DURHAM -- The Durham Congregations, Associations and Neighborhoods group usually uses its annual candidate assembly to secure pledges from elected officials about what they will do to improve the city. On Sunday, however, the meeting went a step further.

It still got the mayor, City Council members, county commissioners and other elected officials to commit to improving public safety, after-school programs and other areas of concern, but the group also made its own pledges.

The lively group of more than 300 people pledged to increase Durham's voter turnout by at least 5 percent in each of 14 targeted polling locations for the upcoming presidential election.

"Our greatest focus is to increase voter turnout," said the Rev. Herb Davis of the Nehemiah Church of God and Christian Center. "Our focus is to canvas, get different organizations to volunteer time and effort to improving turnout."

So the leaders of the organization, which unites a diverse mix of community groups that work to improve Durham, asked its members to help get voters to the polls on Nov. 2. Those gathered at Monument of Faith Church of God of Prophecy filled out a sheet detailing how many doors they would knock on or phone calls they would make to get out the vote.

If their preliminary pledges hold true, Durham CAN will have 162 people knocking on doors and dozens more making 2,710 phone calls to encourage people to vote.

"We are here to vote for the visions, hopes and dreams for Durham," Davis said.

Durham CAN did not ignore its tradition of pinning down local, state and federal politicians to commit to the group's causes.

Mayor Bill Bell and Councilwomen Cora Cole-McFadden and Diane Catotti promised to work to form a citywide public safety team. The team would include representatives from the police, public works and housing departments that would meet with neighborhoods to develop solutions to their problems.

The trio also joined County Commissioners Ellen Reckhow and Becky Heron in promising to help draft a comprehensive youth plan to expand youth programs in all of Durham's neighborhoods.

Both commitments came after several Durham CAN members made heartfelt pleas about safety problems in their neighborhoods. They also expressed concerns about not providing children a structured outlet for fun when they got home from school.

State Reps. Paul Luebke and Paul Miller pledged to meet with Durham CAN before Thanksgiving to draft a legislative plan that included the group's agenda.

The group also got U.S. Rep. David Price, Republican challenger Todd Batchelor and Libertarian write-in challenger Max Longley to promise to meet with a delegation from Durham, Raleigh, Winston-Salem and Charlotte within 90 days to discuss the agenda of N.C. United Power. That group serves as an umbrella organization for Durham CAN and similar groups in other cities.

Davis said it was important to pin down area politicians because it made their constituents have more faith in what they were doing.

"Politicians can say anything at any time to anyone," Davis said. "But we believe if we get them to make public commitments in front of all of our congregations, it gives us the power."