National Night Out (NNO) Spans Santa Clara, Sunnyvale

National Night Out took over Santa Clara and Sunnyvale streets, schools and parks as part of a nationwide effort to promote a sense of community.

People all over Santa Clara took over the streets and sometimes, their local schools for the annual National Night Out (NNO).

The neighbors on Barkley Avenue have made National Night Out (among other holidays throughout the year) an annual event. 2022 was their 19th year of hosting an NNO event and the turnout was great.

Organized by Steve and Pam Treder and Ida and Craig Larsen, the neighbors gathered at Bowers Elementary School, thanks to cooperation from the Santa Clara Unified School District (SCUSD) and the Bowers Elementary staff.

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The gathering embodied the idea of what National Night Out is all about. Getting to know your neighbors, getting reacquainted with neighbors you might not have seen recently and having a good time. Cupcakes and cookies were provided. While previous years have seen barbeques with a wide variety of food, COVID made it difficult this year.

In Sunnyvale, residents got to climb on a firetruck and hold a firehose. Kids climbed aboard police motorcycles and officers got into the face painting fun.

“It’s an event we look forward to every year and we’re already counting down the days to NNO 2023,” Sunnyvale Department of Public Safety (DPS) wrote on its Facebook account.

NNO was started in 1984 by the National Association of Town Watch. It happens on the first Tuesday of August and has become “an annual community-building campaign that promotes police-community partnerships and neighborhood camaraderie to make our neighborhoods safer, more caring places to live.”

In 2022, 342 California cities took part in NNO with Santa Clara and Sunnyvale participating in street parties and events at local parks, like Live Oak Park in the Rivermark neighborhood. According to the Santa Clara Police Department (SCPD), residents gathered at 43 different locations across the City to take part in this year’s NNO.

NNO offers neighbors a chance to get reacquainted, share some goodies and meet new residents in their neighborhood.

The initial idea of NNO was to encourage neighbors to turn on their porch lights, come out of their homes and meet their neighbors.

To help strengthen the idea of partnering with the community, members of the Santa Clara City Council, police officers, firefighters, Santa Clara administrators and SCUSD board members took the time to visit various neighborhoods in Santa Clara.

To find out how to sign up for NNO 2023, contact the City of Santa Clara’s Police Department Crime Prevention Unit at (408) 615-4875 or email crimeprevention@santaclaraca.gov. You can also visit the NNO website at www.natw.org.

NNO 2023 will take place on Tuesday, August 1, 2023.