America’s Navy is coming home to Tampa Bay in 2018, one of 14 Navy Weeks selected in the coming year, one of the Navy’s signature outreach programs.
Tampa Bay Navy Week is scheduled for May 7-13, coincident with the Tampa Bay Airfest, and is designed to give area residents an 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 primary outreach effort into areas of the country which do not have a significant Navy presence, with 210 Navy Weeks held in 74 different U.S. markets.
“Navy Weeks are designed to help Americans understand why having a strong Navy is critical to the American way of life,” said Cmdr. Linda Rojas, Director of the Navy Office of Community Outreach, which plans and executes the Navy Week program. “Because the Navy is concentrated primarily on both coasts, we’re challenged to communicate our mission away from fleet concentration areas. That’s where the Navy Week program comes in.”
Navy Weeks focus a variety of outreach assets, equipment and personnel on a single city for a week-long series of engagements with key influencers and organizations representing all sectors of the market.
“During a Navy Week, approximately 75 outreach events are coordinated with corporate, civic, government, education, media, veterans, community service and diversity organizations in the city,” said Lt. Cmdr. Brett Dawson, Navy Office of Community Outreach Event Planning Department Head. “We know we can’t bring a ship or a submarine to Waco, but we will bring in as much of the Navy as we can.”
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