BATON ROUGE - The 11th annual Youth Peace Olympics, a violence prevention program for kids, held their opening ceremony on Saturday.

The group works with children aged 10 to 17 and aims to show kids different outlets on how to express themselves. At Saturday's opening, organizers provided arts and crafts for the younger kids, while showing the older ones all the positivity this city has to offer.

"Baton Rouge has a lot of youth. It has a lot to offer, but they don't really know it," Program Coordinator Jordan Howard said. "With crime being a higher rate right now and them being the ones at the forefront of that, they need something positive to do."

This event allowed these kids to discover a world of opportunities with resources from 211 Capital Area United Way, Regions Bank and other local organizations. Health screenings were also provided by Our Lady of the Lake Children's Hospital and Caresouth, along with access to mental health resources from the Louisiana Spirit Crisis Counseling Program.

The event featured local artists and free food. The program is free to anyone who would like to join.

"This summer program teaches them about life skills, about conflict resolution. How to be overall, and all around Olympians. How to be healthy; mind, body and spirit," President and Founder of Louisiana Center for Health Equity said. 

The program is every fourth Saturday of the month with a field trip every second Saturday. Parental consent is required to participate in the Youth Peace Olympics. To find more information, click here.