This idea can start in Oregon and came out of the very real need I see around me in Oregon, but then can spread elsewhere. It starts with helping neighbors and it ends with helping the whole state, then the nation and then the world.

Issues
We all are born into blood families and in these tough times we may find help there. Many of us have no family to turn to or have family far away and unable to help. But what about friends? We make our own extended families of friends wherever we go. However, the ties of duty that are built into blood families are different in friend families and we muddle along more than have a plan or duty. If you're middle class things are even more complicated as we can't support another's middle class lifestyle and are often struggling with our own. So, how do we help each other? Maybe the web can help?

Barter sites exist, but there's no trust and we're helping someone out there without knowing if they need the help or are just making money on the side, or worse, taking advantage. Further, those sites tend to be used as needed, so we may not even know that we have a friend who is short of cash and who has the same skills who could have done the same thing.

Overview
Here's the gist of the idea, a community website that starts from the bottom up. It starts with simple relationships, the people one considers to be family, be they real family members or friends. Ultimately extending this relationship circle to friends of friends, and maybe another level out would also be a part of the plan (similar to LinkedIn's 3 tiers). So this first part is simply to create a virtual mirror for the friend families we have in real life, but one that is based on real friendships and real degrees of separation, bringing much more trust into the picture. Plus, since you can't replace Twitter and Facebook, it does not seek to replace existing social media, but rather to incorporate them and have some overlap with their services and community.

Main Thoughts
Now, how do we use these relationships? Well, what do we need? Barter is a part of it, as are commerce and employment. Plus we can help our communities and be more aware of what the needs around us are. Here are some examples:

Things
Scenario: I have an old couch you could use and you have an old desk I could use; let's trade. Or sell, as someone may just need cash and we could allow for that too.
Approach: Services like Craig's List would be better, so it would be important for this service to talk to them. The difference this site will give is that the people involved might be more comfortable/interested because of the relationship involved. So we need a list of things that people want to trade/sell/give away.

Skills
Scenario: I can fix your broken toilet and you can fix my computer; let's trade. Or I need cash and these are the things I could do for you to earn it. I could mow your lawn, I could make you a website, I could redo your roof, I could file your taxes, whatever.
Approach: We allow people to list skills they have that others may not realize, or menial jobs they are willing to do. In some cases network members will see skills on display from a friend in need and it will spur them on to take advantage of them. Members can otherwise see a list of available services and can search for them. Need a stopped up drain fixed? Then search and see if your extended family can help you.

Cash
Scenario: Although the primary intention is for an exchange of some kind, we could allow for pledges of cash gifts or loans. Someone might be unable to meet a rent payment, or might need stuff for the baby, etc.
Approach: These can be anonymous or public, depending on the parties. This would be good in cases where a party is ill and cannot earn the money they require, or where they cannot earn all they need. Members can see where the needs are and respond if they are able.

Riffraff Requests
Scenario: We can also allow for odd little requests, like, "I need a ride to the hospital," "I need help moving to a smaller apartment," "Can I loan a power saw?" or "I need help finding a job." Even requests for information like, "How do I apply for unemployment?" or "How do I get an extension on my taxes."
Approach: Members will be pinged about requests from their family. They will be able to filter these by degree of separation, or turn them off. Again, we might interface with Craig's List and other services.

Security and Privacy
Scenario: Users would have to be able to specify who can see their information as it will contain very personal data. They will also be able to control who can contact them and how severe the need has to be, etc.
Approach: Initially I envision 5 levels of access to information, or at least to these collections of data, namely hidden, show family, show family second tier, show family third tier and show all. Other measurements, like severity of need, can also be brought to bear. Notifications will be similar.

Barometers.
Scenario: Kind of like a personal Security Alert. How is each family member doing? Similar to Homeland Security's chart:
* Severe (red): severe risk - For us: On the verge of losing everything... or worse
* High (orange): high risk - For us: In deep trouble, barely keeping afloat.
* Elevated (yellow): significant risk - For us: Tough times, but we have hope.
* Guarded (blue): general risk - For us: Getting by, but concerned.
* Low (green): low risk - Doing fine. Looking to help others.
Approach: Members will be pinged about family members who get into dire straits. They will be able to filter these by degree of separation and/or level, or turn them off.

Ratings
Scenario: Because there is always the potential for abuse we need to be able to allow users to flag other users as a concern. We also want to allow helpful community members to grow in standing within the community.
Approach: We can have both Concern Points and Karma Points that can be awarded by other members of the community for misdeeds or for good deeds. All of this will for a kind of community policing, peer pressure if you will, that could minimize abuse, but more that this, the karma points will encourage participation. People with good karma can be featured and are more likely to be trusted. The two scores could be combined for a "good citizen" rating. In some ways this is similar to the way ebay ranks sellers.

Notifications
Scenario: We'd need to be able to notify a family structure of changes, for example someone announcing that they've lost a job and need help finding a new one, or someone who can't make a house payment and needs side work.
Approach: Like all the above notifications, this would have to be either at the site only, or emails that show notifications from different levels of family, once someone announces that they are in trouble/need. We could also notify the group that a member has been flagged as abusing the system or that a member has changed their barometer.

Reporting
- What are the averages for the family on ratings, barometers, barter, loans, etc.
- How much activity is going on within the group.
- What is the overall health/need of the group

Family Discussions and Blogs
- Discussion group for discussing issues and common approaches to those issues, as well as other general chatter.
- Blogs for all users and feeds by family, but mainly so that people can expand on their situation some and keep people informed on their progress. Here, me may just want to interface with other Social media. One idea is, for example, showing all my Tweets from Twitter. I can have two settings, All Tweets and Only Tweets with the hashtag #ff.

Broader Services to the Community
We can also allow for opt-in groups, for example a homeless shelter, Oregon Public Libraries, OPB, cleanup efforts in parks and national parks, and so on. In fact any nonprofit/cause can set up a group. Family members can join these groups and recommend them to their families and members can be pinged about community needs in their area, for example a food drive, a cleanup drive, a shelter about to close, etc. It also lets those in need earn community points and standing, which may bring opportunity. Further, for unemployed people, volunteer jobs often lead to paying jobs, plus they keep people involved and busy, often to the point where these activities can appear on a resume.

Groups can also be set up with all of the above features, if needed. For example, a nonprofit in big trouble could set their alert status to red.

Advantages:
- This system would allow for charity and can put money into the hands of those who need it.
- More importantly, it would also allow people to earn help and keep their pride intact.
- It is a tool that makes helping each other much easier and can help both draw out requests for help and help us to find ways to help.
- It fosters a feeling of, "Pay it forward."
- It strengthens friend-family bonds and connections.
- It empowers us to make a difference that has very direct, immediate and personal meaning to us.
- Unlike other barter sites it is about an inner trusted community that we have a greater stake in helping and that we have a greater ability to trust.
- It's a solution that can be applied to friend-families or blood families or combinations of both.
- It's a solution that serves the middle class, a group generally less served by nonprofits, government and other groups who help us out in times of need.
- I wanted to start this myself, but it was beyond my available time, so I'm putting it back into the community. I own the URL friendfamilies.com and would be happy to gift it to an effort funded and approved by MMT.

Disadvantages
- Needs funds.
- Large project that will need leadership and a team approach.
- Complex and may need to be realized in stages.

Related services:
http://kossacksnetworking.ning.com/
http://www.brightneighbor.com/
http://portland.brightneighbor.com/home