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Strengthen Your Neighborhood
Strengthening and improving our neighborhoods requires involvement from each of us. Knowing your neighbors is the key to this process. Check out this Know Your Neighbor factoid.
Why should you Know your Neighbor?
Don't underestimate the importance of getting to know your neighbors because they may be someone you can reach out to for chat or for help in an emergency situation. Good communication is key to building positive relationships with neighbors which helps with approaching them later to address other issues of concern.
Tools for Communicating with Neighbors
- Collect phone and address information via sign-up sheet to set up a phone tree.
- Create a private Facebook group - Facebook allows users to make private groups. Posts and other content can be controlled by the administrator. If every neighbor has Facebook, you can create events, post messages, photos, and files.
- Use Facebook Messenger so that everyone can comment immediately or send photos and files. You can make one group message where all topics are discussed, or you can make different conversations.
- Create an email distribution group - works well for non-social media users. A neighbor may choose to create an internal neighborhood newsletter. Use Next Door to create your group so that neighbors can be notified about issues of safety or upcoming events.
Plan a Neighborhood Event - Start a New Tradition!
Getting to know your neighbors helps create a sense of community. When you have come together to define the boundaries of your neighborhood, work on hosting a neighborhood event. Here are some ideas from your Neighborhood Services team:
Scheduling frequent neighborhood walks not only allows you to catch up with each other about your respective lives but is also a source of healthy exercise. Strategically, these walks will help neighbors identify non functioning streetlights, damaged or uplifted sidewalks, missing or bent street signs, or areas that repeatedly experience graffiti or illegal dumping. Using the My Anaheim application on your smartphone, you can take pictures and provide location information for items that require the city's attention. This creates a record of what you are reporting and assists you with maintaining the livability of your neighborhoods.
Our residents are welcome to contact their Neighborhood Services Coordinator and invite that person to a scheduled neighborhood walk. This way you and your neighbors can learn more about what the city can do to resolve the identified issues but also learn about your local city government and how to get involved.
A block party is a great way to greet new neighbors and catch up with those you haven't seen in a while. It can have a seasonal theme (i.e., July 4th, summer barbecue, or Christmas potluck). When you ready, visit the City's Block Party page to learn about how to set up a successful event. This is a great opportunity to invite your Neighborhood Services Coordinator to present on Neighborhood Services and what it does to serve the public and to provide important information and resources.
Organizing a Neighborhood Watch is a great way for neighbors to get to know each other, get trained to recognize and report suspicious activities, implement crime prevention techniques, and actively collaborate with law enforcement to reduce crime in your community. You can host a meeting and invite your community policing team to consult on current crime trends and statistics, and schedule a crime prevention through environmental design (CPTED) assessment.
Neighborhood Clean-up campaigns provide 30 yd. trash bins to Anaheim neighborhoods once a year and free of charge. This helps in the disposal of large items that do not fit in conventional trash containers. Work with your Neighborhood Services Coordinator to choose such are the area in front of the home of volunteer neighbors or a cul de sac that will host a bin for a weekend. We will also create and print the fliers for you for FREE.
As a neighborhood, your families should be prepared for a natural disaster and how to support one another while rescue services arrive. It may be days or weeks before these services are able to lend assistance due to major damage control. Contact your Fire and Rescue Department at (714) 765-4000 and a request information on the Disaster Preparedness.
Serving on a board or commission is a great way of participate in civic life. As a member, you can share your expertise while being directly involved in shaping your local community. The City of Anaheim has a number of boards and commissions that perform a valuable service by providing a means by which the City Council can obtain the advice, opinions, and recommendations of City residents and other members of the community. Your Neighborhood Services team encourages you to apply online when you are ready to step up and serve your community to better craft its future.
Get involved with your city's government. Volunteer to attend your Neighborhood District Community Meeting, organized by your Neighborhood Services Section, and City Council meetings to learn about the decisions being made that may affect your neighborhood. You can attend a City Council meeting in person scheduled Tuesdays at 5p.m. or view live online.