On Thursday, July 28th, the Brick City Peace Collective (BCPC) and the Office of Violence Prevention and Trauma Recovery (OVPTR) will continue their campaign to rally and unite the city against the recent spate of violence.
This week's action will occur at Clinton Avenue and Stratford Place, Newark, at 1 pm.
Launched last week, the rallying efforts are reminiscent of the historical struggles of the Newark AntiViolence Coalition's epic 155-week protest against violence in 2009.
These efforts are different, however, in that they now reflect the fully emergent community-based ecosystem to reduce the violence that had produced a pronounced drop in the violence that plagued the city back in 2009 when the NAVC began its historic campaign.
In these efforts, organizers will not only be condemning the violence with affected community members in critical hotspots.
They are being joined by the entities created to address the violence, such as the Newark Community Street Team and The Newark Street Academy, who will also canvass the area with trauma relief resources and intervention resources to demonstrate to the community how the new ecosystem has been working.
It's no accident that former vital players of the NAVC are now leading these efforts. Sharif Amenhotep, the popular 'Soul of the Newark AntiViolence Coalition, is now leading the rallying efforts in the streets.
Lakeesha Eure, former longtime chair of the NAVC, is now responsible for the efforts of OVPTR.
Even though criminal justice experts from several quarters have acknowledged the groundbreaking success of the Newark model, the violence, when it occurs, is still a collectively felt trauma for those neighborhoods affected by continuing incidents.
The recent challenges of the Covid Pandemic and the challenges of the season's heat are still tricky.
"It's important to address the communities affected directly and to let them know that we are fully mobilized to try to check this," said Lakeesha Eure, Director of the Office of Violence Prevention and Trauma Recovery.
Organizers are still contemplating how long they will employ the rallies. They are expected to continue the Unite the Community Campaign for the next several weeks.