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National Night Out – history of
communities coming together
Every year, cities,
municipalities and communities gather together and celebrate their camaraderie
and police/community connection. Do you
know your local police officers and/or your neighbors? I remember when National Night Out block
parties started in my community. It was
the late 80s and I was pretty young, but it made a huge impact on me. Those days remind me, even today, that we are
stronger together. I love to go to other
communities that I represent and see connections made in the community. They smile and laugh. Their kids get to meet one another, and
friendships are created. It is wonderful
to watch.
National Night Out started in the
mid-eighties but the idea was realized much earlier. Matt Peskin lived in Philadelphia and in the
1970s consistently volunteered at a community watch program. He wrote a newsletter and volunteered for the
township. He then started reaching out
to communities neighboring him and noticed there were other programs like the
one he volunteered for. His dream for a
national program started becoming reality.
In 1981, Mr. Peskin establishes the National Association of Town
Watch. This program nationally connects
volunteer watch programs. In 1984, The
National Association of Town Watch, with a grant from the Bureau of Justice
Assistance, funded the National Night Out campaign. The idea was that homeowners would stand on
their porches with their lights on to show any potential criminals that the
neighborhood stood together against violence and crime. The science concludes that it does work. A 1995 study found that the largest single
predictor of crime levels was a mutual trust among neighbors and a willingness
to intervene on behalf of the common good.
In 1994, Project 365 was started to introduce programs and plans to
improve the community 365 days out of the year.
Currently, after 38 years of National Night Out, 38 million neighbors
and 16 thousand communities celebrate and participate in National Night
Out. Some communities celebrate National
Night Out over a span of several days.
But, Texas specifically celebrates the first Tuesday of October.
What does National Night Out mean
for you and your community? This is an
opportunity to stand up for your community. Are you going to show up at
National Night Out?