Newark closes Peace Week on Aug. 28 with a free, 24-hour festival at Halsey and Market streets.
Newark recorded 31 homicides in 2025. That is the fewest since 1953, when Eisenhower was in his first year and half this city’s housing stock had not been built yet. Violent crime fell 19% across the board. Robberies down 38%. Non-fatal shootings down 36%.
The 2026 numbers run lower still. Newark logged six homicides through June against 17 in the first half of 2025, a 64.7% decline and the steepest homicide drop among the major U.S. police agencies tracked by the Major Cities Chiefs Association. The largest city in NJ is looking to carry the 72 year low into 2027.
That is the backdrop for “24HRS OF PEACE,” which runs 6 p.m. Friday through 6 p.m. Saturday and caps the city’s Peace Week Initiative. What used to be a call for ceasefire is now a cause for celebration. Peace Week opened Aug. 21 with Mayor Ras J. Baraka’s Family Meeting and moved through a back-to-school barbecue, Senior Village, Bike for Peace and a memorial vigil on Aug. 27.
The festival started in 2010 with a small stage and lights powered by a car battery. Organizers now put annual attendance above 20,000. Hakim Green, one half of Channel Live and the man behind “Mad Izm,” co-founded the event and serves as president of 24HRSOFPEACE INC. He co-hosts with Amiri “Middy” Baraka Jr., the city’s chief of staff and a co-founder.
“I would have to say that a lot of this happens because of what is happening in our police department, intelligence-based policing. We have better strategies, we have better technology, better trained people.” – Mayor Ras J. Baraka, Dec. 30, 2025
News12 New Jersey
This year’s music runs deep. Memphis Bleek, Freeway, MC Lyte, DMC, Bunna B, Kyle Richh, Coi Leray, Ron G, DJ Doo Wop and DJ Lil Taj and friends are on the bill, along with the Tsu Surf and Arsonal Battle for Peace, closing with Bunna B. Local acts perform across both days.
The programming around the stage carries equal weight. Saturday morning brings yoga. Health and wellness sessions feature NDO Champ, Haqqi Mu and Nikki D. Gospel performances, poetry sets, retail vendors and a sold-out outdoor movie fill the overnight hours, running against a late-night house set. Organizers are also feeding seniors, and city departments will be on site connecting residents to services.
Nobody involved claims a music festival drove those crime numbers down. The festival sits inside a larger apparatus. Newark’s Office of Violence Prevention and Trauma Recovery made 3,021 referrals in 2025, up 7% from the prior year. The Newark Street Academy engaged more than 1,200 young people and graduated 870. The federal consent decree over the police division ended in 2025 after a nine-year reform effort, and the city stood up an Office of Constitutional Affairs to hold the line on oversight. Baraka has credited OVPTR, the Brick City Peace Collective and community partners for the sustained decline.
Culture is the connector. A resident who will never walk into a municipal office will share space and enjoy the festivities with city agencies. The event is produced through OVPTR, the Urban League of Essex County, the Brick City Peace Collective and 24HRSOFPEACE INC.
The festival is free and open to the public, Aug. 28 at 6 p.m. through Aug. 29 at 6 p.m., Halsey and Market. Grab an Official 24HRS OF PEACE tee and I’ll see you there.
