Leon County, the city and The Council of Neighborhood Associations want local neighborhoods to sign up for an annual Recognition Program.
The Neighborhood Recognition Program wants to acknowledge the county and city’s neighborhoods for their ongoing efforts to improve communities.
County Commission chair Nick Maddox says community involvement plays an important role.
“A lot of times people think that the people who sit in the seats as our elected officials make the decisions. But our decisions are so heavily influenced by people who get involved in their community to the point that they can be neighbor of the year or their neighborhood can be neighborhood of the year,” he says.
Christic Henry with CONA says she sees the impacts of what she calls “neighborism.”
"Systems that prepare our neighbors for events of disaster, systems that create access for our residence to have health care and other social services that are available; systems that give our citizens voices when it comes to situations and issues and changes that are going to impact where they call home. So this is extremely important what we do every year in recognizing these efforts," Henry says.
The program will honor Neighbor of the Year, Public Servant of the Year, Business Neighbor of the Year and Sustainable Neighborhood of the Year.