By Megan CrepeauThe Daily Northwestern

Two months after its first official meeting, the local volunteer group called Partnering Toward a Safer Evanston has produced an action plan with monthly, yearly and long-term goals that goes into effect this month.

The plan’s goals include increasing community involvement, lowering the crime rate and enhancing quality of life, according to its text.

“The reality is that there is some crime,” said Ald. Delores Holmes (5th), who has attended the meetings as a representative of the city. “You might think it doesn’t concern you, but what happens in one part of the city affects another part of town. … The police cannot just do things by themselves.”

Partnering Toward a Safer Evanston is sponsored by Evanston, both local school districts and Northwestern. First among the group’s goals, according to Holmes, is setting up a page on the city’s Web site where citizens can communicate with each other and easily access Evanston’s main Web site. Other April goals include surveying high school students concerning their civic engagement and organizing leadership in “block clubs” so neighborhoods can communicate with each other through official representation.

“It will certainly help citizens to understand that knowing your neighbor is a very important aspect, so you can take care of each other,” Holmes said.

In addition to building community involvement, Holmes said her main hope is that the action plan will make the city safer.

Few concrete objectives have been achieved, though “April is just starting,” Holmes said.

“It’s a bunch of people that are trying to band together in an informal formal organization,” said Rick Prieto, a member of the group. “So it’s off to a slow start.”

However, Prieto said he remains optimistic.

“It’s a group of loosely organized citizens at this time, it’s strictly volunteer,” Prieto said. “I think in the long run, if people can keep their interests up, we can see some good results.”

Reach Megan Crepeau at [email protected].