PEORIA, Ill. – A summer tradition of safe family fun in Peoria’s parks returns this week.
For more than two decades, the Streets Belong to Me initiative from the Peoria Park District aims to give kids in the area a place for safe and positive activities.
This year’s version starts Thursday at Proctor Recreation Center, featuring a 3-on-3 basketball tournament, a splash pad, and live music. Events will also take place later this summer at Morton Square Park, Glen Oak Park, and Trewyn Park.
Park district Executive Director Emily Cahill says the initiative also shines a light on what is already here in Peoria.
“This is about celebrating the people who live here, and the spaces that they can walk out their back door and go outside and enjoy a great playground or a greenspace,” Cahill said.
Cahill says she also hopes the events will help people eliminate negative thoughts about their neighbors, and consider using the city’s parks more often.
The initiative also comes with a pledge for kids to sign up for, to help promise to be safe in any activity they do.
“They really do have some control over whether that experience is a good one or not,” Cahill said. “It’s a good reminder that we’re all accountable, it can’t just be on one side of the programming spectrum that we think about this. Everyone who’s involved has a role to play.”
For example, Cahill says kids playing in the three-on-three tournament on Thursday at Proctor must sign a pledge to participate.
The pledge asks them to be involved in positive activities, and not to participate in violent or illegal activities.
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