Every year on the first Tuesday of August hundreds of National Night Out (NNO) block parties take place in Minneapolis. There were 841 last year. This year, NNO is Tuesday August 1, and the theme is National Night Out - Join the Tradition. Community Crime Prevention/SAFE, (CCP/SAFE), a unit of the Minneapolis Police Department and coordinators of NNO in MPLS would like you and your neighbors to join in and create a NNO block party. NNO’s purpose is to help neighbors get to know one another so they can build a safer, healthier, more enjoyable community.
NNO is a tradition that started 23 years ago when law enforcement agencies in 400 cities asked citizens to leave a front porch light on from dusk to dawn. This was a statement that neighbors were taking back their neighborhoods, block by block, from crime and the fear of crime. Now on NNO, 10,000 cities, and 34 million people, celebrate safety and community in many different ways.
In Minneapolis many groups of neighbors close off their blocks for their NNO parties and some celebrations can be complicated affairs, but hundreds of block parties are simpler - on front lawns, someone’s porch, a park or church. Creating an NNO block party can be easy. A few neighbors can meet and decide to have a party on NNO. Then they might drop off flyers to other neighbors and tell them that there’s going to be a block party. Those joining in can bring a dish to share, some pop or iced tea, folding chairs, etc. Anyone having a party on NNO can register that party with CCP/SAFE to be eligible for party prizes.
Research concludes that crime rates are lowest where people are willing to act on each other’s behalf and particularly for the benefit of one another’s children. NNO offers an opportunity to engage young people in a block-focused event. It also helps them to get to know neighbors and visa-versa. Time IN for Family, a Minneapolis grassroots organization, has helped CCP/SAFE develop a flyer that can help NNO event organizers with ideas of how to involve kids.
CCP/SAFE suggests block party organizers knock on all neighbor’s doors to personally invite them to join in on NNO. Handing someone a flyer is more effective than just dropping one by. Direct contact breaks the ice and makes people more comfortable attending. To break down language barriers, flyers in Hmong, Laotian, Somali and Spanish are available by CCP/ SAFE. For NNO info call 673-5946 or visit www.ci.minneapolis.mn.us/nno.