The City of Davenport announced the Good Neighbor Project Wednesday, as a way to increase community engagement and raise awareness of how relationships increase neighborhood safety.
The project is a collaboration between Davenport Police and Community Planning and Economic Development departments based on a similar program in Madison, Wis. The City moved away from having neighborhood watches, so this revamps the model.
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the Good Neighbor Project.
“It brings out the positivity of a neighborhood,” police Sgt. Andrew Harris said. “Successful neighborhoods focus on what is good in neighborhoods, not what is wrong.”
The program will have its first quarterly meeting on March 10 at 6 p.m. in the Davenport Police Department community room, 426 N. Harrison St.
The program is less formal in structure than neighborhood watch groups. In Madison it is set up to include as few as two people. It can be a small group of neighbors that communicate by text, it can be a neighborhood that holds meetings regularly to discuss neighborhood concerns, or it can be a defined neighborhood with boundaries, bylaws, board members and more
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“It could be as simple as sharing your phone number with your neighbor to let them know if you see their garage door open,” Harris said.
The program recommends the “nine house” model, where residents should try to get to know the neighborhoods in the three homes behind them, the three homes across the street and the neighbors on each side. That way contact information can be shared in case any needs or emergencies arise.