20/20 Vision for Schools practices what they preach, building a “resume of trust” with the New York City Department of Education by serving schools in meaningful ways. Today the DOE featured the “Welcome to PS 102″ mural documentary on its website homepage. Watch the documentary on DOE’s website here.

The “Welcome to PS 102″ documentary experience is now available online thanks to the brilliant 20/20 Vision for Schools intern Jordan Cortese! Watch it here.

Track the entire PS 102 Mural from start to finish at the project blog, complete with photos, design sketches, student submissions, and more.

The September issue of Brooklyn Family magazine tells the story of the PS 102 mural. Here’s the article in its entirety.

When Jeremy Del Rio brought his son, Judah, to PS 102 last year as a transfer student, he was immediately struck by the diversity in the school.

“The instructional signs for new families were printed in a dozen languages, validating the importance of the many cultures at PS 102,” he said. Del Rio embraced the idea of community among the different ethnic groups in the student body. Later that year, when scaffolding that had been covering the schoolyard came down, he saw the opportunity to transform the newly exposed brick wall from a blank canvas into something special.

Del Rio met with the director or The Storefront Art Center, Paul Curtis, and the school’s arts committee to discuss bringing his vision to life: an 875-square-foot public mural in the schoolyard, which faces 71st Street between Third Avenue and Ridge Boulevard. Local artist Sam Wisneski, and his team from the Storefront, joined the project and the creative journey began.

PS 102 Principal Theresa Dovi welcomed the concept wholeheartedly introducing the idea of the public art mural to the school’s families early in the year, and invited them to answer the question: “How does your family welcome guests into your home?”

In response, students submitted a variety of drawings, photos, writings and belongings. The arts committee received more than 100 submissions that reflected the wide range of cultures, customs and traditions at the Bay View School. Judah submitted one of his favorite quotes: “A stranger who dwells among you shall be to you as one born among you and you shall love him as yourself.”

Curtis and Wisneski helped the arts committee sift through the contributions — flags, pinatas, Arabic tea sets, family photos, pictures of the Taj Mahal, drawings of the earth, beloved toys, and a variety of writings — to identify overall themes to inform the mural. The artists designed a narrative mural consisting of nine panels, each telling a part of a story about a young boy being welcomed into a new community by a culturally-diverse group of people. He is first greeted by a classmate who introduces him to a larger student body, part of a diverse neighborhood, within a global city, in an interconnected world.

The kind, simple gesture sets the picture in motion, guiding the eye through a vibrant celebration of respect, acceptance, sharing and love. That sentiment is echoed in words of greeting, spelled out in 43 different languages on the wall, some written on the sidewalk in chalk, others on building marquees and walls, and still others waving from colorful banners.

The project of transferring the mural to the brick surface was slated to cover a six-week period, beginning with a party on April 30 to prepare the wall. Nearly 400 volunteers — young and old, experts and novices — signed up to paint. After the veteran artists plotted a grid and sketched the design with charcoal, the full team of painters began defining the outline in black paint, adding flat color, then highlights, and finally, the details.

“Why is Mrs. Dovi painting the wall?” asked students, who noticed that even after a long day of work in the school, the principal rolled up her sleeves to add her artistic touch.

“In a time when arts and arts education are being threatened,” Dovi explained, “PS 102 is demonstrating how important they are, not only to our students while they’re here with us, but also to everyone in our community as they continue through their lives.”

In addition to PS 102 parents, students, teachers and staff, Bay Ridge residents participated in the project, including neighborhood organizations, congregations, youth groups, businesses, and non-profits. They collaborated to create beauty in a barren space — they painted a visual reminder to celebrate and value diversity. The mural serves as a reflection of the neighborhood.

That message was also eloquently expressed in words on the blog set up to chronicle the mural’s creation: “Sam and the mural organizers welcomed me to the team even though I thought I had very little to offer, and they empowered me to feel like my contribution made a difference.”

On June 4, approximately 1,500 people came out to celebrate the completion of the mural. The party began with a musical performance by parent Zafer Tawil playing the laud, a pear-shaped, stringed instrument typically used in North African and Middle Eastern music. Councilman Vincent Gentile (D–Bay Ridge) and Community Education Council Principal Laurie Windsor joined Dovi and the arts committee for the ribbon-cutting ceremony. The crowd cheered as Wisneski said the mural’s mission is to inspire not only the people who worked on it, but the people who walk by and see it as well.

Third grader Gauri Purohit, who joined her mother to paint after school and on the weekends, read a letter she wrote to Dovi, Wisneski and the volunteers, thanking them for the opportunity to create art with each other and for each other. After the ceremony, the party officially began. It was as if the characters in the mural came to life and jumped out to play, dance, eat and share the day. The scene reflected one of Dovi’s favorite sayings: “All children laugh in the same language.”

When new and returning students enter PS 102 this month, they will receive a warm and colorful welcome, just as Del Rio and his family felt at home in a community of different cultures on their first visit to the school.

As 10-year-old Purohit’s letter observed, “It was a great idea to paint the mural, because now both the new and old students feel more welcome. The new kids can admire the mural and say, ‘This is a great school!’ The old kids can say, ‘Oh, hey! I helped paint that!’ ”

- Laura Varoscak-DeInnocentiis is a teacher and freelance writer. She is a contributor to Family Publications and has won editorial awards from Parent Publications of America. She holds master’s degrees in writing, education and psychology. She lives in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn, and is the proud mom of two sons, Henry and Charlie. Visit her web page (www.examiner.com/parenting-in-new-york/laura-varoscak) for more articles on parenting.”

View the article at the Brooklyn Family website here.

[Editor's note: originally published at UYWI.org on August 14, 2011.]

This time each year, the students in your youth ministry return to school.

But do you? Return to school with them?

Jesus calls his followers, “fishers of men.”

As youth workers, the “fish” we gather congregate in schools every day. Literally, not metaphorically.

Not being much of an actual fisherman myself, I’ve learned from Deadliest Catch that you really can’t catch fish without going where the fish are. Even if those places make us uncomfortable or feel dangerous.

This may seem obvious when talking about catching shark, salmon, or flounder. But if it’s so obvious, why do so few urban youth workers spend any real time at their students’ local schools?

As you consider your ministry’s back-to-school strategy this year, these resources from our friends at 20/20 Vision for Schools may be helpful.

Select Resources

• “20/20 Vision for Schools: Transforming Public Education within a Single Generation of Students” workshop video, PowerPoint slides, and more
• “Why Public Schools Matter to God (and Should Matter to You Too)”
• “Ten Ways Your Church Can Be Good News to Public Schools,” by Adam McLane
• 20/20 Vision Case Studies, a growing collection of multimedia reports from the field showing what 20/20 looks like in different contexts in New York.
• “Leading Education Reform Where You Are: One Church’s Story,” originally published by Willow Creek Association in the conference Notebook for the 2011 Global Leadership Summit.
• Complete Index of 20/20 Resources
• Learn more about 20/20′s mission in New York, what we do to support that mission, and our vision for a world where all children can access a quality education.

Paul Curtis PS 102 Multimedia

You read about Pastor Paul Curtis last week, now hear him tell the story of the PS 102 Mural in his own words, and watch the story unfold in the multimedia slideshow.

See also the PS 102 Mural blog to experience the progression from beginning to end.

The Willow Creek Association’s Global Leadership Summit features 20/20 Vision for Schools this week. Summit speaker Michell Rhee (former Schools Chancellor of Washington, DC, and founder of Children First) will explore how educational inequity robs inner city children of the skills necessary to complete college, compete in an information economy, or even conduct an inductive Bible study.

The Summit asked me to provide a case study demonstrating how churches and ministries can provide leadership around these issues. Below is the article I wrote for the conference notebook that will be distributed to an estimated audience of 100,000 ministry leaders. The Summit also features the “20/20 Vision for Schools: Transforming Public Education within a Single Generation of Students” workshop curriculum, originally written for Reload 2008-2009, and “Why Public Schools Matter to God (and Should Matter to You Too)” among its Digital Resources.

_____________________

Leading Education Reform Where You Are: One Church’s Story

[Originally published by Willow Creek Association in the conference Notebook for the 2011 Global Leadership Summit. Download article pdf here.]

In September of 2008, Pastor Paul Curtis’ relationship with the public school system fit the profile of many New York City pastors. That is, he didn’t have one. Public schools seemed to him so resistant to help from churches that they were the last place he considered to begin making a difference.

Then he heard about 20/20 Vision for Schools and felt God stirring him toward a vision for people of faith to lead the effort to restore justice to public education – to level the playing field for all students regardless of neighborhood, race, or economic status. Staggering numbers made the problems feel intractable.

Despite 1,700 public schools, 1.1 million students, and a $21 billion annual budget, graduation rates in the city hovered near 50%, and reading and math proficiency lagged at or below 40%. But next to 7,100 self-described Evangelical, Pentecostal, and Charismatic churches in NYC, 1,700 schools didn’t feel so large.

“What might happen if five churches actually prayed for one neighborhood school?” Curtis reasoned. “Dare we expect God to answer?”

And what if God already positioned his church to be salt and light within those schools? Between students, parents, teachers, staff, and relatives, more than 85% of his attenders already had direct or indirect relationships with schools. Might they become answers to their own prayers, or the prayers of others?

He registered Crossroads Christian Church to adopt a school through 20/20 Vision for Schools. In spring 2010, Crossroads organized a prayer walk of four neighborhood schools. He leveraged his pulpit to launch a three-week sermon series the next Sunday, including a panel discussion with educators, administrators and students around the topic of educational justice in the public school system.

Several of Curtis’ church members took the challenge. The next month, the youth minister and five teens from the church volunteered at a local school event. Then the next fall, another of his members volunteered the church’s Storefront Art Center to lead a mural project in the refurbished schoolyard. The changing demographics of the neighborhood meant hundreds of immigrant children at the 1,200-student elementary school, and a parent from Crossroads proposed creating a welcoming environment by celebrating the diversity with a public art project.

Curtis and the school agreed. Eight months later, 450+ volunteers from eight community groups (including five churches) and five sponsors joined the principal, PTA, students, and staff to execute an 875-square foot mural for six weeks. They celebrated with a schoolyard block party on June 4, 2011, attended by 1,500 neighbors of every age, race, and religion.

Now, Curtis is hooked. Welcoming neighbors from the Middle East, Latin America, Eastern Europe, and Asia, by empowering their academic success no longer feels overwhelming.

It feels, and looks, like Jesus.

- Jeremy Del Rio, Esq. co-founded and directs 20/20 Vision for Schools. Free how-to resources and practical next-steps, including the PS 102 mural case study, online here: 2020schools.org/wcagls. Visit the PS 102 Mural website here to track the project from beginning to end.

The Bay Ridge Eagle published a beautiful story on the PS 102 Mural in the July 21 issue. Here’s an excerpt:

“When P.S. 102 Principal Teresa Dovi and her students wanted to find a nice way to greet visitors at their school, they didn’t hang up a “Welcome” sign. They picked up paintbrushes.

“Working with a local artist, Sam Wisneski, and a group of more than 400 volunteers that included parents and local residents, Dovi and the students painted a mural on the outside wall of the school building facing the schoolyard.”

The article also describes the creative process:

The mural is the brainchild of Jeremy Del Rio, a P.S. 102 parent, who brought his idea to Parent Coordinator Margaret Sherri. Once Sherri secured Dovi’s approval, Del Rio brought Wisneski and the Storefront Arts Center in.

Del Rio said that the idea came to him one day while be was bringing his son to school.

“I saw a lot of signs on the wall with instructions for parents in a dozen different languages. I started to think about all of the different nationalities represented in our school,” he said.

The idea for some type of mural started to develop. Around the same time, scaffolding that had surrounded the school building for a repair project was taken down.

“It gave us a blank canvas,” Del Rio said.

The students inspired the design of the mural, Del Rio said.

“We had a contest in January. We sent notices home with the students telling them the contest theme, ‘How do you welcome guests into your home?’ We encouraged the kids to be as creative as possible. We received over 100 submissions,” he said.

Children came into school with collages, poems, stories and items from their homes. One child came to school with a tea set and explained that her parents, who are from the Middle East, welcome visitors to their home by pouring them cups of tea.

A small group composed of Del Rio, Wisneski, Sherri and members of a new art committee formed by the P.S. 102 Parents Association reviewed the submissions and decided what to include in the mural design. “As we were looking at everything the children submitted, the narrative took shape,” Wisneski said.

Wisneski then created the painting that would serve as the template for the mural. Once that was done, it was time for the task of translating the painting onto the brick wall of the school.

In order to make the process orderly, Wisneski divided the wall up into grids that would contain tiny sections of the mural.

“It’s a very ancient process. The ancient Egyptians used it,” he said.

Enjoy the full story here.

Enjoy the finished PS 102 mural, all 875 square feet of color, detail, and “Welcome” in 43 languages.

Not a bad representation of the original idea that emerged when the PTA Arts Committee reviewed 100 student submissions and layered six student recommendations on February 16. Following is the blog post that documented the original concept.

An Idea Emerges

As the PTA Arts Committee reviewed more than one hundred submissions on February 16, the image above emerged as one of the mural ideas by layering several student drawings.At the foreground is a solitary student walking towards school, a new comer to the community. He is greeted by a classmate; all it takes is one student to begin helping another feel welcome. Then he’s embraced into the larger student body, which is part of a wonderfully diverse neighborhood, within a global city, in an interconnected world.Time — and your input — will tell if this becomes the final concept. What do you think?

Thanks, Sam, for staying true to the students’ collective vision and empowering 400 of us to translate that vision together.

Below are several recent updates from the PS 102 Mural blog. Check the blog for the weekly photo journal, design progression, and more. Thanks to all who volunteered to make the mural possible!

Mural Docu-Tease: Video Highlights

75 seconds, no audio, compelling visuals. Get a feel for the process. Mural documentary coming soon.

Video by Jordan Cortese, 20/20 Vision for Schools.

Closing Bell: New Mural for Bay Ridge School

Thanks to Brownstoner for publishing a story celebrating the PS 102 Mural. 

“On Saturday there was an official unveiling of a new mural at PS 102 in Bay Ridge. The work has been produced by hundreds of volunteers over the past six weeks. The mural is called ‘Welcome,’ and it’s meant ‘to promote a message of acceptance of and respect for diversity.’”

Thank You Friends and Sponsors!

The Voice

The 875 square-feet, welcome-themed PS 102 Mural is not done yet, but getting close. Enjoy our weekly photo diary and step-by-step reports online here. We have added a fifth (and hopefully final) Saturday for you to volunteer before our June 4 Celebration schoolyard party. Volunteer online here. Below are before and after snapshots from weeks 1 and 4 to give a flavor, and the June 4 flyer.

Before

After

Celebration Flyer

Non-presidential or mayoral elections tend to get overlooked, but they are what most directly influence policy decisions at the local level. For example, Citywide and Community Education Councils (CEC) approve budgets, curriculum, closures, new construction, and other school matters in particular districts throughout the city.    Please see the attached notice from the Department of Education regarding the parent vote for Community & Citywide Education Councils, which runs through May 25.

By the way, I’m running for CEC District 20 (Bay Ridge, Dyker Heights, Sunset Park), so please encourage your friends in those neighborhoods to vote for me. 

Download the flyer (PDF)