Civic Engagement - Smithfield’s Faith and Blue Recap

By Michael Stallings, Town Manager, Town of Smithfield

Back in September I told you all about the Faith & Blue Weekend.  The Faith & Blue mission is to “facilitate safer, stronger, more just and unified communities by directly enabling local partnerships among law enforcement professionals, residents, businesses, and community groups through the connections of local fait-based organizations.”  The Town of Smithfield dipped our toes in the water with the program for the first time this year.  We moved our National Night Out event to October to be the kickoff for our events.  We partnered with a local church to host our main event. 

Our Police Chief was excited about the outcome of our event and looks forward to expanding upon our events next year.  He provided the below summary of the event”

Neighborhood Resourcing our Community

The event was in the Williams Mission Center of the Main Street Baptist Church from 10am until 3pm and was the second event for our Faith and Blue participation. There were 16 vendors present for this event that shared information to the participants that attended. People were able to obtain their booster shots for Covid as well as receive information on financial planning for people drawing social security.  Even though the attendance was low the information that was shared was invaluable. After we presented to the audience, we had several people to visit our table to obtain gun locks and other informational pamphlets that were available. I heard people say there should be more events of this nature for the public to attend.

I consider our first foray into this event a success.Anytime that we can build a better relationship between law enforcement and the community it serves, we all win.I encourage you all to take a look at the materials available on the Faith & Blue website www.facithandblue.org and to join me and the Town of Smithfield participating next year.There is a wealth of information and suggestions for events on the website for your use.