Neighbors connect with neighbors

By Patrick Cronin
pcronin@seacoastonline.com

Diane Gordon said it's getting harder and harder to stay connected with her neighbors.

But the Hampton resident is hoping to change all that by getting them to sign up and use NeighborsConnecting.com.

Gordon said the site is the brainchild of former Hampton residents Frank and Michelle Condon. It was developed to keep neighbors connected in the 21st century.

There are already 1,400 neighborhoods using the free site, representing 48 states. In Hampton, there are 14 neighborhoods signed up.

"The most important things to people are their home, their neighbors, their city and then the rest of world," Frank Condon said. "We want to give them the tools so they can stay connected."

Condon said the site allows members of any community to keep in touch with one another through the use of calendars, a message board, live chatting, e-mail and document sharing.

The site is also partnered with familywatchdog.us, which allows access to a list of registered sex offenders living within a community.

Condon said the couple got the idea for the site when they worked on a Web site for their local church.

"We developed a Web site called www.ministrymanager.com to help churches bring their members together by using the power of the Web," Condon said.

It wasn't until the couple moved to South Carolina that they got the idea to use the same concept for neighborhoods.

"I live in a neighborhood with 400 homes," Condon said. "There is no way for me to really know what is going on unless there is a newsletter going around. This site is that newsletter."

Condon said the site is so successful that they are working on another site to be released next month called LinkingCommunities.com.

"What makes this different is that outside modulars have been created for the school, law enforcement, and local government," Condon said. "For example, if the police department wanted to issue a missing persons report, they could do that and it would automatically be sent to all the communities that are connected. The town could do the same thing with road closures, trash pickup, while schools can post lunch menus and other items."