Neighborhood Public Safety Events Take Place This Saturday

Residents Participate in the Greater Bond Neighborhood Assessment & Griffin Heights Cleanup

February 16, 2018

This Saturday, Feb. 17, two events associated with the Neighborhood Public Safety Initiative will take place. In the Greater Bond neighborhood, residents and volunteers will conduct a community assessment, walking block-by-block to collect information about the neighborhood’s assets and making notes of properties in need of repairs and opportunities for community beautification. Across town in the Griffin Heights neighborhood, residents and volunteers will also be conducting a community cleanup along Alabama and Harlem streets.

The Greater Bond Neighborhood Assessment will start at the Walker-Ford Community Center, located at 2301 Pasco Street, at 7:30 a.m. Residents and volunteers will be treated to a free breakfast and receive brief instructions before heading out in small groups. At 8:30 a.m., these groups will begin conducting assessments.

A few blocks over and a few hours later at 10 a.m., another group of residents and volunteers will gather in the Griffin Heights neighborhood to participate in a cleanup event, picking up trash and litter. Lead by Rudolph Ferguson, member of the Griffin Heights and Frenchtown Community Action Team and Pastor of New Birth Tabernacle of Praise, this weekend’s cleanup event builds upon work the City of Tallahassee recently conducted in the area. That work included City crews repairing sidewalks and streetlights, cleaning up illegal dumpsites and other issues noted during the Griffin Heights and Frenchtown Community Assessments that took place in October.

“Strong neighborhood leadership is critical to the success of the Neighborhood Public Safety Initiative and its overall mission to improve public safety in Tallahassee,” Mayor Pro Tem Curtis Richardson said. “I commend the Community Action Team and the residents of Griffin Heights for investing their time and energy to enhance public safety in their neighborhood.”

The City’s Neighborhood Public Safety Initiative (NPSI) seeks to address public safety by working with neighborhoods, law enforcement, local government, and faith-based and social service organizations to focus on crime prevention and education, community beautification, and community empowerment and volunteerism.

NPSI began in 2017 in the Griffin Heights and Frenchtown neighborhoods. Recently, it expanded to the Greater Bond neighborhood. NPSI provides participating neighborhoods with tools to better protect their homes and safely report suspicious activity. Efforts range from establishing a neighborhood crime watch to conducting property safety assessments.

NPSI was launched by the local Public Safety Collective, which includes the Tallahassee Police Department, Leon County Sherriff’s Office, the State Attorney’s Office, Big Bend Crime Stoppers, Tallahassee Fire Department, Capitol Police, the U.S. Attorney’s Office, the City’s TEMPO program and the police departments from FSU, FAMU and TCC. The initiative is supported by several City of Tallahassee Departments, including Parks, Recreation and Neighborhood Affairs; Growth Management; and Community Beautification and Waste Management. Community Action Teams are an extension of NPSI and help engage the broader neighborhoods in which they represent.

Volunteers for each of these events are still needed. If you’re interested in volunteering, please call 891-8773.