UNC’s annual Neighborhood Night Out takes place tonight at the Hargraves Community Center, located on Chapel Hill’s Northside, a neighborhood which has seen a large amount of comingling between Chapel Hill residents and UNC students.
The event is part of the larger Good Neighbor Initiative, which UNC’s director of fraternity and sorority life and community involvement Aaron Bachenheimer says seeks to bridge the gap between those two groups and foster good will and positive relations between students and full-time residents.
“We’re really trying to encourage through this event the appreciation and understanding of what it means to live in community with one another and help folks think about what it means to be a good neighbor,” said Bachenheimer.
Among the activities of the evening will be food from Buns and Ben & Jerry’s, a community walk, a DJ and raffle prizes.
Bachenheimer said that he’s seen improvements in what haven’t always been positive community relations.
“Since I started back in 2009-2010, I think at that time there was a real hesitancy to engage across the student, non-student line,” said Bachenheimer.
The event takes place from 5 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. and is open to the public.
