The following is a release from Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Jamal McNeill, Navy Office of Community Outreach:
From Phoenix to Baton Rouge, America’s Navy will come home to 15 cities across the country as part of the 2016 Navy Week program.
Navy Weeks, coordinated by the Navy Office of Community Outreach (NAVCO), are designed to give Americans the opportunity to learn about the Navy, its people and its importance to national security and prosperity.
Since 2005, the Navy Week program has served as the Navy’s flagship outreach effort into areas of the country without a significant Navy presence, with 181 Navy Weeks being held in 68 different U.S. cities.
“Navy Weeks are designed to help Americans understand that their Navy protects and defends America on the world’s oceans, that their Navy is deployed around the world around the clock, and is ready to defend America at all times,” said John Wallach, NAVCO’s deputy director. “Because the Navy is concentrated primarily on both coasts, we’re challenged to communicate our mission away from fleet concentration areas. The Navy Week program helps us do that.”
The 2016 Navy Week cities are:
- Phoenix, March 21-27
- Knoxville, Tennessee, April 11-17
- San Antonio, April 18-24
- St. Louis, May 9-15
- Roanoke, Virginia, May 16-22
- Syracuse, New York, June 6-12
- Dayton, Ohio, June 13-19
- Milwaukee, July 4-10
- Sioux Falls, South Dakota, July 18-24
- Des Moines, Iowa, Aug. 15-21
- Boise, Idaho, Aug. 22-28
- Albuquerque, New Mexico, Sept. 12-18
- Sacramento, California, Sept. 26-Oct. 2
- Houston, Oct. 17-23
- Baton Rouge, Louisiana, Oct. 31-Nov. 6.
Navy Weeks bring a variety of events, equipment and personnel to a single city for a weeklong series of engagements with the public, key influencers and organizations representing all sectors of the community.
“During a Navy Week, 75-100 outreach events are coordinated with corporate, civic, government, education, media, veterans, community service and diversity organizations in the city,” said Lt. Cmdr. Brett Dawson, NAVCO’s event planning department head. “We bring in as much of the Navy as we can. The Blue Angels, the Navy Parachute Team, bands, divers, Seabees, EOD teams, crews of ships and submarines that are named after a city or state or have a tie to the area, hometown Sailors, medical personnel, environmental displays, USS Constitution Sailors and equipment, and Navy recruiting assets all have participated in the Navy Week program.”
Navy Week cities are chosen based on a variety of factors, including Gallup data on Navy knowledge and awareness, Navy recruiting data, demographic information, namesake ties of ships and submarines, past outreach history in the market and geography, to ensure events are dispersed across the country.
Last year’s Navy Week program helped commemorate the Navy Reserve Centennial. There were 12 Navy Weeks across America that reached nearly 100 million Americans through more than 1,500 individual outreach events.
For more information on the 2016 Navy Week program, visit Outreach.Navy.mil.
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