Summer 2002: STOP...THINK
The Foundation for Youth
405 Hope Avenue, Columbus
The Site
Ventresca and Hutton returned June 10-14 as we painted the
exterior back wall of the Foundation for Youth on Hope Avenue.
Eleven youth were involved, two of whom had participated in
the March workshop. Our activities created a buzz among the
kids who use the Boys and Girls Club on a daily basis. Seeing
an opportunity, we created a mentoring model as a way to include
the younger kids. The Youth Services teens were assigned a
younger person to mentor whenever we were painting. We also
included these younger kids in some of our break times, playing
kickball or just talking with them. Seven counselors from
Youth Services rounded out the painting crew.
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Using solid chunks of color in puzzle-like
fashion, the mural came together quickly and provided a vibrant
splash of color for the playground and the surrounding neighborhood.
We named this mural Stop…Think and tied it to a specific
request that we made of the Youth Services clients. We asked
that, should they ever be in a difficult situation and feel
pressure to act in a negative or counter-productive way, they
make their way to the corner of Fourth Street and Gladstone
and look west toward the mural. From this perspective, one
has a direct sight line to the entire face of the mural. At
that point there is a stop sign. We asked them to stop and
think, literally: to weigh their emotions and consider the
consequences of their actions before they act. We asked them
to remember how good it felt to be a positive role model for
a younger person; we asked them to reflect on the joy that
a simple field of color can create in a neighborhood and how
integral they were to the success of this work.
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