2011 National Night Out
TIME TO PLAN FOR NATIONAL NIGHT OUT!!
America's Night Out Against Crime
The "28th Annual National Night Out" (NNO), a unique crime and drug prevention event sponsored by the National Association of Town Watch (NATW), and the City of Hattiesburg has been scheduled for Tuesday, August 2, 2011
Last year's National Night Out campaign involved citizens, law enforcement agencies, civic groups, businesses, neighborhood organizations and local officials from over 15,000 communities from all 50 states, U.S. territories, Canadian cities and military bases worldwide. In all, over 37 million people participated in National Night Out 2010.
THE CITY’S PLANS FOR THIS YEAR’S PROJECT
This year the theme is “Hattiesburg: a P.A.L. for our Youth” (Police Athletic League).
The NNO Kick-Off Party is July 28th from 6:00 P.M. to 8:00 P.M. at the Town Square Park located at the corner of Main and Buschman Streets (rain site is the Train Depot). The NNO Parade begins at 5:30 pm at the steps of City Hall. The Kick-Off is a fun-filled festival with fun, food, entertainment, educational exhibits, school supplies giveaways, safety displays, information booths and best of all it is FREE!!
Also this year we have added a Safety Fair, which will be held on July 30th from 10:00 A.M. to 4:00 P.M. in the parking area of Temple Baptist Church, East Campus, 1508 Hardy Street.
The Annual National Night Out in the Neighborhoods is August 2nd from 6:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. During this time, elected City and County officials as well as City employees travel to as many locations as possible to interact with residents in their neighborhoods.
WHAT DO YOU NEED TO DO TO ORGANIZE/PARTICIPATE:
Contact the City of Hattiesburg’s neighborhood coordinator, Maxine Coleman, at (601) 554-1005 to discuss how to plan your event.
Gather your neighbors and divide up the tasks. Decide on a possible theme, who you will invite, what activities you will have (i.e. talent show, socials, contests, concert, parade, ball games, board games, cookouts or neighborhood jeopardy / Trivia), and what to do about food (potluck, desserts, etc). Some have asked the businesses in their areas to participate and used neighborhood banners to thank the businesses (free advertisement for the businesses).
NNO is for neighborhoods that have the same common goals – safe and livable communities with neighbors looking out for neighbors. The benefits our City derives from NNO extends beyond the one night, it is the start of relationships – neighbor to neighbor and neighbors with law enforcement.
Past National Night Out Events in Hattiesburg
For 21 years, the City of Hattiesburg has hosted the National Night Out Against Crime Project. The project has included a Kick-Off Parade and Party as a prelude to the Annual Night Out in the Neighborhoods.
Over 200 residents marched in the 2010 NNO Kick-Off Parade, nearly 700 residents networked with their neighbors from neighborhoods throughout the community at the Town Square Park from 6:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m.
Hattiesburg’s theme for the 2010 project was “Extreme National Night Out: Hattiesburg Edition”. The guest speaker at the Kick-Off was Deputy Sherman Heathcock. Deputy Heathcock works for the Forrest County Sheriff Department and also serves in the U.S. Army.
On America’s Night Out we visited 41 neighborhood events. Events were block parties, cookout, ice cream socials, dance presentations, musicals, fish fries, watermelon socials just to name a few.
Hattiesburg’s National Night Out projects have received National Award Recognition in Category 3 (population 50,000 to 99,999) over the last several years, last year’s project received the highest ranking, which was 11th in this category.
For more information:
