Newark’s 24 Hrs. of Peace Brings Music, Resources and Community Together

At the intersection of Halsey and Market streets last Friday evening, traffic gave way to children playing in the roadway, food trucks serving customers, and rows of tents stretching through the blocked-off streets.

Under the tents, small-business owners displayed and sold their products while community organizations spoke with attendees about their work. City outreach workers handed out information and connected people with resources, including employment, housing, mental health and family services. People of all ages moved between the tables, food vendors and main stage.

A large stage anchored the intersection, where speakers addressed the crowd between performances as music carried throughout downtown Newark.

The free gathering, titled 24 Hrs. of Peace, served as the finale of Newark Peace Week, a week of activities focused on bringing the city together to celebrate peace, violence prevention, healing and community. The city described 24 Hrs. of Peace as the culmination of a broader effort, where city agencies and community organizations could also connect residents with resources.

Now in its 16th year, 24 Hrs. of Peace uses hip-hop culture to bring people together and encourage conversations about nonviolence and conflict resolution. The event is sponsored by Newark’s Office of Violence Prevention and Trauma Recovery (OVPTR) and the Brick City Peace Collective (BCPC).

Mayor Ras J. Baraka, who founded 24 Hrs. of Peace while serving as South Ward councilman, made the gathering a citywide event after becoming mayor in 2014.

“This is the 16th year of a transformational tradition in Newark that places hip hop as a fulcrum to raise honesty, free communication, non-violent advocacy, healing, and peace,” Baraka said in a statement ahead of the event.

The celebration came as Newark reported a significant decrease in homicides. According to the Major Cities Chiefs Association’s 2026 midyear violent crime report, Newark recorded six homicides from January through June 2026, down from 17 during the same period in 2025. That represents a 64.7% decline. The data is preliminary and compares reports from 66 participating U.S. law enforcement agencies.

Peace Beyond the Numbers

But away from the main stage, community organizations stationed throughout the intersection showed how the work surrounding violence prevention can extend beyond crime statistics.

Mercedes Calhoun, an outreach worker with OVPTR, spent Friday connecting attendees with information about services available through the city.

OVPTR approaches violence as a public health issue, addressing both its causes and effects, while connecting residents with services. Its work considers major determinants of health including the family system, addiction, access to education, and neighborhood conditions.

Calhoun said the office helps residents find employment and housing, prepare resumes, and access mental health and trauma services. Its outreach also includes food and clothing assistance, as well as programming for families.

“We are out here for the 24 Hours of Peace, spreading the word to let everyone know that we are out here and that we care,” Calhoun said.

She said that work continues throughout the year through outreach and programming.

When asked about changes in violence in the city, Calhoun pointed to the declining numbers.

“The numbers don’t lie,” she said.

For Covenant House New Jersey, peace also means helping young people find stability.

Mark Wilcox, an outreach specialist with Covenant House, spoke with attendees about services available to young people experiencing homelessness or at risk of becoming homeless.

Wilcox said Covenant House provides young people with basic needs including food, clothing and shelter, as well as transitional living and other services intended to help them become more independent.

For Wilcox, 24 Hrs. of Peace offered an opportunity to bring those resources directly into the community.

“I love this opportunity to be a part of the village, the village experience, and being able to engage the community,” Wilcox said.

He said residents can face overlapping barriers, including financial hardship and food insecurity, making access to information and resources an important part of helping communities move forward.

“Having this information, having this empowerment, these tools is really important to help uplift one another,” Wilcox said.

Minister Valerie Seymoure brought her own experience with addiction and recovery to the event through Beauty for Ashes.

Seymoure said the faith-based organization, which provides outreach and support to people facing addiction, domestic violence, homelessness and other challenges, grew from her own recovery. Although she no longer lives in Newark, she said much of her outreach remains in the city, including work with people struggling with addiction and others facing difficult circumstances.

For Seymoure, participating in 24 Hrs. of Peace meant encouraging people in the community and showing them that their circumstances can change.

“There is hope. There is love,” Seymoure said.

The event also created space for local entrepreneurs, including Latrice Wheeler, a Newark native and owner of Simple & Sweet, an Irvington-based business selling homemade sweets and desserts.

Wheeler said the business grew from time spent in the kitchen with her grandmother and has become a way to continue her grandmother’s legacy. Although she no longer lives in Newark, Wheeler has returned to participate in several 24 Hrs. of Peace events, where she said she especially values the programming available for children..

“I’m gonna always support home,” Wheeler said. “This is where I was born, where I grew up.”

Hip-Hop at the Heart of 24 Hrs. of Peace

Music remained at the center of the 24-hour gathering. The city said about 30 local acts were selected from hundreds of auditions, giving emerging performers an opportunity to appear at an event that has previously featured artists such as Newark natives Queen Latifah and Faith Evans.

This year’s Friday night lineup included hip-hop artists MC Lyte, Memphis Bleek, and Freeway, along with local performers and DJs. The programming continued Saturday morning with yoga, health and wellness activities, a gospel and senior breakfast and spoken word before musical performances resumed in the afternoon.

The closing stretch included DJ Lil Taj and Friends featuring New Jersey-raised rapper and singer Coi Leray, along with Jenn Carter, Kyle Richh, Ta Ta and Zeddy Will.

The combination of music, wellness activities, community resources and vendors created opportunities for children, young adults and older residents to take part in the event in different ways.

“Music unites us and becomes an even deeper part of our city’s identity with this event each year,” Baraka said in the statement.

The event also drew people from outside Newark. Kate Vialet, who does not live in the city but said she has connections with people doing community work there, attended because she wanted to support an initiative centered on peace.

“I wanted to be around the community for a moment of time, celebrating, and being a part of an initiative that is promoting peace,” Vialet said.

Vialet said what stood out to her was being downtown late into the night while families, community organizations, and businesses continued gathering. She also visited Source of Knowledge, a Black-owned community bookstore in Newark that she frequents.

For Vialet, the experience showed what can happen when space is intentionally created for people to gather peacefully, but she said sustaining that feeling requires more than one event.

“It’s beautiful to see how the community also stands up for safety in these moments too,” Vialet said. “There needs to be structures that support that peace.”

Newark resident Khalil Kettles shared a similar view. Kettles, who worked behind the scenes on the event’s production team, said 24 Hrs. of Peace and Peace Week give residents, city leaders, and community organizations an opportunity to discuss challenges facing Newark and consider what can be changed.

“Our community can come together to discuss the ills of our community but share ideas of what can be achieved and changed,” Kettles said.

But Kettles also cautioned against viewing one event as a solution to violence.

“Violence won’t be solved overnight,” he said.

For Kettles, sustaining the work means treating violence as an issue that requires attention beyond Peace Week.

“We still must classify crime for what it is, a public health crisis,” he said.