Supervisor Matt Plummer launches ‘Front Porch Shasta’
The volunteer initiative aims to strengthen community connections across the county, starting in five neighborhoods.
District 4 Supervisor Matt Plummer just announced the launch of Front Porch Shasta, a year-long initiative aimed at strengthening neighborhood connections and encouraging community involvement across the county.
The program, which was announced by email and online, will select five volunteer “Front Porch Captains,” each representing a different neighborhood for one year. Participants will receive training, coaching and a playbook to help organize two neighborhood gatherings, lead one community improvement project and complete monthly activities designed to foster relationships among neighbors. They’ll volunteer their time and are expected to lead in a nonpartisan way.
Plummer said the initiative is based on the belief that many of the county’s challenges are rooted in declining social connections, and that stronger neighborhoods can lead to stronger communities.
“While we may live in beautiful neighborhoods, many people still feel isolated, disconnected, or like they don’t truly belong where they live,” Plummer wrote in the newsletter. He said he hopes Front Porch Shasta will help communities “build a stronger sense of belonging.”
Plummer’s emphasis on strengthening neighborhood relationships echoes findings from the United Way of Northern California’s Community Voices Report earlier this year, which synthesized conversations from almost 30 listening sessions with community members.
“Fences have replaced porches,” the report writes, describing how isolation has replaced neighborliness. Findings from the report indicated that residents who joined listening sessions across the county expressed a desire for stronger local connections and shared gathering places as a way to bridge divides.
Plummer’s new program seeks to recruit volunteers from all backgrounds who “enjoy bringing people together,” adding that no special credentials or previous leadership experience is needed. Applications can be found here, and are open through Aug. 15.
Maya Nelson is a student at Brown University. She’s reporting for Shasta Scout as a 2026 summer intern with support from the Nonprofit Newsroom Internship Program — created by The Scripps Howard Fund and the Institute for Nonprofit News.
Do you have a correction to share? Email us: editor@shastascout.org.
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Is this project specifically for Redding, or will other communities in Shasta County be considered?
missM.Lou: All communities across Shasta.
You guys kind of missed the nonpartisan part of this. Plummer brings hope. The jail is a concern which I imagine he will listen to. I like his leadership and how his ideas keep coming. Face to face interactions help us see each other as people not just “the other”. Anything that gets us off our phones and outside building relationships is good. I hope this idea is better received by our community than what these comments share.
This is a great idea and I’m all for it. He’s got a mountain to climb, however. Community involvement has become a dying breed, as many community organizations will attest to. Lions, Rotary, Kiwanis, veterans organizations, and similar groups are all facing declining memberships and participation. We compete with video games, social media, Monday night football and too much stress from a proliferation of media and political noise.
But, it’s just what the country desperately needs… a renewed sense of community and a realization that we are not alone.
Good point! I hope that his idea works out.
Yeah well Barack Hussein Obama was a communist organizer as well! Don’t be fooled here!
Huh? What’s your solution?
“It is better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak up and remove all doubt.” —attributed apocryphally to both Mark Twain and Abraham Lincoln
While Matt “Planner “ is busy promoting unity in five special neighborhoods , he is also concurrently busy ruining another lovely , well established neighborhood full of young families , children and retired people, River Ranch. He is actively promoting and seems to be spear heading the proposed new Prison ,which will abut the fences of that very neighborhood! 1200 beds , an adjacent 600 bed Rehabilitation center as well as an outpatient facility. Will house 1200 criminals , 600 addicts in the Rehab center , and who can estimate the number of out patients will be roaming around the neighborhoods… People should be outraged! This prison et all will affect every single community member and resident of Shasta county. This is a FOR PROFIT facility on the Sacramento River front! Remodel the old jail or move this to Susanville where there is a large facility already to go . Remodel that! This is all about the LOCATION of choice… IF such a facility is in fact necessary it needs an isolated location ! NOT in the middle of schools , families and premier surroundings. When those criminals are released ,they will simply wander into Anderson and Redding , and all of Shasta county…
Attend the meeting on Wednesday,Aug 5th at 5:30 pm at the Shasta Board of Supervisors Chambers , 1450 Court St , Redding
And learn for yourselves what’s going on!
It’s almost laughable that Mr Plummer thinks the residents of Shasta county need someone to introduce them to their neighbors. Our neighbors know each other, take care of each other, support each other and have kiddie parades during the year. It’s a great place to live until a jail goes in. 🤢🤮🤮
It’s TRAVUS… with a U, gull-darn spellcheck, every freakin time. Enough already!
Plummer needs to bring along Corkey as his Benny Hill style side-kick. He can stand next to him and smack him on the head rapidly every minute or so and say ” ‘aint that right Corkey?” triggering a brief Vaudeville style arm swinging tap-dance routine.
A community organizer is a grassroots leader who builds local power, advocates for progressive social change, and mobilizes residents around issues like civil rights, economic equality, and environmental justice. Finally some real leadership in Shasta County. Good for Supervisor Plummer.