Safe Night-24HourDallas Good Neighbor Initiative Case Study

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In the summer of 2021, Responsibility.org recruited and sponsored Safe Night to bring

their nightlife management model, A Safe Night Out, to the City of Dallas, Texas.

Responsibility.org selected the Safe Night team based on their years of experience and innovation in managing nightlife and implementing the first voluntary bar and restaurant accreditation model in the U.S., the Arlington Restaurant Initiative (ARI) in Arlington, Virginia.

24HourDallas in partnership with Safe Night created the Good Neighbor Initiative and the program is setting the standard for safety in the City of Dallas.

To read the Safe Night - Dallas Good Neighbor Initiative case study, click here.

In the fall of 2021, Safe Night began officially providing technical assistance and consultation to 24HourDallas and the City of Dallas. Initial guidance was to create a working group of Dallas city department leaders who would commit their staff and collaborate with 24HourDallas. Later in 2021, Safe Night staff traveled to Dallas to conduct a multi-day assessment of nightlife operations in several areas of the city. Additionally, the goal was to find a nightlife area in the city that would most benefit from a nightlife management program. The findings of the Safe Night assessment, as well as recommendations, were released in the spring of 2022 to 24HourDallas and the City of Dallas in a report titled the Dallas Nightlife Assessment and Recommendations Report.

In early 2022, Safe Night, together with 24HourDallas, developed the safety standards for the Copper Star certification, which mirrored the successful ARI program in Arlington, Virginia. In addition, 24HourDallas released the name of their program, called the Good Neighbor Initiative (GNI). The program also focuses on several other initiatives, including:

• Women U-Night event advocates for nighttime operators to adopt a women’s nighttime safety charter.
• Sidewalk Ambassador program to provide intervention to supplement public safety efforts in Dallas’ nightlife districts. 
• Every Voice address unconscious bias toward consumers in the nightlife sector and helps diversify nighttime entrepreneurism through a volunteer-powered training program.

Later in April of 2022, Safe Night delivered a four-day nightlife management training class for all stakeholders, Dallas agency staff, bar and restaurant owners, and community-based organizations. The Safe Night training introduced Dallas agency staff to new concepts focused on prioritizing prevention over enforcement, collaborative problem-solving, and building individual relationships with the community.

Since Safe Night’s training, 24HourDallas has led collaborative efforts with the City of Dallas, and the Good Neighbor Initiative has grown. Good Neighbor Initiative Project Manager Bryan Tony, MPA, has been the leader the program needed most by recruiting businesses, being a tireless nightlife safety advocate, and willingness to collaborate with experts in the nighttime economy.