Philadelphia Mural Arts Program
Proposal to the Thomas Scattergood Foundation
The Porch Light Initiative – Year Two
Organization Mission and History
The mission of the City of Philadelphia Mural Arts Program is to unite artists and communities
through a collaborative process, rooted in the traditions of mural-making, to create art that
transforms public spaces and individual lives.
Since 1984, Mural Arts has witnessed the powerful role that community-based public art can play in
uplifting vulnerable communities. From our origins as a small city agency committed to reducing
blight and graffiti by recruiting at-risk youth to help create murals, Mural Arts has transformed itself
into a dynamic social service, education, civic engagement, tourism, workforce development, and
neighborhood revitalization organization. We have created over 3,500 murals in Philadelphia,
inviting neighbors, community organizations and local youth to collaborate with our artists in the
design and creation of each project. We endeavor to engage marginalized groups—such as current
and former prison inmates, youth in residential placement, immigrant communities and those living
in shelters—carrying on the tradition of mural-making as a democratic, accessible art form.
Integrated into this work are our free, after-school art education and youth development programs
which annually serve more than 1,500 young people.
Today, as the largest public art initiative of its kind in the United States, Mural Arts increasingly
takes a leadership role in leveraging the mural-making process to galvanize positive social change.
Our program model has already been replicated across the nation and globe and we continually
receive requests from organizations and individuals across the globe for advice and guidance on how
to move their own mural initiatives forward. Locally, our murals have become a cherished part of
the civic landscape and a great source of pride to the millions who encounter them each year,
earning Philadelphia international praise as the City of Murals.
Project Description
The Mural Arts Program respectfully requests renewed funding from the Thomas Scattergood
Foundation for Year Two of the Porch Light Initiative in the form of a $75,000 grant.
Since 2008, the Mural Arts Program has partnered with the City of Philadelphia Department of
Behavioral Health and Intellectual disAbility Services (DBH/IDS) and a variety of health service
providers to use art- and mural-making as a catalyst for improved health outcomes in vulnerable
neighborhoods. In 2010, we expanded and intensified this effort, focusing our work in three
especially vulnerable North Philadelphia neighborhoods (zip codes 19121, 19132, and 19140) with
the support of a large, multi-year grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation awarded
through their Local Funding Partnerships. We also received important matching funds from local
project partners, including the Thomas Scattergood Foundation. Arthur Evans, the Director of
DBH/IDS and Donald Schwartz, the City of Philadelphia Deputy Mayor for Health and
Opportunity were both integral in the planning process and helped identify the communities with
the highest need for intervention – those with extremely high rates of reported behavioral health
issues coupled with low rates of residents accessing city-offered social services.
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Over the course of the three-year Initiative, we are creating artistic hubs within behavioral health
clinics at Project H.O.M.E., Sobriety Through Out-Patient (STOP), and Asociación Puertorriqueños
en Marcha (APM). Each year of programming includes a series of art-making workshops and a
major, community-inclusive public art project at each site. Together, these activities place creative
expression into the heart of the behavioral health treatment process, and help those in recovery
forge positive and supportive relationships with members of the larger community.
Year One of the Initiative was devoted to building a strong alliance between Mural Arts, DBH/IDS,
the three partner agencies, and our evaluators from Yale, along with many public officials,
participants, community members, and other stakeholders. We also dedicated significant attention
during Year One to building a culture within each site that embraces art-making and creativity as a
powerful catalyst for change. We began art education sessions at the three sites in March 2011,
working with a total of 96 individuals, a combination of regular attendees and drop-in participants.
Over the past few months, groups at each site have completed small public art projects – a
presentation of spoken word poetry and multimedia artwork at Project H.O.M.E., a series of largescale self portraits at STOP, and a set of interior and exterior murals at APM. Two public
dedications for completed Year One projects occurred in August; the final dedication will occur later
this fall.
Porch Light staff and partners are now directing their energies toward building on the positive
outcomes of the first year as they develop a second year of programming scheduled to begin on
October 1st. In order to ensure the continued momentum of the program as we transition to Year
Two of the Initiative, we held a day-long retreat for all program stakeholders on July 13, 2011 to
discuss lessons learned during the first year and strategies for moving forward. We also re-drafted
memos of understanding with our partner sites articulating our respective roles and responsibilities
and we asked our three Year One artists to submit detailed proposals for in-class content as well as
major public art projects in Years Two and Three. We are working with staff at partner sites to
recruit new participants, and plan to serve 30 new participants at each location in addition to
returning participants from Year One. So that each participant receives a high level of individual
attention, we will divide the 30 participants at each site into two workshops of 15. Each workshop
will meet once per week between October and May, and will include instruction in multiple art
forms, including visual art media, writing, and performance.
A major goal for Year Two is to implement public art projects that engage a wider range of
community members and provide rich opportunities for those in treatment to develop relationships
with nearby residents. To achieve this goal, we will 1) host a series of small community engagement
events throughout the year, such as weaving workshops open to both individuals in treatment and to
neighborhood residents; and 2) develop three large-scale public art projects that include significant
community engagement processes. The regular art-making workshops with participants will prepare
them to play a central and visible role in bringing these projects to fruition.
In Year Two, we also plan to commission Academy-Award winning filmmaker Nigel Noble to
create a short documentary on the project that will capture the stories at each site. We plan to use
the film to promote the project and also generate further dialogue about this important work.
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Impact
Anticipated long-term outcomes remain unchanged from the proposal we submitted to the Patricia
Kind Family Foundation in September 2010. At the individual level, we anticipate that participation
in the program will result in: improved access to services; increased feelings of self-efficacy;
increased integration into the community; decreased demoralization; increased knowledge of
community resources; increased feelings of neighborhood safety and support from others; and
decreased stigma due to mental illness, addiction, or trauma. At the community level, we believe the
program will result in: increased utilization of behavioral health resources, increased social capital;
increased neighborhood aesthetic quality; reduced neighborhood physical disorder (such as graffiti,
visible garbage, and broken windows); decreased neighborhood social problems (such as public
use/sale of drugs); decreased neighborhood crime and violence; and increased neighborhood
commercial activity.
The project has the potential to become an effective and replicable strategy for improving behavioral
health outcomes within extremely vulnerable communities throughout Philadelphia and nation-wide,
thanks in part to a rigorous evaluation of the project being conducted by the research team from the
Yale School of Medicine.
Evaluation
During Year One of the project, our researchers developed a logic model and theory of change;
selected process and outcome measures; finalized their evaluation strategy; and shepherded the
proposed strategy through Internal Review Board processes at Yale and the City of Philadelphia.
During the spring, they initiated data collection by conducting baseline interviews with 81
community members living in the target zip codes and completing detailed community observations
at multiple locations on several occasions. Baseline interviews and observations in comparison zip
codes occurred this summer. Over time, findings from these interviews and observations will allow
researchers to assess progress towards our community outcomes.
As programming for Year One draws to a close, researchers are also conducting post-treatment
interviews with Year One participants. These will give very preliminary insight into the short-term
impact of the program, and also provide an opportunity for researchers to pilot the interview design
they plan to use in Years Two and Three. Beginning in Year Two, researchers will conduct a
baseline interview with each program participant prior to the start of the program, another interview
at the end of the program, and a final interview several months after the program. Interviews will be
conducted with members of a control group at the same time intervals. A total of 360 individuals
will participate in the evaluation of individual outcomes, including 180 (60 per site) in the treatment
group, and 180 (60 per matched site) in the control group.
During Years Two and Three, the evaluation team will also work in close consultation with the
Porch Light Program Manager to refine the program implementation manual. This is a working
document that currently exists to guide program development and implementation, but over time
will shift into a detailed account of the activities that occurred in Years Two and Three. This
manual will be an essential companion to the evaluation report, as it will clearly articulate the
mechanism that was under study. It will also facilitate dissemination and replication of the program
design at the end of the grant period.
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Key Personnel
Jane Golden, Executive Director: Since the Mural Arts Program began in 1984 as a component of
the Philadelphia Anti-Graffiti Network, Jane Golden has been its driving force, overseeing its
growth from a small city agency into the nation's largest mural program. Golden holds a Master of
Fine Arts from the Mason Gross School of the Arts at Rutgers University and degrees in Fine Arts
and Political Science from Stanford University.
Joan Reilly, Chief Operating Officer: A renowned Philadelphia activist and social change leader,
Joan Reilly joined the Mural Arts team in November 2010 as Chief Operating Officer. Joan has
decades of experience in organizing for the betterment of our communities. She previously served
as senior program director of Pennsylvania Horticultural Society's Philadelphia Green program and
as a lifelong advocate for building teamwork and strategic community partnerships.
Sara Ansell, Program Manager: Porch Light Initiative: In May 2011, Sara Ansell became the new
leader for this project. Sara has a dual Masters Degree in Social Work and Social Policy from the
University of Pennsylvania, and brings extensive experience in managing projects, conducting
research, and analyzing policy around a variety of topics within the field of public health. She will
manage all aspects of the Porch Light Initiative for the duration of the project.
Maneesha Sane: Maneesha Sane has worked with the Mural Arts Program for over six years,
during which time she has played a key role overseeing data management and evaluation within the
Art Education department. She is currently transitioning these skills to a new administrative role
with the Porch Light Initiative. Maneesha has a bachelor's degree in elementary education and
psychology and a master's degree in educational linguistics.
William Pace, Project Manager: William Pace will join Mural Arts in October 2011 as our new
Project Manager for the Porch Light Initiative. William has an MFA in photography and most
recently served as the Cultural Affairs Associate at the Baltimore Office of Promotion and the Arts.
He will work closely with artists and instructors as they deliver programming at partner sites.
Cathy Harris, Director of Community Murals: Cathy Harris has over 20 years of arts
administration experience. She will provide additional support for the Porch Light Initiative. She
holds a BA in Fine Arts from Pennsylvania State University and an MS in Arts Administration from
Drexel University. She joined the Mural Arts Program in 2002.
Evaluation Team
Dr. Jacob K. Tebes, Professor of Psychiatry: Dr. Tebes, a faculty member at Yale School of
Medicine, has extensive experience conducting large-scale, comprehensive, community-based
evaluations involving adults and youth living in poverty and/or in recovery from mental illness,
addiction or recent trauma. He has published widely in the areas of community-based research,
evaluation science and resilience among at-risk individuals and groups, and also teaches about
community-based evaluation to pre- and post-doctoral fellows.
Dr. Samantha Matlin, Assistant Clinical Professor of Psychiatry: Dr. Matlin, an evaluation
consultant at Yale, has published and worked extensively with community groups and state agencies
to implement community-based programs and evaluations involving racial and ethnic minority youth
and families who reside in under-resourced urban areas.
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Project Partners
Project H.O.M.E.’s Rowan Homes: Project H.O.M.E. provides supportive housing, employment,
education and health care to homeless and low-income individuals and families. Rowan Homes
provides permanent, supportive housing for homeless families with special needs, many of whom
are in recovery from mental illness or addiction.
Sobriety Through Out-Patient: STOP serves individuals in recovery from substance abuse and
addiction and is launching a new program focused on preventing drug use among young people,
whom we will engage as our core participants. The agency has also invited us to use its in-house
radio station, a venue for storytelling and advocacy for the initiative.
Asociación Puertorriqueños en Marcha: Founded to serve the Latino community of North
Philadelphia, APM’s bilingual staff offers a range of health and human services, including mental
health services to approximately 600 people annually at its Rising Sun Avenue clinic. We will work
with mental health clients, a group that includes families struggling to manage problems resulting
from poverty.
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