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Dear Columbia Heights Listserve Members,
Time is moving so quickly--our planned NWCHCA Neighborhood Watch Block Captains training is one week from Monday! Please volunteer to be a Block Captain and come to the Block Captains training on July 20th. The training session will be conducted by Samantha Nolan, Citizens Advisory Council Chair from MPD's Second District. She is a wonderful resource with 9 years of Neighborhood Watch experience.
Please print out the attached flyer and encourage your most active and civic-minded neighbors to join us--please let them know especially if they don't use e-mail. It's really up to us! See below for details.
Thanks,
Cecilia
Date: Thu, 9 Jul 2009 08:25:22 -0400
Subject: New Neighborhood Watch Coming to Columbia Heights! Become a Block Captain!
From: nwchca@...
To: MPD-3d@yahoogroups.com; 3DSubstation@yahoogroups.com
Dear Friends and Neighbors,
A new Neighborhood Watch is starting in Columbia Heights! Neighborhood Watch is a recognized way for concerned community members to get involved and make a difference. This community-based organization of citizens working together with law enforcement has helped prevent burglaries, thefts, and violent crimes nationwide for many years. Ordinary people agree to look out for their neighbors and their neighbors property. Through having assigned Block Captains, Neighborhood Watch facilitates communication to all neighborhood residents. Having Block Captains also makes it easier to organize community-based activities and events. NWCHCA Neighborhood Watch will work in close partnership with MPD PSA 302 to help make our neighborhood safer.
We need BLOCK CAPTAINS! Please become a Block Captain and come to the training. Everyone reading this knows at least one neighbor who would make a great Block Captain--please spread the word to them, and encourage them to come to the training on the 20th. To cover every block in Columbia Heights, we'll need HUNDREDS of Block Captains, so let's get started!!!
The first NWCHCA Neighborhood Watch Block Captains training session will be:
Date: Monday, July 20, 2009
Time: 7:00 to 8:30 PM
Location: St Stephen and the Incarnation Episcopal Church, 1525 Newton St NW, Washington, DC 20010
(usual NWCHCA meeting place: 16th St & Newton, Red Doors 16th-Street side, downstairs cafeteria)
"Block Captains' Duties" (from the MPD website--NOTE: NWCHCA's Neighborhood Watch may or may not include every element listed. We will rely as much as possible on technology.)
Block Captains are the linchpin in the Neighborhood Watch scheme — they provide vital organization, energy, and management of the process. They serve as a link to the police for other residents of the block and ensure that information is flowing in both directions to everyone involved. Here are some of the things that a Block Captain might do:
- Distribute and maintain current information for the Neighborhood Watch Tool Kit, such as the phone tree, block and building maps.
- Distribute phone trees and block and building maps only to participating members
- Update phone trees and block maps as needed
- Reach out to special populations including senior citizens, deaf and hard of hearing residents, those with Limited English Proficiency (LEP), the physically challenged, and other people who may need additional assistance.
- Maintain an updated logbook of block residents, complete with their names, addresses, telephone numbers, e-mail addresses, and any special needs or conditions.
- If multiple blocks or apartments participate in the program, meet quarterly with other Block Captains to share issues.
- Obtain disaster preparedness and terrorism alert information from the DC Emergency Management Agency (available at www.dcema.dc.gov)
- Organize bi-annual or annual meeting of Neighborhood Watch members to review communication linkages, disaster preparedness, and terrorism alert instructions."
Please become a NWCHCA Neighborhood Watch Block Captain. This invitation is for Columbia Heights residents, businesses, etc. An RSVP is appreciated: nwchca@...
This is a very exciting time. Neighborhood Watch is just the mechanism we need to finally turn things around for the better in our neighborhood. In conjunction with the other great things NWCHCA is doing--monthly public meetings, Spanish-language outreach, Operation LiveLink, and the Community Criminal Justice Accountability Initiative (CCJAI, tracking criminal cases through the legal system), Neighborhood Watch will "tie it all together." It will also be very, very useful in the event of a September 11th-type emergency or a natural disaster like Hurricane Katrina.
It's in our interest to spend our time and effort working for a better neighborhood. We are all at risk of becoming the victim of a violent crime. We are also at risk for property thefts, including auto theft, car break-ins and burglaries. We all suffer the effects of living in a drug-ridden community. These factors have a negative impact on our quality-of-life and sense of well-being.
We also face another serious and very tangible detrimental effect: loss in property value. For those of us who own property in the neighborhood, it is in our interest to focus our energies, at least for a time, on putting a stop to the cycle of violence and drug crime in our neighborhood. It can be done if we work together, set priorities, and take coordinated action. The situation in our neighborhood is very serious, but if enough of us take a stand, the neighborhood will turn, just as other nearby neighborhoods have. Please see the information & resources cited below.*
Cecilia Jones
President, Northwest Columbia Heights Community Association (NWCHCA)
202-299-7868 (cell)
"Everyone is Responsible"
*Resources on Crime Prevention:
Neighborhood Watch - MPD: http://mpdc.dc.gov/mpdc/cwp/view,a,1242,q,560689,mpdcNav_GID,1523,mpdcNav,|.asp
Broken Windows: http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/198203/broken-windows
The Tipping Point: http://www.wikisummaries.org/The_Tipping_Point
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