What is Safe Blocks?
Safe Blocks focuses on communities that are disproportionately impacted by social vulnerability and the root causes of violence. Our approach centers on empowering communities with the necessary skills and knowledge for community safety and violence prevention. We help build safer communities, block by block.
Safe Blocks provides the following services:
- Community safety-focused workshops and trainings;
- Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design (known as CPTED) security assessments;
- Expert guidance on community engagement;
- Event organization support; and
- Neighborhood improvement projects.
The Safe Blocks Program (formerly the Crime Prevention Program) has provided these trainings and services to all Portlanders at no cost for nearly 40 years.
Why Do We Need Community Safety?
Our communities and neighbors are our closest, most powerful source of safety and connection. When we come together to share our skills and resources, solve problems, and take care of each other, we create safer, more welcoming communities. Because the safety needs of every Portlander are unique, Safe Blocks works with our communities to learn what they need and selects events and projects that best fit those needs.
We work with neighborhood groups and businesses on community-led “placemaking” projects and events. Projects include street murals, graffiti clean-ups, and community gardens invest in the physical environment and promote reductions in crime and violence without additional policing. Events like block parties draw in more positive attention and build connected, safe, and livable communities. By having communities lead these events, we build welcoming spaces and activities that work for them and strengthen their connection to local government.
Our free trainings, such as the Personal Safety Workshops and Neighbors Together trainings, add to Portlanders’ own sense of safety. When we have safety knowledge and skills, we are more empowered to protect ourselves and help others during potentially unsafe situations. The Community Safety team teaches community members how to find and reduce safety vulnerabilities like improving lighting in dark areas around your home or business.
History of the Safe Blocks Program (formerly Crime Prevention Program)
The Safe Blocks program has evolved in name, structure, and focus for nearly forty years. The constant thread has always been to provide Portlanders with valuable resources and skills related to safety and crime prevention while also believing in the power of community to develop their own strategies.
Historically, Safe Blocks was known as the City’s Crime Prevention Program and led many well-known community safety and prevention initiatives. Portlanders may remember us as overseeing National Night Out, Neighborhood Watch, Neighborhood Ready, prescription drug take back events, landlord trainings, the Enhanced Safety Properties program, the Neighbors Together program, and public safety action committee meetings. These programs inform the work we currently do today, and some are still actively part of our services.
Over the years, although our format and structure have changed, we still exist as the only on-the-ground community safety engagement and crime prevention program at the City of Portland.