THE PORCHLIGHT PROJECT

Aim

A 5,000-mile bicycle ride exploring where Americans still gather, where we've stopped, and what it means for our democracy.

The Porchlight Project is my year on the road studying American community from the ground up: a 5,000-mile bicycle ride from Santa Monica to Lubec, Maine, documenting roughly 1,000 gathering places across 27 states through standardized observation, more than 2,000 interviews, and thousands of photographs, all of it becoming dispatches from the road, a lasting archive, and a book.

This is a closed fundraiser for the people who believe in it, and every dollar goes straight into making the ride real: the bike and gear, cameras and film, food and lodging over seven months, and the small research team helping shape the study. Thank you for standing behind it.

Funding method

Keep what you raise – this project will receive all pledges made by 6th August 2026 at 5:02am CDT