Strengthening neighborhoods is a cornerstone of my campaign. That’s why I was in one of Fresno’s most crime-challenged areas today to help residents there launch a “Band of Neighbors” alert network. It's the neighborhood of El Dorado Park, which residents are working together to make safer for their families.

They heard about a service called “Band of Neighbors” which was developed by local entrepreneur Bob Hayden, with support from the Central Valley Business Incubator. The system allows neighborhood residents to quickly share urgent information with each other via cell phone. For instance, if one neighbor sees suspicious activity, they can call the Band of Neighbors service and a warning is quickly sent to all the Band of Neighbors users in their network.

Cost was preventing the El Dorado residents from being able to launch a Band of Neighbors network. So, I decided to reach out to the local business community to help underwrite the service for them. Sam Geil, President of Geil Enterprises, Inc. stepped forward immediately. The residents of El Dorado Park now have use the latest high-tech tool for keeping their neighborhood safer for their families.

These are the kinds of partnerships that I believe can help us transform disadvantaged neighborhoods and make them safer and stronger. That will benefit not only those who live there, but our city as a whole.