About [FFFTL] And What’s In It For You

Interested → Interesting → Invited → Included

The short version

A weekly newsletter for people who chose Fort Lauderdale as their adopted home and want to know it from the inside out. One human, one point of view, five minutes every Wednesday morning. Over 1,300 local families already get it. It’s free.

Why We Exist

Most people who live in Fort Lauderdale never meet the real city underneath the postcard.

The sun, the boats, the beaches - that’s the surface. Google “things to do in Fort Lauderdale” and you get the same ten tourist attractions every visitor sees. But there’s a different city underneath: the small festival three blocks from your house, the restaurant the locals keep quiet about, the story behind the building you drive past every day.

Most people who move here never find it. They live in the postcard version for years and wonder why the place feels like a backdrop instead of a home.

This newsletter is for the ones who want to find their own version.

Where It Started

Our family moved to Fort Lauderdale in 2021 and knew almost nobody. We started keeping a list of the cool, weird, worth-knowing things happening around us… the stuff that doesn’t show up when you Google. Pretty soon we figured other newcomers were in the same spot. Maybe you just got here. Maybe you’ve been here ten years but rotate through the same five spots. Either way, you want a fuller version of the city than the algorithm hands you.

So we started writing it down and sending it out. That was five years ago. We’re still doing it.

What You Actually Get

A short, curated email every Thursday. Not a comprehensive list - a curated one. We’d rather tell you one great thing than ten okay ones.

You’ll find weekend events worth your Saturday, restaurants worth the drive, local history you didn’t know, the occasional oddball discovery, and a quote or thought that might shift how your week feels. Five minutes to read. Long enough to be worth opening. Short enough that you actually do.

Who Writes It

Tobin Slaven. Co-founder of Acton Academy Fort Lauderdale by day. Newcomer to Fort Lauderdale since 2021, alongside my partner Martina. Not a native expert. I’m a fellow newcomer paying attention to what’s going on, and on your behalf.

The newsletter started as a learner-led media project tied to our school, and the long-term goal is still to hand parts of it to our students. For now, I write it. If you’re curious about the school, that’s a separate conversation and I’m happy to have it. FFFTL is for the city.

Our Promise

Open it Thursdays. Spend five minutes. Walk into the week knowing something worth knowing, worth sharing with others, and one step closer down the path.

Interested → Interesting → Invited → Included.