Help

Join Blockwatch

Blockwatch is neighbors looking out for each other, one province at a time. Find your province, ask to join it with a free account, and once one of its volunteers confirms that you live there, you see who leads it and how your neighbors keep in touch.

In short

Find your province on the Province Finder: type your street address, or choose a province on the map or from the list. You need no account, and we never save the address you type.
Ask to join on your Blockwatch page. It needs a free account; the Finder’s Join Blockwatch in province … button takes you there with your province chosen.
A volunteer confirms that you live there: with a card left at your door (never in a mailbox), by meeting you, or because a confirmed neighbor vouches for you. Never by phone or video call.
Once you’re confirmed, you see your province’s volunteers and its How we keep in touch note. Until then, you and the volunteers can write to each other on your request.
The Foundation supports Blockwatch; it doesn’t run it. In an emergency, call 911.

Step by step

Find your province

Open the Province Finder. You don’t need to sign in.
Type your address under Street address, such as 801 SW 174th St, and choose Find my province.
The answer appears under the button, and the map shows your province with your address marked. Many province borders run down the middle of a street, so when your address is close to one, the Finder names the province on the other side too.
Or choose your province on the map. With a keyboard or a screen reader, choose it from the list All twelve provinces instead.
The province’s panel shows its number, the places on the map inside it, and Join Blockwatch in province …. Back to all provinces shows the whole map again.

Ask to join your province

Choose Join Blockwatch in province … on the Province Finder, or open your Blockwatch page from your account page. If you aren’t signed in, sign in or create a free account first; you come back with your province chosen.
Check the Province, then fill in Your name and Street address: where you live in Normandy Park. When your account’s profile has them, they are filled in for you.
Under How you'd like to be reached, choose at least one: Text, Phone call, WhatsApp, Signal or Email. The first four use the number under Phone (optional); email uses your account’s address.
If you like, add A note on reaching you (optional), such as “Evenings are best”, and A message to the volunteers (optional).
Tick Share my name, address and contact details with province …'s Blockwatch volunteers and choose Send my request.
Before it goes, we check your address against the map. If it looks like it’s in another province, choose Ask to join province … instead, or send it to the province you chose anyway. If it looks like it’s outside Normandy Park, check it, or choose Send my request anyway and a volunteer will check.
Your request now shows on your Blockwatch page with the day you sent it, and the Blockwatch part of your account page says where it stands.

Get confirmed

A volunteer for your province confirms that you live there in one of three ways: a card left at your door, meeting you in person (or already knowing you), or a confirmed member of the province vouching for you.
If you find a card at your door, open your Blockwatch page. Under A card at your door, type the code into Code from the card (8 characters, such as K7QM-4XPR) and choose Confirm with the code. Capitals, spaces and dashes don’t matter.
The page says That's the code. You're a confirmed member.
Whichever way you’re confirmed, we email you to say so. Your province’s volunteers and its note appear on your Blockwatch page within a few minutes; reload the page if they don’t show yet.

Write to the volunteers before you’re confirmed

On your Blockwatch page, under Messages, type into Write to province …'s volunteers and choose Send message. They get an email saying you’ve written; your message stays on this site.
When a volunteer writes to you, we email you, and their message appears on your page signed Blockwatch volunteer, province …, never by name. The email is signed “A Blockwatch volunteer for province …”.
To reply, write on your Blockwatch page. The email comes from the Foundation, and its address doesn’t take replies.
The messages close once you’re confirmed. From then on, reach the volunteers in the ways their cards show.

See your province once you’re confirmed

Open your Blockwatch page.
Your province's volunteers shows each volunteer’s name, their position and only the ways of reaching them they chose to share.
How we keep in touch says how your neighbors stay in contact, such as a WhatsApp group or a text tree. If the volunteers haven’t written it yet, reach them in the ways their cards show.

Withdraw a request, or leave a province

On your Blockwatch page, choose Withdraw my request while you wait, or Leave province … once you’re a member.
Confirm with Withdraw my request or Leave province …. Keep my request or Stay a member changes nothing.
We clear your address, phone number, the ways to reach you, your note and message, any door code and the messages on your request. You can ask to join again later.

Good to know

Finding your province needs no account. Asking to join needs a free account, and you must be signed in.
The address you type in the Province Finder is used only to find your province. We look it up with OpenStreetMap, keep the answer in memory for an hour so a repeat search is quick, and never save or log the address.
Only your province’s volunteers, the Foundation’s Blockwatch administrator and its site administrators see your request. If your province has no volunteer yet, your request comes to the Foundation instead.
Until you’re confirmed, nothing on the site names a volunteer. Their names and how to reach them are shown only to the province’s confirmed members, and members don’t see each other on the site.
A door card is left at your door, never in a mailbox, with a code and no names on it. Its code works for 30 days, and you have five tries.
Volunteers never confirm an address by phone or video call.
The site sends no Blockwatch alerts and hosts no discussions: each province keeps in touch its own way. Nothing about Blockwatch goes to our email lists.
The Foundation supports Blockwatch; it doesn’t run it. We give volunteers guidelines and financial support, pay for it from our General Fund and help it grow one province at a time. The Normandy Park Police Department supports it with training and crime prevention.
If a crime is happening now, or in any emergency, call 911.

Questions and answers

Finding your province

My address is close to a border. Which province is mine?

Many province borders run down the middle of a street, so the Finder names the provinces nearby too. If you’re not sure which is yours, ask to join either: a volunteer will check. Or write to us about Blockwatch and we will check.

Do you keep the address I type into the Finder?

No. It goes to OpenStreetMap to find your province, the answer stays in memory for an hour so a repeat search is quick, and we never save or log the address. The address you give when you ask to join is different: it is kept with your request for your province’s volunteers until the request or your membership ends. The privacy page says more.

Joining

Why does a volunteer have to confirm that I live there?

Because volunteers share their names and contact details with their province’s members. Confirming that every member really lives in the province keeps those details among neighbors. Until you’re confirmed, you see your request and your messages, but not who leads the province. See the FAQ for the ways volunteers confirm an address.

My province has no volunteers yet. Can I still join?

Yes. Ask to join in the usual way: your request comes to the Foundation instead. If you’d like to lead Blockwatch in your province, tell us.

Can I join more than one province?

Yes, if you have a home in each. Once you have one request or membership, your Blockwatch page offers Ask to join another province; send a request for it in the same way. Each province confirms you on its own.

What happens if my request is declined?

It moves to Earlier requests on your Blockwatch page, which says we couldn’t confirm your address. We clear your address, phone number, the ways to reach you, your note, any door code and the messages on your request, and keep only the province, the dates and any note a volunteer made for the record. If you think it’s a mistake, choose Write to the Foundation beside it. You can ask again later.

Being a member

Does the site send Blockwatch alerts?

No, on purpose. Each province keeps in touch its own way, such as a WhatsApp group or a text tree, and its How we keep in touch note tells confirmed members how. If a crime is happening now, or in any emergency, call 911.

How do I volunteer, or lead Blockwatch in my province?

Tell us you’d like to lead Blockwatch, in your province or across the city. A province can have a province coordinator, Blockwatch captains and block contacts, and the FAQ says who appoints them.

Does the Foundation run Blockwatch?

No. The Foundation supports it: we give volunteers guidelines and financial support, pay for it from our General Fund and help it grow one province at a time. The volunteers in each province run it, neighbor to neighbor. Our emergency preparedness and Blockwatch guide explains how it is organized.

If something goes wrong

The messages you may see, word for word (“…” stands for a part that changes), what they mean and what to do.

“We could not find that address in Normandy Park.”: OpenStreetMap, which we use to look up addresses, didn’t find it in the city.; What to do: Check the spelling and the house number, or choose your province on the map.
“We found …, but not that house number.”: The street is in Normandy Park, but OpenStreetMap doesn’t know that house number on it.; What to do: Add your house number, or choose your province on the map.
“Address search is not working right now. Choose your province on the map, or try again in a minute.”: OpenStreetMap’s address search didn’t answer, or many people are searching at once.; What to do: Choose your province on the map or from the list of twelve, or try again in a minute.
“That is a lot of searches at once. Wait a minute, then try again.”: There were many searches from your connection in a short time.; What to do: Wait a minute, then search once more.
“Choose at least one way to reach you.”: Your request needs at least one way for the volunteers to reach you.; What to do: Tick one or more under How you'd like to be reached. For text, phone call, WhatsApp or Signal, give your phone number too.
“Tick the box to share your details with the province's volunteers.”: We send your request only once you agree to share your details with that province’s volunteers. Changing the province clears the tick.; What to do: Tick the box above Send my request, then send it.
“You've already asked to join Blockwatch province …”: You have a request for that province already waiting.; What to do: Follow it on your Blockwatch page, and write to the volunteers there if you have a question.
“You've sent several requests in the last hour. Wait a while, then try again.”: You can send only a few requests to join in an hour.; What to do: Wait a while, then send it again.
“That code doesn't match the card. Check it and try again: …”: The code you typed isn’t the one on the card. The message says how many tries are left.; What to do: Check the code on the card and type it again. Capitals, spaces and dashes don’t matter.
“Enter the 8-character code from the card, e.g. K7QM-4XPR.”: What you typed is shorter or longer than a code. A slip like this doesn’t use up a try.; What to do: Type all 8 characters from the card.
“This card is locked after … wrong tries.”: Five wrong codes were typed, so the card no longer works, even with the right code.; What to do: Write to your province’s volunteers under Messages on your Blockwatch page to ask for a new card.
“This card has expired.”: A card’s code works for 30 days.; What to do: Write to your province’s volunteers under Messages on your Blockwatch page to ask for a new card.
“No door card is out for this request. A volunteer may still leave one; you can write to them below.”: No volunteer has left a card for your request.; What to do: Wait for a card, or write to the volunteers under Messages. They may confirm you another way.
“Your request is no longer waiting, so its messages are closed. Use your province's own ways of keeping in touch.”: You’ve been confirmed, or the request has ended, so you can’t write on it any more.; What to do: Once you’re confirmed, reach the volunteers in the ways their cards show on your Blockwatch page.
“Request to join province … declined, ….”: A volunteer couldn’t confirm that you live in the province, so the request was closed.; What to do: If you think it’s a mistake, choose Write to the Foundation beside it. You can ask to join again later.

Still need help?

Waiting to be confirmed? Write to your province’s volunteers under Messages on your Blockwatch page.
Any other question about Blockwatch? Write to us about Blockwatch from the Contact page; the form opens with the subject filled in.
To lead Blockwatch in your province, tell us you’d like to.