Let’s go for a walk around the neighborhood.

Today we are on Walnut Avenue in the Parkside neighborhood of Jamaica Plain. It’s full of large, colorful multi-family homes, many of which are decorated for Halloween.

We stop in front of Dorothy Fennell’s house, converted into a cemetery filled with skeletons, tombstones and “Wizard of Oz”-style apple trees.

“If I say where I live, they say, ‘You’re the Halloween house,'” Fennell said. “My husband is very interested in Halloween and I see it as his contribution to the development of the community. »

Tonight, Fennell Street will come alive. She and her neighbors close a section of their street to slow traffic and allow families and their children to enjoy Halloween safely.

It’s one of 40 fall parties and events that the City of Boston is funding through its Spooky Streets Grant program.

“I wanted to make sure they could continue to come and count on that walkability and safety for kids and families one night a year,” Fennell said.

Fennell received a $250 Spooky Streets grant from the city, part of $10,000 in fall recreation funding, to help host this event. She used it to pay for supplies like pumpkins and candy. She also had to apply for a permit to close the street.

Obtaining a permit can be a complicated and confusing process, but Nathalia Benitez-Perez, director of the Mayor’s Office of Civic Organization, said the city is trying to streamline it.

“Before, you had to get additional permits if you just wanted to have a block party, where neighbors had to bring food outside,” she said. “And that seemed like a lot to us, so we’re trying to make sure that we’re working to relax some of those permits.”

Aside from paperwork, hosting an event in your neighborhood requires time, money and community involvement, not to mention that some neighborhoods have different safety concerns than others.

In addition to the grant, the city offers a step-by-step guide on how to manage logistics.

Benitez-Perez said his office wants to encourage community members to get to know each other.

This is playing out in the Fennell neighborhood.

Back in his neighborhood, we passed a neighbor named Tim Klein, who was riding his bike with his two children to nearby Franklin Park. He said he just moved here and was looking forward to tonight’s festivities.

“We have two children here, ages 5 and 8,” he said. “You feel the community in the neighborhood. And we wanted to be part of it.

Fennell said she expects some people from nearby neighborhoods will also come out to enjoy the festivities and hopes this event can give the children something special to remember.

“I think it’s cool, knowing that we can be memory makers,” Fennell said. “For these kids, they need to think back to what made their neighborhood so special or even what made this place that their parents took them to special. Another thing I advocate for is that children benefit from this in their communities, in their own neighborhoods.

And by supporting block parties and other events, Fennell says the city is investing in its greatest assets: its streets and the residents who live there.