For too long neighborhoods in America have ceased to incorporate the true idea of “community.” Many have fallen into the habit of isolating themselves from their neighbors. This has resulted in an increase in crime, drugs and gangs and so often it is children that pay the price with not only their lives and freedom, but with their spirit. Stephanie Mann is working on changing all of that.

Ms. Mann knows far too well what it’s like to grow up without a real sense of community around her. Like so many others, Stephanie was from a single-parent family. As a child she lived in New York, Washington, Arizona, Florida—just to name a few of the places she briefly called home. “I was a nomad as a kid. So I understand the importance of getting people connected,” she says. “Because it was very isolating and it was very debilitating.” For her entire adult life Stephanie Mann has taken great strides to provide countless others with exactly what she grew up without.

In the early 1970s in a small town in California—a population of only 17,500 and lacking a single police station—Stephanie witnessed the effect that disconnected neighborhoods can have on a community. In 1969 there was a substantial crime wave. Burglaries and drug related crimes started a frighteningly upward crime…and kids were committing the majority. Something desperately needed to change. Along with her neighbors, Stephanie took part in forming a neighborhood responsibility program. They started programs at the local high schools and provided drug resistance education. They worked to put neighbors back in touch with one another and brought awareness to what was going on.

Stephanie Mann helped launch a national Neighborhood Watch Program

As a result residents stopped tolerating the crimes, came together and eventually the kids even quit their own bad behavior. Within two years crime in the community was reduced an astounding 48%. Word got out and the news media started paying attention. Ms. Mann and her group began getting calls from all over wanting to know how they had accomplished it. So in 1975 Stephanie Mann and Shirley Henke wrote a book called Alternative to Fear: Guidelines for Safer Neighborhoods. That one little book sold thousands of copies all over the United States and was a huge factor in launching the national “Neighborhood Watch” program.

“People do not understand their own power,” Ms. Mann says. She works very hard to give that power back to communities. “They have the power to influence not only their children, but their neighborhoods… Fear creates social isolation. When people are socially isolated, that’s when crime gets out of control… The fear can be reduced.”

The biggest reason that Stephanie Mann is so determined to bring neighborhoods everywhere back together is for the sake of every child out there. “Children are such an important resource and they have such an awesome spirit that they sometimes lose by the time they get to be 10 or 12…” Stephanie recalls a young boy years ago in her own neighborhood in need of security and foundation that she was able to give sanctuary and guidance to. She also remembers another boy in need of a role model who found it in a neighborhood fireman. That boy has since grown into a man and chose to become a fireman himself…rather than falling victim to gangs and crime.

The Mayor of Richmond's Assistant (left) receiving 100 copies of the Adopt-A-Block Guidebook from Stephanie Mann (center) and Dr. Barbara Williams (right)

To help preserve and empower our nation’s greatest resource—children—Stephanie Mann helped found an organization called Safe Kids Now! In addition to educating youth through their Street Safe Kids program, Stephanie and her group have started something called Adopt-A-Block.

Any group—be it a school, a civic group or a religious community—can adopt a city block in need of mending. The adoptive group then goes door-to-door in the neighborhood asking 3 simple questions: What are your concerns? Have you been a victim? Will you help? “They can change their whole neighborhood just by the fact that they’re working together as a group and they can pull the whole thing together in a very short amount of time. We want to empower them so they can take back their neighborhood, take back their community and empower kids.” From there the group works together with the neighborhood to make it a safer place and provide real role models for kids in need.

Stephanie Mann urges parents to “surround your kids with a network of support. They need family and extended family. Strengthen your relationships with people that are good role models. Give them a good, strong foundation or they’ll find one of their own. Every child deserves a safe neighborhood and kids need community. They’ll create their own community if you don’t provide it.”

*photos taken from 1Sock, adamrice and Dead Air on Flickr and SafeKidsNow.com