in Five Sisters subscribe.

The effort was so successful that he decided to launch Front Porch Forum last year, a Web site that allows people in other towns like Williston to sign up. Now more than 130 neighborhood forums cover every address in the county.

Sitting in his sunny kitchen last week, Wood-Lewis displayed on his laptop computer maps showing the location of each forum. Boundaries were outlined in red and each had a little bubble containing the number of members.

Roughly 3,300 households have signed up, about 7 percent of the county, Wood-Lewis said. In Burlington, some 15 percent of households are members.

In Charlotte, only about 5 percent of the town's households are signed up. He's divided the town into areas - shore, village and east Charlotte - rather than neighborhoods.

Liz Shayne, who lives in the Five Sisters neighborhood but has a summer camp in Charlotte, said she has posted items in the Charlotte forum announcing an open house at her son's school and a workshop on building stone walls.

Because she is a part-time resident, Shayne said she knows relatively few people in Charlotte. So she relishes the opportunity to learn more about the community by reading the e-mail that arrives in her in-box every couple of weeks.

The much more active Five Sisters forum has increased social interaction in an already friendly neighborhood, Shayne said.

"It does enable us to start conversations that sometimes don't happen across that dark fence," she said. "Five Sisters is an extraordinary neighborhood anyway. But I think (Front Porch Forum) really adds to the sense of community."

Bill Leckerling has lived in Charlotte for 18 years. He said the service is particularly valuable for people like him who live in rural areas.

"With Charlotte being so dispersed, you don't really see your next door neighbor," he said. "It really helps people busy with work and keeps neighbors connected."

Front Porch Forum contrasts with other online services such as MySpace because it is narrowly tailored to specific neighborhoods. Only residents can access their neighborhood's forum, and can send messages only to the group as a whole. All posts are periodically condensed into a single e-mail message and sent to forum members, avoiding a flooded in-box.

Also contributing to the community feel is the fact that all posters are identified by name, street and e-mail address. That helps keep inappropriate messages to a minimum, Wood-Lewis said. He said he has only removed a couple of the thousands of messages posted since the service started.

A typical message falls into the "my cat is lost" category, which includes people looking for help from neighbors in finding some item or service, Wood-Lewis said. But more importantly that type of interaction leads to people getting to know each other and sometimes meeting in person.

"When these things start working, you're dealing with your neighbors," he said. "Neighbor-to-neighbor connections grow and multiply."

How much the venture will grow remains an open question. Wood-Lewis, who previously worked as the executive director for a regional trade association, said running Front Porch Forum has become a full-time job. The only revenue so far has been $50 from a couple of Google advertisements.

But he hopes to sell more ads in the future, perhaps to small businesses that can't afford the rates charged by large publications but want to target specific neighborhoods.

In the meantime, Wood-Lewis said he is excited about building a sense of community throughout Chittenden County... one e-mail at a time.

"I see it as having a huge potential to spread," he said.

Neighbors connect via Front Porch Forum

Champlain College employee network

A local couple bought their first house and planned to move themselves, but they needed a little help to lift the heavy stuff. They tapped into Front Porch Forum and were shocked when 36 nearby neighbors showed up and moved them out of the old place and into the new one in an hour and a half! So, what is Front Porch Forum?

Six years ago, Michael and Valerie Wood-Lewis started an e-mail forum for their neighborhood in Burlington's South End after finding it difficult to get to know their neighbors and learn about community events. What seemed like a simple idea blossomed, and in 2006, the Five Sisters area was named a "top ten" neighborhood in the United States by Cottage Living magazine with many residents crediting their online forum for a good part of that success.

Michael and Valerie decided to share this successful model with others, and started the Front Porch Forum (FPF), launching 130 neighborhood forums covering every home in Chittenden County. Now, four months later, more than 3,000 local households have joined. Neighbors post all sorts of messages, from those seeking a babysitter or cars for sale, to block parties and and plumber recommendations. Only residents of a given neighborhood are eligible to join that forum.

Joining a forum is easy and membership is free. To learn more and sign up, go to FrontPorchForum.com.

Hinesburg Neighbors building Community through Front Porch Forum

The Hinesburg Record

Josh Brown and Zoe Richards of Burlington needed a hand lifting the heavy stuff. They planned to move their four-person household across Catherine Street into their new home over the course of several days recently, and they figured they could handle most of the things themselves. Their two young children wouldn't be much help in getting the couch down the stairs though. So they put the word out to neighbors through Front Porch Forum.

When one person showed up at the appointed hour, Josh and Zoe breathed a sigh of relief. Then something remarkable happened. Thirty-six neighbors showed up and moved everything they owned in an hour and a half! Picture-hanging nails were pulled, carpets were vacuumed, the baby's crib was moved and reassembled in the new nursery, and more. Every chore got done.

"We were astounded," said Josh. "What incredible neighbors."

Stories like these are playing out across the area as neighbors connect and foster community through Front Porch Forum, a new local internet service.

Front Porch Forum offers email forums for neighborhoods and towns. Founders Michael and Valerie Wood-Lewis launched the service from their home in the Five Sisters neighborhood in Burlington's South End earlier this year. After only a few months of operation, they are hosting 130 neighborhood forums covering all of Chittenden County and nearly 3,000 local households have joined. About 100 Hinesburg homes participate so far in the three forums covering the town. More people register every day.

"Front Porch Forum is building community in neighborhoods across the county, and it's starting to catch on in Hinesburg" said State Representative Bill Lippert (Chittenden-1-1). "Many folks are very busy these days and this service helps neighbors meet and stay connected. And the fact that it is free, doesn't overfill my inbox or generate spam is great."

Hinesburg residents already share many messages; recent subjects: dog playgroup forming, Turkey Trot foot race, block party organizing, apartment for rent, school fundraiser, treadmill for sale, Hats for Hinesburg, sewing services, offer to split a side of beef, free walnuts, La Platte headwaters conservation, seeking snowshoes, llamas and hunting safety, and more. People in other towns use their forum to organize opposition and support for highways and landfills, help neighbors during pregnancy and illness, borrow ladders, recommend a roofer, and much more. Loads of free kid and baby gear changes hands through the neighborhood forums.

While the forums yield many direct results (e.g., sold a used desk, found a reliable plumber), the bottom line is that people are getting to know each other better. Josh and Zoe didn't know each of the three dozen volunteer movers that came to their rescue, but they do now!

Signing up is fast, easy and free. If you use email and live in Chittenden County, you can participate. Anyone interested can learn more and register at FrontPorchForum.com. The service is based on the award-winning Five Sisters forum. This part of Burlington was recognized as a 2006 "top ten" U.S. neighborhood by Cottage Living magazine, and many folks who live there give significant credit to their neighborhood forum for the great sense of community.

"My friends who live in the Five Sisters love their Front Porch Forum," reports Hinesburg resident Kristin Kany. "I'm thrilled that it's now available in our town. I encourage everyone who uses email to sign up since I'm so excited about the community-building potential of this brilliant new 'thing'!" She also notes that some rural addresses don't show up in the online registration process and that people can still join by emailing contact@frontporchforum.com.

Fletcher Farm Road resident Wendy Patterson concurs. "This is a great idea! It's such a natural; I wonder why no one's thought of it before. I'm glad to have another way to connect with neighbors during our long winters."

Lippert added "hundreds of townspeople participated in the recent Hinesburg Community Meetings facilitated by the Vermont Council on Rural Development. Front Porch Forum came up repeatedly as a way to bring us together. It's already in place and is a natural way to keep everyone informed and connected as the four task forces get underway in 2007."

Connect with neighbors online

Mountain Gazette

A new opportunity is now open to us to enhance the spirit of community in the relatively small neighborhoods in which we live. Front Porch Forums are designed to help nearby neighbors get to know each other. With this knowledge of people who live close to us we can share joys and sorrow, offer to help where we can, and ask for neighborly help when we need it. A Front Porch Forum is an internet-based bulletin board where literally any information in good taste may be posted. All posted items are listed by a brief headline and signed by the contributor.

Distribution is limited to neighborhoods with defined boundaries and contributions are limited to those from folks living in the same neighborhood.

At this time there are 4 forums covering all of Jericho and Underhill with 50 households signed on in the first few months. Volunteers for these towns are Peter Lackowski and Dave Eaton.

There is one forum covering the entire town of Westford with about 50 households. Volunteers are Heather Armata, Mary Campi, Lois Reynolds and Tim Stark.

So far 2,500 households have signed on in Chittenden County. Fairfax and other towns outside of Chittenden County are not yet covered.

Details about this opportunity and signing up can be found at frontporchforum.com. This service is free and will not include any spam. The best incentive to consider joining is the list of testimonials at frontporchforum.com/testimonials.

Ten democracy projects in seventy minutes

My Heart's in Accra

Michael Wood-Lewis had a cool idea a few years back - he decided he wanted to know his neighbors in Burlington, VT. He started a neighborhood email list, which eventually included 90% of his neighbors. The content of the lists probably wouldn’t be interesting to anyone outside the neighborhood - a lost cat, worries about vandalism, etc. - but went a long way towards improving communication between neighbors. Given the success in his corner of Burlington, Wood-Lewis is trying to expand to the city as a whole, launching a project called Front Porch Forum. He’s divided Burlington into 130 neighborhoods, roughly 350 households in each. Some are thriving, with hundreds of people signing up - across the board, 5-10% of people across the city have joined so far. The next step involves generating sustainability revenue from microadvertising, reaching small communities with local businesses.

Read the full article

View from the Front Porch

Vermont Forum on Sprawl

Six years ago, Michael and Valerie Wood-Lewis started an e-mail bulletin board for their neighborhood in Burlington's South End after finding it difficult to get to know their neighbors and learn about community events. What seemed like a simple idea blossomed, and in 2006, the Five Sisters neighborhood was named a "top ten" neighborhood in the country by Cottage Living magazine with many residents crediting their online forum for a good part of that success.

Michael and Valerie decided to share this successful model with others, and started the Front Porch Forum (FPF), launching 130 neighborhood forums covering 100% of Chittenden County. Now, four months later, more than 3,000 local households have joined. Neighbors post all sorts of messages, from those seeking a babysitter or items for sale, to community events and information. Only residents of a given neighborhood are eligible to join that forum, which enhances the community focus.

Joining a forum is easy, and membership is free. To sign up, read online testimonials, check out media coverage (podcast of VPR's Morning Edition added recently), see sample messages and more here.

Read the full article

Front Porch Forum Grows

The Islander

The Front Porch Forum, now in its fifth month of county-wide service is growing and 3,000 households are now connected. To connect to your own neighborhood, go to http://frontporchforum.com. Meet your neighbors, plan a party, trade children's clothing, find a sitter - those things and more can be done in your neighborhood via the forum. You will not receive mail from other neighborhoods or junk mail - it is a service to your micro-community Front Porch Forum works best when lots of neighbors sign up, so if you are already in, please spread the word.

Read the full article

Local News Making a Comeback?

802 Online

So says Danny Westneat of the Seattle Times. He writes that 2007 will be the year for small, local newspapers.

Westneat bases his observations on his own experience covering Auburn, WA for a small daily, the Valley Daily News, which is now going out of business.

"That kind of small-town newspapering is considered boring today. Unhip. Supposedly we're all too globalized or tuned into Web video clips to want such provincial news.

"My own view is the opposite. I think intensely local, professionally gathered news is due for a comeback. It's the one thing you can't get anywhere else. The story of the death of the Valley Daily News is that it blew it when it combined with its partner, the Bellevue Journal-American, into one amorphous, suburban blob."

I hope that this is true, but I'm not holding my breath. I don't see anyone trying to start a Winooski newspaper, to replace the one that I folded a year and a half ago (when I was the volunteer editor/publisher of the Winooski Eagle).

I do, however, see more and more people signing up for the Front Porch Forum service. I just recommended it to someone today. It's not a newspaper, but it's a great way to share local information. For example, yesterday my forum included an item from the Winooski City Engineer, explaining the water leak that's developed on my street. I don't know how else the city would have communicated that to me, other than sending out an email. The Free Press wouldn't have covered it in the same way.

Of course, FPF in no way replaces good investigative journalism, but at least it helps neighbors communicate. I don't know why the city hasn't come up with a service like this on its own. It seems like a no-brainer.

Read the full article

Going "hyper-local" with Front Porch Forums

Colchester Sun

Global communication networks are praised for their ability to create online communities, but oftentimes people know more about events on the other side of the world than on the other side of the street.

A new email service is reversing that trend by allowing neighbors to create "hyper-local" networks that allow them to share news, gossip and the word of mouth chat that used to take place across the backyard fence.

Front Porch Forums is the brainchild of Michael Wood-Lewis, a Burlington resident who realized the Internet's potential to bring neighbors together.

"My wife and I started it in the South End of Burlington about five years ago," explains Wood-Lewis, "now it's become incredibly well used and appreciated by our neighbors. We're considered to be among the top tier neighborhoods in the country and a lot of people in the neighborhood credit this email forum. What we've found is that people are anxious to connect with their neighbors. We all want that sense of community, but people are busy and distracted. This allows you to have that and make those connections but in a way that fits your schedule. But it's not like the typical chat room or online forum. Only people who live in a neighborhood can participate."

The way it works is that neighbors visit www.frontporchfourm.com and enter their town and street address. They are then assigned to a pre-designated forum.

"So far, we're hosting a dozen neighborhood forums in Colchester, with about 50 households on board already," said Wood-Lewis. "More are joining every week. In the Bay Creek neighborhood three home-owners are so enthusiastic about the potential that they planned a door-to-door campaign over the holidays to inform their entire neighborhood (from Route 2/7 to I-89 along Bay Rd)."

The trick is to get each neighborhood network large enough to reach that critical mass where it becomes self-generating, he said.

Once a neighborhood forum is established, members receive regular email news and chat from their neighbors filtered through the Front Porch Forum site. They can respond to messages they see or add their own views for distribution throughout the neighborhood network.

"It's super micro-local," said Wood-Lewis. "It's light - just a few messages every few days. We manage it just enough to organize it and send the nuggets forward. You can share news about school budgets or elections or a lost cat," said Wood-Lewis. "It all gets cued up and put into an online newsletter. The goal here isn't journalism. It's really about neighbors connecting with each other. It allows some beautiful things to happen.

One instance he is particularly fond of was when neighbors shared the news that a woman whose husband had recently passed-away from cancer needed help with some basic home maintenance. Neighbors up and down the street showed up and raked leaves and helped her straighten up her property.

Williston neighbors have used the forum to share news and thoughts about the controversial landfill proposed by the Chittenden Solid Waste District, said Wood-Lewis, and Burlington neighbors routinely use the forum to discuss local politics.

"I talked with one curmudgeonly old Vermonter who called this a lot of humbug and said that if we want to meet our neighbors we should just go outside and talk to them," said Wood-Lewis. "I agree, but I also think this facilitates that. It gets people talking and knowing each other. It doesn't get in the way of actually meeting your neighbors. It provides a way for those relationships to get started."

Read the full article

Neighbors Congregate in Front Porch Forums

Seven Days

BURLINGTON - Sociologists are always talking about how fragmented American communities have become, how "social capital" is on the decline. But the Five Sisters neighborhood in Burlington's South End has long bucked that trend. In fact, Cottage Living recently named it one of the top-10 "cottage communities" in the country — in part because of a 6-year-old email newsletter called Front Porch Forum.

The free service allows people to receive email newsletters containing announcements from their neighbors. Forum users write about everything from petty crime to politics to lost cats. Residents say it's helped create a strong sense of community in the Five Sisters neighborhood; 286 of its 350 households subscribe.

FPF founder Michael Wood-Lewis lives in the neighborhood with his wife and four kids. In August ["Front Porch Forum Encourages Neighborliness - Online," August 16], Seven Days reported that he was expanding the service beyond Burlington, creating a forum for every neighborhood in Chittenden County. At the end of the year, Wood-Lewis says that more than 2700 households have signed up.

So far, according to Wood-Lewis, the most active forums are still in Burlington, but others are also getting into the act. "Brennan Woods in Williston signed up 150 people or so out of 180 houses," he says.

Even little Westford has 50 members in its forum. "They don't have a community newspaper there," Wood-Lewis points out. "It seemed to fill a real need."

So far the former nonprofit executive has been doing everything on a volunteer basis, but he predicts that pretty soon, he'll be looking for advertisers, particularly small, local businesses with minuscule advertising budgets.

Wood-Lewis proudly notes that word about FPF has gotten out beyond the Green Mountains. In January, he'll appear on a panel at Harvard University's Berkman Center for Internet and Society.

Chittenden County residents can get in on the community-building action at www.frontporchforum.com.

Read the full article

Going "hyper-local" with Front Porch Forums

The Essex Reporter

Global communication networks are praised for their ability to create online communities, but oftentimes people know more about events on the other side of the world than on the other side of the street.

A new email service is reversing that trend by allowing neighbors to create "hyper-local" networks that allow them to share news, gossip and the word of mouth chat that used to take place across the backyard fence.

Front Porch Forums is the brainchild of Michael Wood-Lewis, a Burlington resident who realized the Internet's potential to bring neighbors together.

"My wife and I started it in the South End of Burlington about five years ago," explains Wood-Lewis, "now it's become incredibly well used and appreciated by our neighbors. We're considered to be among the top tier neighborhoods in the country and a lot of people in the neighborhood credit this email forum. What we've found is that people are anxious to connect with their neighbors. We all want that sense of community, but people are busy and distracted. This allows you have that and make those connections but in a way that fits your schedule. But its not like the typical chat room or online forum. Only people who live in a neighborhood can participate."

The way it works is that neighbors visit www.frontporchforum.com and enter their town and street address. They are then assigned to a pre-designated forum. As an example, the Countryside development of Essex Junction is considered a neighborhood and has its own forum, with over 60 houses currently signed up, said Wood-Lewis.

All of the streets in Essex and all other Chittenden County communities have been assigned to specific neighborhoods. Countryside is the largest in the Essex community, said Wood-Lewis, but other forums are growing in the Town and the Village, he said. The trick is to get them to a large enough size that they reach a "critical mass" and become self-generating, he said.

Once a neighborhood forum is established, members receive regular email news and chat from their neighbors filtered through the Front Porch Forum site. They can respond to messages they see or add their own views for distribution throughout the neighborhood network.

"It's super micro-local," said Wood-Lewis. "It's light - just a few messages every few days. We manage it just enough to organize it and send the nuggets forward. You can share news about school budgets or elections or a lost cat," said Wood-Lewis. "It all gets cued up and put into an online newsletter. The goal here isn't journalism. It's really about neighbors connecting with each other. It allows some beautiful things to happen.

An example of one of the those things happened recently when a fire broke out in a Countryside home on December. The Essex Junction Fire Department managed to contain the blaze before it could destroy the entire house, but the occupants were forced to move out, at least temporarily. Neighbors used the Front Porch Forum to connect with each other and get help and support for the family and recommend contractors to begin repairing the damage.

In another forum neighbors shared the news that a woman whose husband had recently passed-away from cancer, needed help with some basic home maintenance.

Williston neighbors have used the forum to share news and thoughts about the controversial landfill proposed by the Chittenden Solid Waste District, said Wood-Lewis, and Burlington neighbors routinely use the forum to discuss local politics.

"I talked with one curmudgeonly old Vermonter who called this a lot of humbug and said that if we want to meet our neighbors we should just go outside and talk to them," said Wood-Lewis. "I agree, but I also think this facilitates that. It gets people talking and knowing each other. It doesn't get in the way of actually meeting your neighbors. It provides a way for those relationships to get started."

Read the full article

Charlotte Neighbors building Community through Front Porch Forum

The Charlotte News

Josh Brown and Zoe Richards of Burlington needed a hand lifting the heavy stuff. They planned to move their four-person household across Catherine Street into their new home over the course of several days recently, and they figured they could handle most of the things themselves. Their two young children wouldn't be much help in getting the couch down the stairs though. So they put the word out to neighbors through Front Porch Forum.

When one person showed up at the appointed hour, Josh and Zoe breathed a sigh of relief. Then something remarkable happened. Thirty-six neighbors showed up and moved everything they owned in an hour and a half! Picture-hanging nails were pulled, carpets vacuumed, the baby's crib moved and reassembled in the new nursery, and more. Every chore got done.

"We were astounded," said Josh. "What incredible neighbors."

Stories like these are playing out across the area as neighbors connect and foster community through Front Porch Forum, a new local internet service.

Front Porch Forum offers email forums for neighborhoods and towns. Founders Michael and Valerie Wood-Lewis launched the service from their home in the Five Sisters neighborhood in Burlington's South End earlier this year. After only a few months of operation, they are hosting 130 neighborhood forums covering all of Chittenden County and more than 2,700 local households have joined. Forty Charlotte homes participate so far in the three forums covering the town. More people register every day.

"This service is enhancing community in neighborhoods all around the area. Why not our town?" asked Charlotte resident Bill Leckerling. "People lead such busy lives these days and Front Porch Forum helps neighbors meet and stay connected. And I appreciate the fact that it doesn't overfill my inbox or generate spam."

Charlotte residents share many messages, including: lost kitten, barn-raising, seeking snow tires, fundraiser, school news, babysitter available, carpooling to Burlington, election views and more. Other areas use their forum to organize block parties, help neighbors during health crises, borrow ladders, recommend a roofer, and much more.

While the forums yield many direct results (e.g., sold a used desk, found a reliable plumber), the bottom line is that people are getting to know each other better. Josh and Zoe didn't know each of the three dozen volunteer movers that came to their rescue, but they do now!

Signing up is fast, easy and free. If you use email and live in Chittenden County, you can participate. Anyone interested can learn more and register at FrontPorchForum.com. The service is based on the award-winning Five Sisters forum. This part of Burlington was recognized as a 2006 U.S. "top ten" neighborhood by Cottage Living magazine, and many folks who live there give significant credit to their neighborhood forum for the great sense of community.

"My daughter's family lives there and they love their Front Porch Forum," reports Charlotte resident Aileen Chutter. "How wonderful that it's now available in Charlotte. I think everyone who uses email and cares about their neighbors should sign up!"

Local author and Flyer Pig Bookstore co-owner Elizabeth Bluemle concurs. "What a great idea! It's such a natural; you wonder why no one's thought of it before. I love the idea of being able to share resources with my neighbors. Can't wait to see how it develops."

Interview: Michael Wood Lewis, Front Porch Forum

Vermont Public Radio - Morning Edition

By Mitch Wertlieb
2006-12-20

COLCHESTER, VT (2006-12-20) A woman living in Burlington's new North End was recently widowed. It was summer, but she was already concerned about what would happen in winter, when she'd need help shoveling her driveway.

She turned to her neighbors, letting them know her husband had just passed away and she was hoping for some assistance with a lot of the work he used to do.

She left town for a while to make funeral arrangements and when she returned, she found not only that many people had offered to help with snow removal come winter, but that her summer yard chores had been taken care of while she was gone.

No one took credit for the work, but the woman does know that she has the Front Porch Forum to thank for getting the word out.

Front Porch Forum is the brain-child of Michael Wood Lewis. He spoke with Mitch Wertlieb about the organization.

Read the full article

Alternatives: Good neighbors reducing fuel use

Clean Cities Vermont eNewsletter

Some neighbors in Chittenden County are burning less petroleum on the roads due to a little local self-reliance at the neighborhood level. Using a new free online service called Front Porch Forum which virtually gathers folks living within a self-defined ‘neighborhood’, nearby neighbors easily connect with each other. Many have used it for carpooling and truck sharing. People also borrow, barter and buy from someone in the neighborhood as an alternative to driving out to buy goods shipped long distances. Current towns that have this service are Burlington, Hinesburg, Huntington, and Westford. Other towns projected to have neighborhood forums in 2007 include Cabot, Rutland, Vergennes, St. Albans, and White River Junction.

[Source: http://frontporchforum.com, Front Porch Forum. See if your neighborhood has one today!]

Getting to know your Neighbors Online

Channel 5 News WPTZ

Getting to know your neighbor has gone high-tech. A Burlington man has found a way to connect communities online.

When Michael Wood-Lewis and his family moved into the South End eight years ago, getting to know the neighbors wasn't easy. Michael says they often heard about community get-togethers after they happened.

"When a neighbor told me, 'Well, that's just the way it is. You have to live here for ten years before you really are on the grapevine' I thought, Oh, there's got to be a better way."

As it turns out, there was better way. Michael quickly started an email forum for people living in his neighborhood.

Pretty soon, the whole block was online, writing notes about everything from buying canoes to babysitting, and that was just the beginning.

"What folks were telling us was so inspiring that we decided to bottle it and see if we could make it available to other neighborhoods."

Earlier this year, Michael expanded the email group to all neighborhoods in Chittenden County, turning it into one big website called FrontPorchForum.com.

"We have 2700 households."

Now make that 2701. I was curious to see who from my own neighborhood was connected by the web, so Michael signed me up.

"Do you agree to the terms of use?"

"Mhmm."

"Oh, here you are."

And I was surprised to see the results.

"So you see 62 people have signed up."

"For me, I find that I really feel like I have a great big wonderful family." Carolyn Bates lives in Burlington and started using the service to find someone to walk her dog.

She says now, her street feels like home. "You walk down the street, and people go, 'Oh, I know you, you're the one who does the caroling!' and I say, Oh, right. Your son has been walking my dog but I never met his mom, you know. So you start reconnecting when you're walking down the street."

"But the real result is along the way people are getting to know their neighbors better and interacting more," says Michael.

In Burlington, Mia Moran, News Channel 5.

Read the full article

Almanak... about government and South End meanderings

North Avenue News: Burlington's Community Newspaper

It had to come! Electronic classified advertisements, so to speak.

Dressed up another way is the expanding popularity of the so-called Front Porch Forums. The Forum is computer-based and is a way of linking neighbors together in the same neighborhood.

Currently, there are about 40 Front Porch Forums (FPF) covering every part of the City. The idea was founded and promoted by Michael and Valerie Wood-Lewis. Michael is a former Public Works Commissioner and is on the Burlington Telecom Advisory Board. Valerie is a former school teacher at Edmunds Middle School. They are active South Enders.

The Forums are separate and distinct. The Five Sisters involves the streets including Catherine, Charlotte, Caroline, Marian and Margaret. Lakeside includes that geographic area.

The Addition is the area south of Flynn Ave. So. Cove Forum is for those residents, as is Oakledge.

Folks who live in Jackson Terrace on Pine St. can share experiences and items of mutual interest.

Marble Ave. has its own Forum as do King and Maple Sts.

Where is The Quarry Forum? Folks living near Redstone, Hoover St. and Perrota Place on the East side of Shelburne Rd.

Other neighborhood Forums on the hill includes DeForest. Iranistan and Ledge Rds., plus folks in the Summit St. area. Residents on So. Union St. have there own FPF. My neighborhood Forum covers neighbors in Birchcliff.

There is little limitation as to use of the Forum:

You can post (that's what you call a notice) the sale of your car to your neighbors. If you have an apartment to rent, tell your neighbors about it in the Forum.

Should you see a strange car or truck on the street which raises your suspicions, tell your neighbors (and the Police Dept.)

(By the way, Lt. Scott Davidson of the Burlington Police Dept. monitors and reports on many incidents shared in each of the So. End Forums.)

Does a neighbor need someone to shovel a walkway or mow the lawn? It could be someone in the Forum neighborhood who would volunteer to do that, if they knew of the need for it.

Not unusual to hear from a neighbor teenager who is look to earning some money by walking a dog or child-sitting.

And maybe you have a one-time need for a 10 ft. ladder. Why buy one when you could borrow from a neighbor?

Perhaps there is a fund-raiser going on at school or a local artist performing nearby, let your Forum folks know about it. They might want to support the project.

In the winter when the parking ban lights are on for a pending snowstorm, I like to remind my neighbors to get their parked cars off the street by using the Forum.

Elected officials may use the Forums to express their views or solicit opinions on matters dealing with public issues.

Similarly, neighbors can issue their concerns about potholes, broken sidewalks, truck traffic, neighborhood speeding, and so on.

In its first two months, more than 2,000 households joined. To sign up and take advantage of your own neighborhood‚s forum (any household in Chittenden County), log on to FrontPorchForum.com and type in your street number and go from there.

FPF is free! FPF does not flood your Inbox and will not generate spam. Go for it!

Front Porch Forum: Helping Shelburne neighbors connect

The Shelburne News

Six years ago Burlington resident Michael Wood-Lewis thought of a way to bring his neighborhood closer together. Taking advantage of the growing popularity of the Internet, Wood-Lewis created a web site called Front Porch Forum through which he and his neighbors could exchange information, help each other out and get to know each other a bit better.

Living in the Five Sisters neighborhood in Burlington's South End, Wood-Lewis watched as his neighbors connected and a community was built to the point where 80 percent of the 350-household Five Sisters neighborhood are Front Porch Forum subscribers. Cottage Living magazine recently listed Five Sisters as one of the top 10 neighborhoods in the country. Seeing the tremendous effect this community-building concept had on his neighborhood, this fall Wood-Lewis decided to create similar online forums for every neighborhood in Chittenden County - including Shelburne.

"I finally figured I would give it a shot," he says. "We set up 130 neighborhood forums across the county." Now, less than three months after Wood-Lewis introduced FrontPorchForum.com to an entire region, five percent of all Chittenden County households participate. People who are looking for a babysitter or a mechanic or hoping to form a carpool to Montpelier can go to Front Porch Forum, locate the neighborhood to which they belong, and start asking questions one might ask any neighbor.

"It's something you would ask a neighbor if you knocked on their door, but instead you're asking 20, 50, 100 neighbors," Wood-Lewis explains. "This is about helping neighbors connect, especially during long Vermont winters."

A former executive director of the nonprofit Vermont Rural Water Association, Wood-Lewis stepped down from that position a year ago and now devotes himself full-time to running and operating the rapidly growing community-building web site. Hosting each online community, Wood-Lewis says that the Davis Park neighborhood, with 20 members and climbing, is Shelburne's largest forum.

"I think it helps a lot," Davis Park resident and Front Porch Forum subscriber Jason Cadwell says, "particularly for new families who are finding their way around [Shelburne]." Cadwell adds that people in his neighborhood shared and exchanged Halloween candy through the web site.

Thus far, forty total Shelburne residents have joined the Town's seven neighborhood forums. While that is less participation than some other Chittenden County towns - about 12 percent of Burlington's 16,000 households have joined - Wood-Lewis says he expects those numbers to grow.

"Hinesburg has three forums with 80 people in them," says Wood-Lewis. "Community-minded people handed out a few flyers, talked it up, and voila - [Hinesburg] has some real momentum." Another neighborhood saw 40 people join in just two days.

Wood-Lewis contrasts his Front Porch phenomenon with the popular Craig's List, a nationwide web site where people can buy or sell things like houses and furniture and search for job openings. The difference, according to its creator, is that Front Porch Forum is much more localized and personal. "Burlington's Craig's List is kind of a soulless place. You're dealing with strangers that you'll likely never know. With Front Porch Forum, you're dealing with a person who lives right around the corner."

The interpersonal aspect of Front Porch Forum is part of what motivates Wood-Lewis in working to convince more and more Chittenden County residents to join. "I've been overwhelmed by the response in our neighborhood. People love their neighborhood forum and say it contributes to a stronger sense of community. One member said this is the best thing to happen in his area in 43 years!"

Still, Wood-Lewis says he is battling several misconceptions that have kept some people away. Some Chittenden County residents find it hard to believe that joining costs nothing; while others do not trust that they will not be placed on an email Listserv that would clog their Inbox. It's been designed, Wood-Lewis notes, to act like a free neighborhood newsletter with the content supplied by your nearby neighbors.

"Last week a woman posted a note seeking help raking leaves and shoveling snow in the winter after her husband died," Wood-Lewis recalls. "She went out of town and when she came home her leaves had been mysteriously raked and carted off."

"It's a tremendous tool," he continues. "Things are bought, sold, borrowed and given away. Block parties and yard sales are organized. School events and charity fundraisers are announced. Crimes are reported and addressed. Local elected officials (such as Selectboard members) report in and are given feedback from neighbors. But most inspiring is the fact that people say they know their neighbors better."

Good Neighbors Cut Petroleum Use

Vermont Peak Oil Network Newsletter

Some neighbors in Chittenden County are burning less petroleum on the roads due to a little local self-reliance at the neighborhood level. Using a new FREE online service called Front Porch Forum, nearby neighbors easily connect with each other for large items and small. Find a babysitter and contractor, borrow a ladder, give away furniture, find a ride to Montpelier, organize an equipment sharing coop, report car break-ins, and much more. So, instead of driving out to Tafts Corners to shop at the big box retailers (who've shipped the goods in from all over the world), people borrow, barter and buy from someone in the neighborhood. It's like a neighborhood newsletter written by your nearby neighbors that arrives in your inbox every few days. About 12% of Burlington households joined in the first three months of operation. See incredible testimonials about people connecting with neighbors and building community where they live at http://frontporchforum.com

Tell your forum story on the Front Porch blog: http://frontporchforum.com/blog

Read the full article

Connecting with Neighbors made Easy

The Big Buzz: Community & Economic Development News

A new local service, called Front Porch Forum, is providing email forums to neighborhoods across Chittenden County. No fees. No spam. Takes a couple of minutes to sign up. Visit http://www.cedoburlington.org/what'snew.htm for more information.

Read the full article

Connecting with Neighbors made Easy

Northgate News

A new local service, called Front Porch Forum, is providing email forums to neighborhoods across Chittenden County. No fees. No spam. Takes a couple of minutes to sign up.

In one 350-household neighborhood, Five Sisters in the South End of Burlington, 290 neighbors participate six years running. Things are bought, sold, borrowed and given away. Block parties and yards sales are organized. School events and charity fund raisers are announced. Crimes are reported and addressed. Local elected officials report in and are given feedback from neighbors. But the most inspiring development is the fact that people say they know more neighbors better now, because the forum is such a great icebreaker for connecting with folks.

Anyone interested in participating in his/her neighborhood should go to http://FrontPorchForum.com and check it out. To get the real benefit of this free service, recruit your neighbors to join too. Stop in for a visit on the Front Porch!

Another Resource: Front Porch Forum

Chittenden County Homeschooler

Looking for a playgroup or workshop? Seeking used stuff for project fodder? Want to connect with other neighbors? Try Front Porch Forum! This new service launched 130 neighborhood email forums in Chittenden County recently and more than 2,000 households joined in the first two months. Based on the award-winning Five Sisters model from Burlington's South End, this service works to help neighbors connect and foster community. Many homeschoolers use it as another resource for information about events, getting the word out about activities, finding resources for projects, networking, and more. This local service is free, doesn't generate spam, and will not flood your inbox. To learn more and sign up, go to FrontPorchForum.com!

Community News, Resources and Events

The Heart of It: Parent of Parent of Vermont Newsletter

Keeping up with neighborhood news, finding a babysitter, dealing with nearby vandalism, and organizing a block party just got easier with the launch of Burlington-based Front Porch Forum. This new local service provides email forums to neighborhoods in every part of Chittenden County. Check out the neighborhood forum that covers your home at FrontPorchForum.com.

Near and Far

Channel 17 CCTV

By Richard Kemp
2006-11-02

To view this 30-minute cable-access show about the Front Porch Forum, you need to download and install Real Player.

There is also an audio podcast of the show available.

Read the full article

Connecting with Neighbors

Flynn Avenue Co-op Newsletter

Hey Co-op neighbors! We know each other very well, but we don't know the rest of our neighbors... all those nice people on Foster, Ferguson, Lyman, Scarff, Morse, etc. The Front Porch Forum is a great way to connect with the people living close by, and find out what's going on in our neighborhood. It's free, and no spam... just sign up at FrontPorchForum.com, and every few days you receive an email containing notices posted by neighbors. Join today!

Join Front Porch Forum

Outlets: Burlington Electric Dept. Newsletter

Organizing a block party? Need a babysitter? Want to sell a lamp or borrow an extension ladder? Now Burlington residents are connecting with their neighbors online to address these kind of issues. Front Porch Forum is a new local service based on the successful Five Sisters Neighborhood Forum model. Recently, online Neighborhood Forums were created for every part of Burlington. To check out this free community-building service, go to Front Porch Forum.

Connect with your community from the front porch

South County Sentinel

CHITTENDEN SOUTH--"They say, 'if you build it, they will come,' and Michael has built it," said Hinesburg's State Representative Bill Lippert. He was speaking of a new service available across Chittenden County called the Front Porch Forum, which is like the grassroots Vermont version of yahoo groups, said its creator, Michael Wood-Lewis.

The Front Porch Forum, which connects resident to their nearby neighbors via a local email forum, has been getting quite a bit of attention, especially in the Five Sisters neighborhood in Burlington's South End.

This was the first and most successful model of the forum created six years ago in a neighborhood of about 350 households. The Five Sisters forum now has 300 active members, who use it to communicate about all things local.

Wood-Lewis said of the program "Through these forums things are bought, sold, borrowed and given away. Block parties and yards sales are organized. School events and charity fundraisers are announced. Crimes are reported and addressed. Local elected officials report in and are given feedback from neighbors. But most inspiring is the fact that people say they know their neighbors better and feel more connected to their communities."

Because of the success of the original forum, Wood-Lewis and his wife, Valerie, decided they might have something to share. This past August, they launched a county-wide effort to create forums in each town. There are now more than 100 neighborhood forums available across Chittenden County. "If you live in Chittenden County, there is a forum set up for you," said Wood-Lewis.

In southern Chittenden County, he said that Hinesburg is probably the most active town, with over 50 people signed up so far. Hinesburg is divided into three different forums for residents, depending on where they live. Part of the reason Hinesburg's forums have taken off is a few enthusiastic residents who have helped to spread the word.

Kristen Kany of Hinesburg is one resident excited about the Front Porch Forum and what it could do for the community. "It's a tool that lets us get back to core values of being good to each other," said Kany. "It's an easy way to communicate whether you're looking for a good Subaru mechanic in the area, or want to organize a block party."

Kany has been working hard to spread the word about the forum by handing out flyers and sending out emails encouraging people to sign up. Although Hinesburg's forum is only getting started, she said there is so much potential for enhancing communication with neighbors. "In our neighborhood there is interest from Nascar to Green Party," said Kany "The forum is something that can span interests."

Bill Lippert is one resident who heard about the forum from Kany and became an avid supporter himself. Although his interest in the forum is primarily as a Hinesburg resident, as a State Representative, Lippert is able to sign up for all three forums in Hinesburg. "The forum's ability to weave the community together is what I find most exciting," said Lippert. "I think it's just going to take off: It's such a good idea."

In Shelburne, Sean Fairhurst is working to get people signed up in his neighborhood. As a former resident of the Five Sisters neighborhood and a member of the original forum, Fairhurst said when he moved to Shelburne, he thought it would be a great way to "break the ice" with new neighbors. "The forum is a great catalyst for friendliness."

While Fairhurst said the details of the forum are that it helps you sell or borrow items, and find babysitters, the big picture is that: "It fosters a sense of community that I've never experienced before. It is virtually effortless to become more connected with your neighbors and that ultimately has a positive effect on your quality of life."

While some people have expressed concern about the forum boundaries and the smaller forums that exist within communities, Fairhurst said, "I don't think it would have the same effect on a town-wide basis. We can get that kind of information from sources like the Sentinel. I think it's about neighborhoods, the people whose kids your kids are playing with after school."

There are also forums set up in Charlotte and St. George, said Wood-Lewis. One couple who is working on getting the Front Porch Forum to catch on in Charlotte is Aileen and Robert Chutter.

There is one forum set up in St. George, which includes about 250 households--an "ideal size," for a forum, said Wood-Lewis, although he didn't yet know of anyone getting the forum started there. He said he wanted people to know that this is just the beginning, the forums belong to those who participate and can help their forum take shape as it evolves. The success of the original forum, said Wood-Lewis, occurred because it was shaped by its members, and "It's a work in progress."

Local Organizers Work to Connect Neighbors

Peace and Justice News

Burlington residents Michael and Valerie Wood-Lewis knew they were onto something when 80% of their neighbors signed up for the Neighborhood Forum service they offer in Burlington's Five Sisters area. In response, they launched Front Porch Forum in August 2006 that now hosts more than 100 online Neighborhood Forums covering every household in Chittenden County.

In these moderated email forums, things are bought, sold, borrowed and given away. Block parties and yards sales are organized. School events and charity fund raisers are announced. Crimes are reported and addressed. Local elected officials report in and are given feedback from neighbors. But the most inspiring development is that people say they know more neighbors now and feel more a part of their neighborhood. The service is free and doesn't generate spam.

To check out the forum serving your area, go to FrontPorchFroum.com and enter your address. This is a grassroots effort that will succeed only when people sign up, post messages, and encourage their neighbors to join. Stop in for a visit on your neighborhood's Front Porch!

A New Twist on Old Ways

KidsVT: Vermont's Family Newspaper

Michael and Valerie Wood-Lewis knew they wanted to live in a neighborhood where everyone knew each other. But these days that can be pretty hard to find. So in 2000, they started Front Porch Forum, an email based community-building service in the Five Sisters neighborhood in Burlington's south end. Now, six years later, Michael reports that 300 of the area's 350 households are connected online. "Any resident can post a message online." Michael explains. "We get about 20 messages a week which we send out in the form of a weekly newsletter. Postings include strollers and changing tables handed down, babysitters found, kids' "garage theater" troupe formed, Easter egg hunt advertised, etc." People feel more connected to their neighbors, since each posting includes a name, address and email. Like in the olden days, neighbors are helping each other... caring for each other in times of crises or helping to celebrate a new baby. Because of the overwhelming response in their own neighborhood, the Wood-Lewises are branching out to other communities throughout Chittenden County. In their first 3 weeks, they've added nearly 1,000 new members. Joining is free and easy. Log on to www.frontporchforum.com, enter your street address and become part of your community's Front Porch Forum.

Members work to Connect Neighbors

The Onion Skin: A Publication of City Market

Longtime coop members Michael and Valerie Wood-Lewis knew they were onto something when 80% of their neighbors signed up for the Neighborhood Forum service they offer in Burlington's Five Sisters area. In response, they launched Front Porch Forum in August 2006 that now hosts more than 100 online Neighborhood Forums covering every household in Chittenden County.

In these moderated email forums, things are bought, sold, borrowed and given away. Block parties and yards sales are organized. School events and charity fund raisers are announced. Crimes are reported and addressed. Local elected officials report in and are given feedback from neighbors. But the most inspiring development is that people say they know more neighbors now and feel more a part of their neighborhood. The service is free and doesn't generate spam.

To check out the forum serving your area, go to FrontPorchFroum.com and enter your address. This is a grassroots effort that will succeed only when people sign up, post messages, and encourage their neighbors to join. Stop in for a visit on your neighborhood's Front Porch!

Read the full article

Join Me on the Front Porch

The Hinesburg Record

A new tool has just hit the web waves which may make Hinesburg an even better town. Check out www.FrontPorchForum.com to understand this community-building neighborhood "thing".

Michael and Valerie Wood-Lewis of the Five Sisters Neighborhood in Burlington created a unique newsletter/website in order to meet and connect with their neighbors six years ago. Since then, it has evolved from text-only to state-of-the-art website bulletin board. 80% of the neighborhood utilizes it and many have stated in recent media interviews that the Front Porch Forum has enriched their neighborhood immensely, making it safer, friendlier & more connected in general. Folks use the forum to seek babysitters or good plumbers, for equipment & tool exchanging, alerts regarding vandalism, selling cars or houses, and helping teenagers create summer jobs. Neighbors have rallied to make meals for sick new friends or to welcome new babies. City Council members, etc love it to keep a pulse on their constituents. The Front Porch Forum has begun catching media attention. Recent exposure includes various local TV news stations, Seven Days, Vermont HomeStyle,local town papers, and the national Cottage Living Magazine.

The Front Porch Forum for the Hinesburg area has been divided into three regions in order to foster a more personal feel for the participants (South Hinesburg, the Village, and Sunset Lake). Greater Gilman Road folks just coincidentally kicked off the FPF opening by having a Block Party on August 26th. Many neighbors took home flyers on the Forum and signed on shortly afterward. The Block Party enabled folks to have a lot of fun while putting unfamiliar "faces, names and homes" together. Perhaps the next step will now naturally be enhancing our neighborhood with the neighborliness we often long for.

Using Technology to build Community

Channel 17 CCTV

By Megan O'Rourke
2006-09-27

To view this 45-minute cable-access show about the Front Porch Forum, you need to download and install Real Player.

There is also an audio podcast of the show available.

Read the full article

Front Porch Connections

Local Motion's Walk 'n Roll eNews Sep 2006

Interested in reaching more of your neighbors on bike-pedestrian issues? Check out the new free neighborhood forum service offered by local cyclists Michael and Valerie Wood-Lewis. Go to Front Porch Forum.

Read the full article

Burlington Neighborhood Among the Best in U.S.

Channel 3 News WCAX

By Darren Perron
2006-09-13

Darren Moskowitz helps contractors at his home in Burlington's south end. Trips to the hardware store were few and far between. He borrowed most of the tools for the kitchen-renovation project from his neighbors.

"I borrowed a saws-all from a neighbor, and a skill saw, and hammers and crowbars and things like that," said Moskowitz. "People are willing to share things. They know you and trust you. Because you're all part of this community."

Welcome to the Five Sisters Neighborhood where brotherly love sets the area apart. You'll find attractive homes, parks, and it's pedestrian friendly -- yet downtown is nearby. It's a place where everyone knows your name.

"It's created an amazing community here," said Moskowitz.

The 350-home neighborhood was developed by a man who named the five principal streets after his daughters -- Catherine, Caroline, Margaret, Charlotte, and Marian.

Something else connects the neighborhood -- the Internet. 80-percent of the residents in the "5 Sisters" neighborhood belong to "Front Porch Forum." It's a local web site designed to keep the neighborhood informed about block parties, street parades, movie nights, dinners, and yes -- even home improvement projects, where help is required.

Clearly residents think they have a pretty special neighborhood, well now a national magazine thinks it's pretty special too. "Cottage Living" has named it as one of the top ten neighborhoods in the country.

"I love it hear. I don't know if we could raise our children anywhere else," said Michael Wood-Lewis, who has lived in the neighborhood for eight years with his wife and four kids.

He points out that the "Front Porch Forum" also acts as a community watch of sorts. When a string of burglaries happened here, word spread quickly.

"I pity the criminal who comes into our neighborhood." said Wood-Lewis.

But they're welcoming to other like-minded people who want to live in a close-knit community.

Other communities in Chittenden County are picking up on the "Front Porch Forum's" success and have begun their own online bulletin board.

Read the full article

Tarrant's Learning Curve

Freyne Land

... I caught this little artistic gem [photo of bumper sticker] while pedaling through the Five Sisters neighborhood on Burlington's southend. You know, the neighborhood with the famous neighborhood e-mail forum? ...

Plug into your Neighborhood

The UU News: The First Unitarian Universalist Society of Burlington, Vermont

UU members Michael and Valerie Wood-Lewis encourage everyone to take advantage of the free community- building service they recently launched, called Front Porch Forum. Go to FrontPorchForum.com and click “Join” to get started.

The service provides email forums for neighborhoods based on the successful Five Sisters Neighborhood Forum that they've operated in the South End of Burlington for six years. It's a great tool for organizing social action and charity events, tackling graffiti, finding a pair of outgrown free ice skates, and rallying around a neighbor in crisis. All of this adds up to people getting to know each other better, a fundamental building block of healthy neighborhoods and communities.

Several UU members are already on board and many are quoted on the website. Join today and recruit your neighbors, friends, family and colleagues! Michael and Valerie are depending on word of mouth to get this going (more than 600 people have signed on already!). Check out the 8/16/06 Seven Days article about this effort to learn more, www.sevendaysvt.com.

Read the full article

Burlington Telecom News: The Front Porch Forum

North Avenue News: Burlington's Community Newspaper

In the past month there's been quite a bit of ink about the "Front Porch Forum," an online service currently operating neighborhood forums in every part of Chittenden County. Articles in the Free Press, Seven Days, and even glossy national publications such as Cottage Living have all picked up on the ambitious efforts of Burlington residents Michael and Valerie Wood-Lewis.

The Forum itself is free and requires no work from you. Simply join at http://frontporchforum.com/ and you'll receive occasional email newsletters written by your neighbors. Contribute messages, as you like. It's all about helping neighbors connect. Things are bought, sold, borrowed and given away. Block parties and yards sales are organized. School events and charity fundraisers are announced. Crimes are reported and addressed. Local elected officials report in and are given feedback from neighbors. But most inspiring is the fact that people say they know their neighbors better.

Now that each neighborhood in the County has its own Front Porch Forum, the challenge for the Wood-Lewis's is to foster awareness and create some neighbor-to-neighbor word of mouth excitement. It takes a critical mass of members for it to work in any given neighborhood. Once enough folks are engaged the Forum continues and grows on its own momentum. Michael Wood-Lewis reports, "the areas where people recruit their neighbors to sign up are the most successful. One neighborhood had 40 people join in two days!"

This is a proven model. In the 350-household "Five Sisters" Burlington neighborhood, about 300 neighbors participate.

"I've seen the forum connect neighbors in terrific ways... providing support to the seriously ill, expectant mothers, and elderly. People share meals, lawn care, snow shoveling and more," says Carolyn Bates of Caroline Street.

"I can't imagine our neighborhood without the forum" says longtime Front Porch Forum member Tim Douglas. "It makes my busy life easier." Many families use the forum to stay connected to their neighborhood when jobs and childrearing seem to take 110% of their time.

Burlington residents Michael and Valerie Wood-Lewis hope to replicate stories like these all over Chittenden County. Since each neighborhood's forum is only open to the people who live there, the value of the forum is ensured to foster neighborliness and community engagement.

My own experience with the Forum has been wonderful. I eagerly read the occasional newsletters and it takes only a few seconds to determine if there's something among the postings of interest to my family or me. A couple of years back I even sold a house using the forum. Unlike a lot of what technology delivers today, it's unobtrusive, easy to use, and engaging.

Anyone interested in participating in his/her neighborhood should go to http://frontporchforum.com.

On the (virtual) porch

Vermont Guardian

Robert Frost wrote, "Good fences make good neighbors," but what would the famous poet say about good websites?

Perhaps a glance at the early success of Front Porch Forum would show that even in the computer age, good neighbors, and good neighborhoods, still exist.
In 2000, Michael and Valerie Wood-Lewis started an online forum strictly for residents in what is known as the Five Sisters neighborhood in Burlington. Though they had lived there for a few years, they found it next to impossible to connect with their neighbors and started the forum to try and get to know them better. Today, 290 of the neighborhood's 350 households are members and the forum sees an average of 20 new messages per week.

The success led to the launch in August of Front Porch Forum, a site that allows members to safely connect with the people in their neighborhoods to sound off on local issues, inform others of area break-ins, look for a lost pet, organize a picnic, solicit advice on home improvement, plan a garage sale, find a summer job, or any other healthy banter.

Parm Padgett lives in Five Sisters and has been a forum member since its early days.

"We've used it a lot. We've bought a car through the forum, we've gotten babysitters, and a lot of information about different things going on in the neighborhood. We've really enjoyed it," she says.

The website lists countless other users and their stories of success using the forum for myriad reasons. All owe the success to this new-found connection to their neighborhood.

"The response from the public has surpassed our expectations so far," says Michael Wood-Lewis, who now maintains the site himself, along with a web developer.

The forum is free to people in Chittenden County, which is divided into close to 100 neighborhood forums. In just these first few weeks, while some have zero or only a handful of online participants, Wood-Lewis says more than 20 neighborhoods have a strong membership.
While some have suggested making larger forums that group more households together, Wood-Lewis resists, saying that's not the point.

"The notion is to connect with people close enough to borrow a cup of sugar, talk over the back fence, or share concern about the same pothole," he says.

He stresses the idea that the forum is "intensely local" and that one of the reasons for its success is that the information exchanged is pertinent to a specific group of neighbors. And there's a higher level of trust. Unlike larger sites that allow a group of strangers to post messages anonymously, items on Front Porch Forum are posted with the writers' names and streets they live on.

Wood-Lewis says he hopes to expand the coverage area outside of the county and farther into Vermont next year, and those interested can add themselves to an online wait list. Eventually, he plans to offer the service for a fee to groups outside the coverage area who don't want to wait.

To access the service, users need to sign up for a free online account at www.frontporchforum.com. One can only register with the particular neighborhood he or she calls home. Public officials may also get special permission to log on to a number of neighborhoods in their district to send and receive messages.

To post a message, just click on the appropriate link and your existing e-mail provider opens up a new message to the forum. Messages will be delivered in the form of an e-mail newsletter delivered a few times each week. Members can also log on to the website to read the messages.

When the project first started, one neighbor complained that people needed less time with computers and more time for real human contact. Wood-Lewis says this forum allows people stuck at computers to still connect to neighbors, which could in turn lead to other activities and gatherings with those neighbors.
Front Porch Forum's "greatest benefit to date has been as a catalyst for more neighbor-to-neighbor connections, for people getting to know each other," Wood-Lewis said.

Padgett explains, "You call somebody who you've never met before and then you end up going to over to their house to look at some piece of furniture that they're selling and it's Š a way to foster and build community that didn't exist before."

When Wood-Lewis first started this project, he hoped to learn about his neighbors in Burlington. Since then, he has learned plenty and says it has all been good.

"Our initial impression of the neighborhood was that it was difficult to get to know people and we weren't sure why," he says. "Now, in retrospect, I think people were just very busy and we were new. ... The number-one thing we've learned is that it's just a wonderful group of neighbors, and our bet is our neighbors aren't that much different than people in any neighborhood."

No Place Like Home

Vermont HomeStyle Magazine

Five Sisters neighborhood, in Burlington's South End, shines with hometown feel and community spirit. Architecturally diverse, with styles from bungalow to foursquare, each home is unique with its own fun touches and Vermont charm. From first sight, the neighborhood embraces visitors with blue doors, hanging plants, large front porches and stone walls.

"The neighborhood was built in the 20s and 30s and the design aspect of deep, narrow lots lends itself to the community feel," explains Michael Wood-Lewis, who dubbed the area Five Sisters when research revealed the developer allegedly named the five main streets after his daughters - Caroline, Catherine, Margaret, Marian, and Charlotte.

Michael and his wife Valerie longed for a home in a tight-knit community, and their search brought them to this neighborhood about 1/2 a mile from Burlington's downtown eight years ago. The close proximity of the sweet houses to each other and to commercial streets, shops and a park was exactly what they were looking for. "We love that the area lends itself to walking," says Valerie. Whether to the store for milk or to the park or just to each other's homes, the sidewalks and porches create a natural community environment.

Their neighbors, including Jonathan Farrel, who has lived in Five Sisters for four years agrees. "Most houses have porches or stoops that get used, so that neighbors interact often and get to know one another. The backyards afford private spaces," he says. He believes the good residents add to the charm.

Michael saw great potential for the neighborhood to not just look tight-knit but to be tight-knit. He began the Five Sisters Forum - an email newsletter for the neighborhood - from there, everything changed.

"When I first moved here, there wasn't really anyone on their porches, no flower gardens and no real connection to each other. People who had lived here over 40 years hadn't even met," says Carolyn Bates, a photographer who lives houses down from the Wood-Lewises. Today, Five Sisters offers its residents what many of today's neighborhoods lack – a true sense of family.

"The forum has been really successful," says Michael, "It's bizarre. We set this 'thing' up and people use it! It's like tacking up a bulletin board in the neighborhood. There's yard sale postings and noise reports. It crosses all ages, high school to retired, and it's very low tech."

In addition to the forum, Five Sisters has added a wealth of community projects and become a family that looks out for each other. It boasts an equipment sharing program, block parties, Christmas caroling, a walking school bus, Garage Theater for the kids to put on plays, pot lucks and even 2 groups of four families that take turns cooking for each other. Neighbors have become each other's support network, helping out in tough times and celebrating through the good times. "Vermont nurtures this kind of environment," says Valerie, "It's wonderful. Five Sisters has an unusual concentration of organizers and people who do things in a community way."

In fact, the email forum was so successful that the Wood-Lewises have decided to bottle that success and make it available to other neighborhoods. They conducted a testing phase with 3 areas in Burlington. "We've had 130 out of 600 homes sign up within 3 weeks," says Michael. The forum is now available to all neighborhoods in Chittenden County.

"Michael's email list is the main reason everyone here is so involved now," says Carolyn, "They've opened up their arms to everyone. The neighborhood has just gotten better, better and more better."

Read the full article

Please Join Northgate's Front Porch Forum

Northgate News

Ever hear of the Front Porch Forum?

Front Porch Forum's mission is to help people create healthy and vital community within their neighborhoods. Common sense and a growing body of research tells us that well-connected neighborhoods are friendlier places to live, with less crime, healthier residents, higher property values, and better service from local government and public utilities.

This service provides email forums for neighborhoods, based on a successful model six years in the making, and capitalizing on our founders' many years of community development work.

Michael and Valerie Wood-Lewis launched the Five Sisters Neighborhood Forum in the spring of 2000 in hopes of learning more about their corner of Burlington, Vermont, and the people who live there. Six years later, the original forum's incredible success led the couple to launch Front Porch Forum to help other people invigorate their neighborhoods too.

If you have access to the internet please consider joining this and see how it works in our community! Call Janice if your have questions about it.

Connecting with Neighbors made Easy

CEDO What's New: Community and Economic Development Office, Burlington, VT

A new local service, called Front Porch Forum, is providing email forums to neighborhoods across Chittenden County. No fees. No spam. Takes a couple of minutes to sign up.

In one 350-household neighborhood, Five Sisters in the South End of Burlington, 290 neighbors participate six years running. Things are bought, sold, borrowed and given away. Block parties and yards sales are organized. School events and charity fund raisers are announced. Crimes are reported and addressed. Local elected officials report in and are given feedback from neighbors. But the most inspiring development is the fact that people say they know more neighbors better now, because the forum is such a great icebreaker for connecting with folks.

Anyone interested in participating in his/her neighborhood should go to http://FrontPorchForum.com/ and check it out. To get the real benefit of this free service, recruit your neighbors to join too. Stop in for a visit on the Front Porch!

P.S. See a recent Seven Days article about it: http://www.sevendaysvt.com/columns/local-matters-news/2006/front-porch-forum-encourages-neighborliness-online-and-off.html.

News Release: Award Winning Neighborhood Sharing What's Worked

By Michael Wood-Lewis
2006-08-23

For Immediate Release
Contact:
Michael Wood-Lewis, President
Front Porch Forum, Inc.
michael at frontporchforum dot com, 802-540-0069

Date: August 23, 2006

Cottage Living magazine recently recognized the Five Sisters area of Burlington as one of the best neighborhoods in the country. While many great ingredients go into making the Five Sisters a wonderful place to live, an online Neighborhood Forum is one essential part.

"I've seen the forum connect neighbors in terrific ways... providing support to the seriously ill, expectant mothers, and elderly. People share meals, lawn care, snow shoveling and more," says Carolyn Bates of Caroline Street.

Burlington residents Michael and Valerie Wood-Lewis hope to replicate stories like these all over Chittenden County with the recent opening of Front Porch Forum. This online service is currently operating Neighborhood Forums in every part of the county. It’s free and doesn’t expose participants to spam.

"I can't imagine our neighborhood without the forum" says longtime Front Porch Forum member Tim Douglas. "It makes my busy life easier." Many families use the forum to stay connected to their neighborhood when jobs and childrearing seem to take 110% of their time.

In the 350-household Five Sisters neighborhood, about 300 neighbors participate. Things are bought, sold, borrowed and given away. Block parties and yards sales are organized. School events and charity fundraisers are announced. Crimes are reported and addressed. Local elected officials report in and are given feedback from neighbors. But most inspiring is the fact that people say they know their neighbors better.

Anyone interested in participating in his/her neighborhood should go to FrontPorchForum.com and check it out. Michael Wood-Lewis reports, "the areas where people recruit their neighbors to sign up are the most successful. One neighborhood had 40 people join in two days!" Stop in for a visit on the Front Porch!

Links:
http://frontporchforum.com
http://www.cottageliving.com/cottage/travel/article/0,21135,1195945,00.html

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Award Winning Neighborhood Sharing What has Worked

My Richmond VT

Cottage Living magazine recently recognized the Five Sisters area of Burlington as one of the best neighborhoods in the country. While many great ingredients go into making the Five Sisters a wonderful place to live, an online Neighborhood Forum is one essential part.

"I've seen the forum connect neighbors in terrific ways... providing support to the seriously ill, expectant mothers, and elderly. People share meals, lawn care, snow shoveling and more," says Carolyn Bates of Caroline Street.

Burlington residents Michael and Valerie Wood-Lewis hope to replicate stories like these all over Chittenden County with the recent opening of Front Porch Forum. This online service is currently operating Neighborhood Forums in every part of the county. It's free and doesn't expose participants to spam.

"I can't imagine our neighborhood without the forum," says longtime Front Porch Forum member Tim Douglas. "It makes my busy life easier." Many families use the forum to stay connected to their neighborhood when jobs and childrearing seem to take 110% of their time.

In the 350-household Five Sisters neighborhood, about 300 neighbors participate. Things are bought, sold, borrowed and given away. Block parties and yards sales are organized. School events and charity fundraisers are announced. Crimes are reported and addressed. Local elected officials report in and are given feedback from neighbors. But most inspiring is the fact that people say they know their neighbors better.

Anyone interested in participating in his/her neighborhood should go to Front Porch Forum and check it out. Michael Wood-Lewis reports, "the areas where people recruit their neighbors to sign up are the most successful. One neighborhood saw 40 people join in two days!" Stop in for a visit on the Front Porch!

Read the full article

Front Porch Forum

802 Online: A blog about Vermont, its media, and its internets

Wrote a story this week about Front Porch Forum. It's a free, neighborhood email newsletter service run by Burlington resident Michael Wood-Lewis.

Wood-Lewis started Front Porch Forum in his own neighborhood, the Five Sisters section of Burlington's South End. It's apparently been highly successful there - check out this mention in Cottage Living Magazine - so he's now expanded it to include all the neighborhoods in Chittenden County.

It's an interesting concept, though I wonder how well it'll take off in places like, um, Winooski, where I live. I would love to use it to communicate with my neighbors, but I have no energy to promote it. Beyond, you know, writing an article in the paper and mentioning it on my blog.

Read the full article

Front Porch Forum Encourages Neighborliness — Online and Off

Seven Days

BURLINGTON -- 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.

Encouraged by this response, FPF creator Michael Wood-Lewis has expanded the communities he covers...

Read the full article

The secret to a great neighborhood

Burlington Free Press

Last summer when my family and neighbors heard that our neighborhood was in contention for a top-10 slot in "Cottage Living" magazine, we were quite excited.

When our neighborhood (Five Sisters in the South End of Burlington) was actually chosen, I was especially happy that some of the wonderful work several neighbors have done to make this area so great was being recognized, read about and perhaps even copied by other neighborhoods. There are so many great places to live and great neighborhoods; if we learn from one another what makes certain places so special and so connected we can improve on them all.

The article mentioned the email forum that our neighbors, the Wood-Lewises, started about six years ago to keep the few hundred households in touch with one another and keep information flowing. The initial fear that electronic communication might take the place of sidewalk chatter never materialized. The forum has actually enhanced face-to-face conversation. Information posted on the forum can be quite the icebreaker for communication.

We have bought and sold things through the forum; my daughter has gotten baby-sitting jobs, and I have gotten tennis lessons; people have found housing for visiting friends and relatives when their own house couldn't accommodate them. Another neighbor put together a catalog for sharing equipment, appliances, etc., things that you like having access to but don't use that often, such as posthole diggers, plumbing tools and leaf shredders.

When one neihgbor bought two Adirondack chairs and placed them in his front yard, several others followed suit rather quickly. Spending lots of time in the front yard allows you to watch your kids play basketball, throw a baseball, Rollerblade (or join in with the kids yourself), and it enhances conversations among the adults that backyard decks prevent.

These exchanges foster a sense of caring for all the children in the neighborhood, not just your own. When any parent yells "car," all the kids playing on the street know to stop and head to the sidewalk. Because there are lots of requests by parents of other neighbors to keep an eye on their kids as they run to the store, the kids have gotten the feeling that many adults in the neighborhood along with their own parents care about them. I've heard of the rare time when communication got mixed up and a young child arrived home before a parent. Because of the connectedness of the neighborhood, the child felt comfortable enough to knock on neighbors' doors to find a grownup.

A recent study showed that many Americans are so unconnected with other people that they have no one to confide in. There may be some people who find such a disconnected existence OK, but I believe most would find themselves very lonely and unhappy. After all, human beings are social animals. Connected neighborhoods help avoid such isolation.

While it might seem like a stretch to make a connection between our close-knit neighborhood with conveniences, entertainment and work close by and the issue of global warming, it really isn't. When we are less car-dependent and tend to walk to friends' houses or downtown for dinner and our kids more often play right in the neighborhood or walk to the nearby park, we end up contributing far fewer greenhouse gas emissions, and we fill up at the pump far less often. As we move toward a post-carbon future (which we had better hurry up and do if we plan to keep our planet intact), I realize the best way to set ourselves up for this eventuality is to be more community focused and less dependent on fossil fuels.

I know that much of what we have in our neighborhood exists in other places, too. And where it doesn't, it could - with some effort by neighbors to make it happen. Many people who purchased homes here often talk of the intangible benefits they looked for as much as the value of the property when deciding to buy their home. Those intangible benefits are what have many of us thinking we live in the best neighborhood imaginable and plant to stay here for quite some time.

Our Top 10 Cottage Communities

Cottage Living

Everything about five sisters has a clever, homemade quality-including the name. Six years ago, local resident Michael Wood-Lewis coined it after research showed that the 300-home neighborhood was developed by a man who allegedly named the five principal streets-Catherine, Caroline, Margaret, Charlotte, and Marian-for his daughters. Today, the area has a reputation for small, attractive homes and let's-get-involved owners.

In Burlington's South End, Five Sisters is a veritable laboratory of community ideas. Parents take turns walking children to school, a system they call the walking school bus. A band of local kids plays music for family dances and street parties. Residents stay in touch through the neighborhood bulletin board, an e-mail forum. Says Michael's wife, Valerie, "You might ask, 'Did anyone hear that noise last night? What was it?'" ...

Read the full article

Five Sisters brings New Meaning to Family Neighborhood

Vermont Times

"Community" sometimes seems like the buzzword of the decade. We hear it mentioned in many contexts. People seek it, cherish it, study it and, if they're lucky, live it. Well, it's a lucky bunch who live in Burlington's Five Sisters Neighborhood.

Mr. Rogers would have liked the Five Sisters Neighborhood. Tucked into Burlington's South End, behind Christ the King Church, the 300-household set of streets is a place where people want to be neighbors and work to keep it that way.

Built on the land that originally surrounded the Hickok Stone House on St. Paul Street, the neighborhood comprises five streets named, it is said, for the daughters of the developer: Caroline, Charlotte, Catherine, Margaret and Marian. A two-volume book published by the Chittenden County Historical Society, A Historic Guide to Burlington Neighborhoods, mentions two developers: Horatio Hickok, son of William Hickok, and Paul D. Kelly, who bought the estate in 1925.

Within the 40 acres is a sixth street, Ledgemere. The area is bordered by Howard Street, Hayward Street, Locust Terrace and Locust Street. The majority of the homes were built in the early 1930's, although there is some evidence that homes on part of Caroline Street were put up in the '20s.

There are more elegant neighborhoods in Burlington, but it's possible none of them have inspired more dedication among their residents. Christine Farrell, the owner of Earth Prime Comics and Quarterstaff Games on Church Street, owns more than one piece of property in the neighborhood including the one she has lived in for 24 1/2 years.

"My grandparents bought it in 1942," says Farrell, who has researched some of the neighborhood's history. She had decided two years before she moved in that this was where she wanted to be. It seems this is not unusual for people wishing to live in the area.

"People who move into this neighborhood try their darndest to stay," Farrell says. "People will rent in the neighborhood and then go around asking the neighbors when they're going to sell their homes. You'll see a for-sale sign one day, and it's gone the next day; the house is under deposit. It is a very desirable neighborhood."

Mary Sullivan, communications coordinator for Burlington Electric Department, moved in a couple of years ago. A longtime resident of the South End, she and her husband sought a home in Five Sisters because of "the sense of community, the neighborhood, the kind of safety there is, the way the parents watch out for each other's kids."

Michael Monte, the director of Burlington's Community and Economic Development Office (CEDO), agrees. He should know. He has lived in a two-story home on Charlotte Street since 1986. "Every once in a while, I think I have died and gone to heaven, " he says with a chuckle. "I do like it. We have, quite remarkably, the best of a lot of things: We're close to the lake and bike path; close to some of the great stores on Pine Street; walking distance to downtown; we've got a great school, Champlain, plus Christ the King in a church nearby; we have South Park; it's a neighborhood where the people around me have raised their families in the houses and are still living there - some of them for 50 to 60 years." An enterprising couple, Michael and Valerie Wood-Lewis launched a neighborhood e-mail forum to help neighbors connect. On a typical day, postings might included concerns about speeding, a requests for a dog sitter or someone to cut the grass, and a notice from renters seeking to buy a home in the area. Traffic accidents are reported; block parties are organized; used furniture is sold. Sullivan mentions the leaf shredder her husband bought in conjunction with several other residents.

The listserve was so successful, CEDO gave it an award, and several other neighborhoods have started their own.

While prices have gone up in recent years, homes are mostly modest, say Monte. "There are decent-size yards, some smaller, some bigger; nothing fancy about the houses. My house is 1,400 square feet, probably a typical size."

One thing a visitor notices immediately is that no cookie cutters were used to design these houses. Styles cover a wide variety, from capes to Federal to colonial to bungalows. Weekends find the streets alive with neighbors talking over fences, carrying hot dishes or bottles of wine to get-togethers, walking babies - all the things neighbors do.

"Tons of kids roam through the neighborhood," says Monte. "There's an Easter egg hunt every year; there are Christmas caroling groups and weekly yard sales - different streets take turns - it's a good family neighborhood."

Mr. Rogers would have loved it.

Virginia Lindauer Simmon is a Vermont writer and editor. She lives in Colchester.

City Honors Neighborhood Activism

Burlington Free Press

Sometimes good ideas start with a flier and a little shoe leather or a sturdy bicycle. That's more or less how two neighborhood projects in different parts of Burlington got started.

Michael and Valerie Wood-Lewis created an e-mail forum in their South End neighborhood. Tom Licata got a summer block party off the ground in the Hill Section. Both started with homemade fliers.

The projects were highlighted Thursday night in a city celebration of neighborhood activism called Neighborhood Night of Successes.

For the event, City Hall's Contois Auditorium was transformed into a dining hall with about 200 people, many of them children, seated in folding chairs at long linen-covered tables eating a free lasagna meal. From playground repairs to neighborhood cleanups, those in attendance learned about projects all over the city.

Fourteen residents and four projects or events were singled out for recognition.

"Two-hundred people in this room this evening is incredible energy," said Mayor Peter Clavelle, who handed out awards.

Like many of the projects highlighted Thursday, creating the e-mail forum helped the Wood-Lewises get to know their neighborhood.

Part community newsletter, part backyard fence, the Five Sisters Neighborhood E-mail Forum has kept a group of about 100 households connected and sometimes debating in cyberspace for the past year. Cat problems, a free guinea pig and the first spring crocus have all been topics of late.

"We kept missing word of events," Michael Wood-Lewis said. "We weren't on the grapevine."

The nonprofit director and middle-school teacher whipped up a flier and went door to door. Within two weeks they had 50 households signed up. After a year, the list has grown to 100.

At first there was concern the forum would be impersonal and isolating, but just the opposite has proven to be true, Valerie Wood-Lewis said. She has learned about people through e-mail, and it's then been easier to meet them in person.

"For me it's really helped to build community," Valerie Wood-Lewis said.

Licata's annual block party has also been a community builder. Licata, a stay-at-home dad, organized the party for his neighbors in the Hill Section.

"I wrote up a memo. I got on my bike and passed it out in the neighborhood," Licata said.

Several hundred people attend the August event, which features games and pony rides.