Newark’s Office of Violence Prevention and Trauma Recovery organized a Peace Walk event Saturday with the city’s Peace Collective in response to the recent spike in violent crime.

"Newark forward minus violence equals our future" was the theme of the 13-mile walk across all five wards.

"Violence is traumatizing and it paralyses people," said Mayor Ras J. Baraka.

Residents joined the walk and even business owners were called on to close down for the day to join in.

"We had a serious spike in violence this summer and we need to address it, and challenge it, and that's what we're doing," Baraka said. He added that he believes the pandemic, the recent summer heatwaves and other factors have contributed to the rise in violence.

State statistics show that in July alone, Newark was the city that recovered the most guns. Robberies and car thefts have also gone up in the city this year.

The city's Office of Violence Prevention and Trauma Recovery is one of the driving forces behind the city's peace efforts.

"Before, it was kind of business as usual. So now we are going into the neighborhoods where violence has taken place. We are helping the people who've been victims and also people who've been involved in the violence, and we've been getting to the root causes," said the director Office of Violence Prevention and Trauma Recovery Keesha Eure.

"Kids are growing up. I grew up around here, you want someone to grow up with a little better than what you had," said lifelong resident Daniel Myers.

The walk ended with an event in West Side High School in Newark.

The event was all part of the city's first ever Peace Week that starts Monday. It will include a resource fair, it's an annual 24 hours of peace event and ends with a day of remembrance at West Side Park.

Newark's Peace Week will run until next Sunday.