Though it may seem daunting at first, hosting an event is an incredible way to bring members of your community closer to one another. A close community is a safer community, simply because everyone is more likely to look out for each other. You can be the catalyst for change in your area!
However, if you’re going to host a community event, it’s important to keep safety in mind.
Some easy ways to make sure you’re putting safety first:
-Get other community members to join in
-Get assistance from lawmakers and first repsonders
-Keep to local ordinances
-Learn more about neighbors beforehand
Integrate the Community into Your Event
The first people you should turn to are the other people in your community. Reaching out helps to build trust, as the people you ask for help will feel like an important part of the event. You’ll also have more hands on deck, which can lift some of the burden off you and make it easier to put on a great event.
A good way to start going about this is to talk to people with whom you already have a connection. If you’re friends with some of your close neighbors, ask them to join. If you’re friends with other community parents, get their help in organizing things. That way, you’re able to trust the people that are helping you set everything up.
Get Help from Local Lawmakers and First Responders
If you’re able to get a local politician or fire department to come to your event, it lends more of an official air. A general event put on by the HOA or a few families in the neighborhood might not attract as much attention, but if you pass out flyers that mention your local first responders as “guests of honor,” you might find that more people attend.
This is also a good way for those officials to integrate with the community, as well. Politicians always want to know more about the people they’re representing, and first responders want to build rapport with the community to create more trust. By reaching out, you’re benefiting all parties.
Adhere to all Local Ordinances
Depending upon where you live and how big your event gets, you may need to file permits or fill out licenses to host your event. Usually, cities are good about requiring that the bureaucratic hoops you jump through are largely related to safety, so it’s an important step to remember. It’s not just about staying within legal limits; it’s also about making sure that everyone in attendance is safe.
You may also need to clear your event with a local HOA or neighborhood watch. If you partner with these people rather than just hosting your own event, it should go off without a hitch.
Of course, you’ll have to do more work for a larger event. So, just keep that in mind when brainstorming the scale.
Check the Safety of all Neighborhood Members
You want to make sure that everyone you invite or ask to help with your event is safe to be around. That means you should do a little investigating to check that your neighborhood is generally safe. To try and check out the people in your neighborhood, use PeopleFinders.
First, perform address lookups on the homes throughout your neighborhood. In doing so, you may be able to find general information about each home, as well as the names of the people who live in and/or own the home now. You can then use those names to try and perform criminal records searches. If you discover anything shady about someone, you may then decide whether or not they should be involved with your gathering.
Conclusion
Most of the time, neighborhood events are quite tame. There’s no real need to be paranoid about if your neighborhood event will end up becoming dangerous. But it’s still good to take some basic precautions that might help keep you and your neighbors safer.
All of the above are all low-effort ways to enhance the fun and overall success of a neighborhood event. And using PeopleFinders is an especially low-effort way to try and bump up your safety.
Although this is an important way to use PeopleFinders, it’s not the only one. The PeopleFinders blog is full of additional information about how you can try to use PeopleFinders in your day-to-day life to be safer.
Image attribution: andreaobzerova – stock.adobe.com
