Marion ‘National Night Out’ to be Held within Neighborhoods this Year with First Responders Driving through Each Association Share

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The City of Marion’s Neigh­bor­hood Asso­ci­a­tions are host­ing ​“Nation­al Night Out” (“NNO”) on Octo­ber 6^th, 2020 in a new man­ner from pre­vi­ous years. Neigh­bor­hood Asso­ci­a­tions Coor­di­na­tor, Kay­la John­son, said due to COVID-19, this year’s event will take place with­in each neigh­bor­hood, pro­mot­ing ​‘dis­tanced rela­tion­ship build­ing.’ Asso­ci­a­tions are encour­ag­ing neigh­bors to have din­ner in their front yards on Oct. 6^th, and social­ize with neigh­bors from a dis­tance. First respon­ders will dri­ve through neigh­bor­hoods between 5 – 7pm, paus­ing to con­verse with cit­i­zens at parks and streets.

36 years ago, the Nation­al Asso­ci­a­tion of Town Watch (NATW) cre­at­ed ​“NNO” as an annu­al com­mu­ni­ty-build­ing cam­paign to pro­mote strong police-com­mu­ni­ty part­ner­ships and neigh­bor­hood cama­raderie to fos­ter safer neigh­bor­hoods and more car­ing places to live and work. The NATW has been encour­ag­ing com­mu­ni­ties to build on the pur­pose of the cam­paign, and make it their own. More infor­ma­tion on the nation­al cam­paign is natw​.org.

John­son said Mar­i­on neigh­bor­hood asso­ci­a­tions have been grate­ful through­out the years to car­ry the tra­di­tion onward. ​“In our city, ​‘NNO’ will still be an evening to pro­mote neigh­bor­ly rela­tion­ships: neigh­bors — neigh­bors, neigh­bors — first respon­ders, and neigh­bors — city officials…even though this year’s event will be held dif­fer­ent­ly,” expressed Johnson.

Neigh­bors are also encour­aged to keep porch lights on more fre­quent­ly and replace any bro­ken house num­bers. These reg­u­lar efforts increase safe­ty and effi­cien­cy for first respon­ders. As first respon­ders vis­it each neigh­bor­hood, res­i­dents are encour­aged to take pho­tos & videos and even ask them to par­tic­i­pate in a social­ly dis­tant activ­i­ty such as a pho­to op, dance, or any fun thing to build rela­tion­ships. Please also men­tion or tag @CityofMarionIN and use #MarionNNO2020 when post­ing on social media.

May­or Jess Alum­baugh expressed grat­i­tude that neigh­bor­hood asso­ci­a­tions are con­tin­u­ing the tra­di­tion this year. ​“Dur­ing these unprece­dent­ed times, I am not only pleased, but proud that our neigh­bor­hood lead­ers are con­tin­u­ing to cel­e­brate ​‘Nation­al Night Out.’ I am a firm believ­er that the strength of any city comes from the pride and pas­sion reflect­ed with­in its community.”

About City of Mar­i­on Neigh­bor­hood Asso­ci­a­tions — Neigh­bor­hood Asso­ci­a­tions exist with the goal to build and main­tain safe, wel­com­ing neigh­bor­hoods with the City of Mar­i­on together.

About ​“NNO” — NNO aims to build trust­ing rela­tion­ships between the com­mu­ni­ty and first responders.