Multilingual and culturally competent staff are essential in diverse communities. The Neighborhood Network Center in Lansing, Michigan, is co-located with community policing officers who coordinate a team of social service and health professionals. The program recruits nursing students and others to provide health screening, employment services and job referrals, language interpreting, emergency housing and food assistance, recreation for youth, and education counseling for adults. Center staff and neighbors cleaned the area of trash, planted flowers, organized a garden tool borrowing program, and closed several drug houses. Since the Center opened in 1990, crime in the neighborhood has decreased 75 percent.
More residents have jobs and own homes.
Community events occur regularly.