FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact:
Audacia Ray
press@k9watch.org
November 11, 2011
Brooklyn: Kensington/Windsor Terrace
Neighbors Launch K9WaTch to Create Safer Community
In Response to Ongoing Sexual Assaults in Our Neighborhood
On Saturday, November 12, 2011 from 5 to 7 pm, Kensington/Windsor Terrace (KWT) neighbors and their dogs will gather at Brooklyn Commune (601 Greenwood Avenue, at Prospect Avenue) to launch K9WaTch (http://k9watch.org), the Kensington/Windsor Terrace Canine Watch. K9WaTch volunteers and their dogs, identified by brightly colored bandanas, will monitor the neighborhood streets in the evenings in an effort to regain safety and security in our neighborhood. K9WaTch was formed as a volunteer collective in October 2011 in response to assaults, attempted assaults, and muggings in the KWT area of Brooklyn. After weeks of planning and recruiting more than twenty volunteers and their canine partners, the K9WaTch program starts this weekend. K9WaTch volunteers will offer a nightly presence in the neighborhood. The launch event includes volunteers and their dogs and will provide photo and interview opportunities.
“I appreciate the feeling of community here and the work that people are doing in our neighborhood organizations. So when I heard that women were being attacked, it seemed only natural to participate in trying to make us all safer,” says Joy Rich, an organizer for K9WaTch who has been a KWT resident for twenty-four years, as well as a member of KARMABrooklyn's Resident Advisory Board and its blogger since its founding in 2009.
A group of concerned neighbors met up after connecting on our neighborhood email list, and decided to join forces to make our neighborhood safer by forming K9WaTch. Dog owners and non-dog-owners alike will don brightly colored bandanas and create increased neighborly presence at subway stops and on dark streets in the evenings. Our presence as a caring neighborhood collective discourages crime by creating awareness and promoting watchfulness in our community.
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