Journey Towards Becoming Missional: National Night Out (Jubilee Neighborhood)

This evening I had the chance to go to one of the nine (was supposed to go to 2 of the 9 but one of them canceled) neighborhoods that the Dallas Leadership Foundation works in. That neighborhood was called Jubilee and tonight was Texas National Night Out. National Night Out is a new concept for me and I didn’t know anything about it or what to expect. So, what is National Night Out? Great question! National Night Out is essentially somewhat like a block party. Many residents of the neighborhood come out as well as many of the law enforcement. This night is meant to be a time for the neighborhoods and the law enforcement officials to work together and stand against crime. It is simply put, a fight against crime.

It is amazing to see so many law enforcement and neighborhood residents come out in one location and for one night to work together. Now if only this could continue throughout the year. What would happen if everyone that was at National Night Out attended the Neighborhood Association meetings and worked together on a regular basis to fight against crime? I would think that people would be scared to cause problems and create crime in that neighborhood! So, why doesn’t this continue over throughout the year? Now that’s a question that I can’t answer.

Besides the fight against crime, National Night Out is a great place for families to come out together and gather more information about various things, including speaking to the law enforcement and getting to know others that live in their neighborhood. As someone that had never attended something like this before and didn’t know what to expect, I would say that Jubilee had a good turn out and had good interaction with each other. If the amount of people that attended Jubilee’s National Night Out continue to fight against crime by calling law enforcement and reporting suspicious behavior then change will happen. I don’t know the numbers as to how many people were at this event but it was at least a couple hundred people. So, I would encourage Jubilee and the other neighborhoods that are fighting crime, to not give up and to continue working together and building relationships with one another and the law enforcement.

I spent the majority of the evening with the neighborhood association leader and it was good getting to know her and building a relationship with her since I have not had a previous chance to meet her or interact with her. It was good to see that she knew a majority of the people that attended the event and knew probably all of the law enforcement officials that attended the event. This to me shows me that she is working to create a better community and she truly does want to fight against crime.

So, that was my first experience with National Night Out and I definitely stand for what they are trying to do through having National Night Out. Now, just need to figure out how to keep the relationships going and how to get people and families involved! This was a high Hispanic populated community and that is still my passion. I was able to help with calling out raffles in Spanish and it’s good to speak Spanish as well as to slowly brush up and become comfortable speaking and using Spanish. I look forward to continue building the relationships with this community and seeing what God has to bring over the next 2 years!