National Association of Town Watch - being held Tuesday - started in 1984 to promote neighborhood involvement in crime and drug prevention, strengthen police-community relations and encourage camaraderie among neighbors. Since its inception, the event has grown to involve more than 37 million people from more than 15,000 communities, according to Town Watch's website, natw.org. "In our fight for a safer nation, National Night Out has proven to be an effective, inexpensive and enjoyable program to promote neighborhood spirit and police-community partnerships," said Matt Peskin, the association's executive director and National Night Out creator. "If you look at the 1940s and the 1950s, neighborhoods were safer places because people knew each other. Neighborhoods today are not as tightly knit as they used to be, even with Facebook and other social media tools at their disposal." For Brenda Armitage, a real-estate agent with All Pros Realty in Virginia Beach, a close call with tragedy ignited her passion to connect with neighbors. Six years ago, Armitage's then-3-year-old daughter was hit by a car on her bike in front of the family's Carolanne Farms neighborhood at the Beach. Armitage began advocating for the neighborhood children by trying to get a sign installed warning drivers to go slow because children were at play. This effort led Armitage, a mother of three, to revitalize Carolanne Farms' civic league, organize block parties, and start an annual luminary event called "Share Your Light Night" and an annual Fourth of July parade in the Kempsville neighborhood. "Create a