What you need to know about this Saturday's Peace in the Streets event
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Peace in the Streets, an annual event hosted by the longtime nonprofit Creative Visions, returns this Saturday to Des Moines.
The block party-style event — which aims to promote messages of peace and unity — will be held from noon to 5 p.m. at Creative Visions at 1343 13th St. in Des Moines. There will be food like snow cones and cotton candy, live entertainment including a set by DJ Hollywood, and vendors from various organizations sharing resources. Guests will also have the chance to send Creative Visions founder and state Rep. Ako Abdul-Samad into a dunk tank.
"This is just a fun day … where kids can be kids," said Ivette Muhammad, chief operating officer at Creative Visions, an agency that works with at-risk youth, as well as individuals and families in need.
Festivities aside, Abdul-Samad told the Des Moines Register the free family-friendly event is also built on another mission — to put "'neighbor' back into the 'hood.'"
Peace in the Streets coincides with National Gun Violence Awareness Month, and attendees are encouraged to wear the color orange to help honor victims of gun violence and advocate for more policies on gun control.
Creative Visions has partnered with the Iowa chapter of Moms Demand Action, an organization that according to its website seeks to fight for "public safety measures that can protect people from gun violence." Abdul-Samad said his team has also worked to reach the city's growing immigrant population and residents living on Des Moines' east side, most of whom he says don't often have a place to go.
Echoing Abdul-Samad, Muhammad said that's why Creative Visions is, again, working to "put that 'neighbor' back in the 'hood.'"
"When you put that 'neighbor' back in the 'hood,' you have an environment, an area where everyone wants to be. It's the place to be," she said.
F. Amanda Tugade covers social justice issues for the Des Moines Register. Email her at ftugade@dmreg.com or follow her on Twitter @writefelissa.
This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Peace in the Streets returns to Des Moines this Saturday
