Thrive Collective’s Violence Prevention and Intervention for Youth and Young Adults grant allowed us to serve students at IS 117 and PS/MS 279 in the Bronx, Park East High School in Manhattan, PS/MS 42Q and PS/MS 183Q in Queens, along with all participating schools from the Bronx, Manhattan and Queens via the borough-wide culminating events.

We facilitated five Catalyst murals this year at IS 117X, PS/MS 183Q, Park East High School, and two culminating events. PS 279X and PS/MS 42Q both selected our RHYME music program. Violence Prevention projects invite students to explore topics and produce art that inspire and equip students for gun-free living. Enjoy their multimedia outputs below.

Special thanks to NYC Council Deputy Speaker Diana Ayala and Members Pierina Sanchez and Selvena N. Brooks-Powers for your Violence Prevention support again this year; the Queens Delegation for selecting us to produce the borough’s culminating event; and the Bronx Museum for inviting our collaboration for the Bronx and Manhattan culminating event.

Both culminating events carried an added layer of seriousness this year. Approximately one month before the Queens event, a fifteen year old was shot and killed by an eighteen year-old schoolmate in Roy Wilkins Park, where we host the HeART Beat Festival event ever year.  Days before the Manhattan/Bronx celebration, a longtime friend of Jeremy Del Rio was shot and killed picking up his son at a quinceañera. In real time, both tragedies underscored why this work matters.

Thrive Collective’s CASA grant allowed us to serve students at Frank McCourt High School, PS 91 and IS 117 in the Bronx, and Queens Preparatory Academy in Queens.

At Queens Prep, PS 91, and Frank McCourt, we held after-school Mural programs in which students produced public art on campus. At IS 117, Thrive provided a hybrid music and media hip hop program called R.H.Y.M.E. (Rhymes Help Young Minds Excel). Students wrote, performed, and recorded an original song and music video, and distributed the video on Youtube and the music on Bandcamp.

Special thanks to NYC Council Members Gale Brewer, Pierina Ana Sanchez, and Selvena N. Brooks-Powers for your CASA support this year.

Thrive Collective’s CII grant allowed us to bring our murals programs to Marie Curie High School in the Bronx, PS 45 and PS 171 in Queens, and PS/MS 104 in Brooklyn; and our RHYME program to PS 92 in Brooklyn.

While the essential School Murals program remains consistent across various initiatives, different DCLA initiatives explore specific themes and focuses. CII projects celebrate the immigrant cultural diversity of particular neighborhoods and school communities while exploring various thematic topics.

Special thanks to NYC Council Members Pierina Ana Sanchez, Justin Brannan, Tiffany Cabán, Rita Joseph, and Speaker Adrienne E. Adams for your CII support this year.