CONTRIBUTED — The Navy the nation needs is coming to the Tri-Cities for Navy Week during the week of March 30 to April 5, to show the Navy to the community.

Navy Weeks are the service’s signature outreach program and allow the Navy to build and strengthen ties to the community. Tri-Cities Navy Week expects to feature:

• Senior Navy leadership.

• The Navy Band including its bluegrass and country band, Country Current.

• Navy Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) Sailors and Divers.

• Navy Ceremonial Guard Drill Team.

• Crew from the world’s oldest commissioned warship, USS Constitution.

• Sailors from Navy Meteorological and Oceanographic Command’s Fleet Weather Center.

• Recruiters from Navy Talent Acquisition Group (NTAG) Nashville.

• Admissions counselors from the U.S. Naval Academy.

In addition to events throughout the Tri-Cities, Navy units plan to participate in Race Week at Bristol Motor Speedway, which serves as the anchor event for the week.

Since 2005, the Navy Week program has served as the Navy’s primary outreach effort into areas of the country that do not have a significant Navy presence. Tri-Cities marks the 240th Navy Week, and the 83rd U.S. market the program will visit.

“Navy Weeks are designed to help Americans understand why having a strong Navy is critical to the American way of life,” said Cmdr. Krin Burzynski, director of the Navy Office of Community Outreach (NAVCO), which plans and executes the Navy Week program. “Because the Navy is concentrated primarily in select locations 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 weeklong series of engagements with key influencers and organizations representing all sectors of the market.

“During a Navy Week, we coordinate about 75 outreach events with corporate, civic, government, education, media, veterans, community service and diversity organizations in the city,” said Lt. John Stevens, NAVCO Navy Week program manager. “The 2020 schedule is exciting for us. We’ll be in several brand-new markets like Abilene, Texas, and Tulsa, Okla.

“Unlike Fleet Weeks, where several ships and thousands of Sailors converge on a coastal market such as New York or Los Angeles, Navy Weeks are far smaller in scope, employing approximately 70 Sailors from about 10 units to focus on landlocked areas of the U.S. with little to no Navy presence,” Stevens said.

For more information on Navy Weeks and the 2020 schedule, visit http://outreach.navy.mil/Navy-Weeks-2020. For more information on Tri-Cities Navy Week, call (901) 874-7048 or e-mail john.j.stevens1@navy.mil.