As the season begins to wind down, I love to reflect on the impact made during the Peacetown Summer Concert Series. As a board member, Founder of the Peacetown Family Village, and took on a new role this year as Stage Manager for a youth led stage, it was a HUGE undertaking with more value than any price tag (thankfully because I do this uncompensated). Moving from a local park with one stage to The Barlow with 13 different music venues every Wednesday for 14 weeks during the summer.
I take great pride in the role the Peacetown Family Village has in our community. The Family Village is a space in the heart of the summer concert series, it is sectioned off for families to safely play, engage, and listen to music. We average about 4,000 people a week coming every Wednesday, and about 200-500 people visiting the Family Village whether it be to play or listen to the young people jam out.
I was strategic in how the Family Village was designed. I wanted to be sure it was full of opportunities for Children and Families to experience Positive Experiences and surround them with Protective Factors. This is a gift I have that comes pretty naturally to me. I do not have family in the area and this is my way of surrounding my own children with Positive Childhood Experiences, exposing them to Protective Factors to keep them safe, and to mitigate Adversity they may have in their life. While I have successfully mostly broken the toxic intergenerational wheel of trauma, I am human and want to do my part to keep myself accountable, walking the walk and talking the talk.
With every step in planning I was mindful of that vision and invited local agencies to come every week to share their resources, engage in meaningful conversation, and bring awareness to their organization which promoted:
- Parental Resilience
- Social Connections
- Knowledge of Parenting and Child Development
- Concrete Support in Times of Need
- Social and Emotional Competence of Children
Toys, bubbles, and activities were provided every week, set up and taken down by me, and a hopefully a few volunteers. The activities were intentional to promote positive social connections and did just that! Every week I would see families playing together and making new connections with one another.
The youth led stage was sponsored by School of Rock and attracted not only families, also community members without children. This then led them to make a few bubbles, play a round of Peaceful cornhole, or play a tune on the 8 foot walking piano. Fun was had by all!
It is amazing to bare witness to a young person being inspired seeing kids like them on stage playing music, a baby making a friend, a parent sharing that they look forward to coming every week, or an organization making a connection and providing a resource that was much needed by a family.
Offering Positive Childhood Experiences for the community I live in is "Kuumba" this is Swahili for leaving your community creatively better than you found it. I am doing just that.
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