The twelfth annual Florida Neighborhoods Conference in Tallahassee is showing residents how to take responsibility of their community. The event kicked off Thursday with comments from former Governor Bob Graham. The event will continue Friday with workshops, exhibits, and valuable information on how to improve your community. Some of the information available shows residents how to work with local governments to start programs such as Neighborhood Watch.

Ryan Dunphy with the Tallahassee Police Department says a neighborhood watch works much like a tree of information. "They can tell us if they saw something if we give them an alert. A couple neighborhoods have had real good success in that. We've given out some information and then a couple minutes later, they call us and say, hey, we saw such and such car and solve a crime." said Dunphy.

Patrick Gray, President of the Piney Z Homeowner's Association said, "It's not just a matter of responding to the issues that become a concern, but learning the resources to use. The county resources and the city resources."

Workshops at the event are separated into topics such as state government, affordable housing, creating safe and livable communities and more. On Friday, the key speaker will be a reformed gang member who now works with kids on self-empowerment and personal responsibility. Find out more information about this event by calling the Tallahassee Economic and Community Development Department at 850-891-6500