An effort by Davenport to stabilize and strengthen its neigborhoods appears to be working. Since it began nearly one year ago, 65 groups have joined the Good Neighbor Project.
Community Development Analyst Nevada Lemke says it's a partnership of the city and police department based on a sucessful program in Madison, Wisconsin. The goal is to take the idea of a Neighborhood Watch and go beyond just focusing on crime prevention.
"And what research has taught us is that once neighborhoods come together for that specific purpose and they find some result, they tend to break apart and lose those connections - they don't have the need to meet as often. So what we were looking to do was build neighborhoods that had more of a purpose than just addressing only crime."
She hopes the Good Neighbor groups in Davenport will will organize neighborhood cleanups, other improvements, block parties, and use social media to stay connected and improve the city.