Impacting Justice-Involved Youth with Art
The Just Us Mural Project (JUMP) is leading the charge in empowering at-risk youth. This initiative, fueled by a grant from the U.S. Department of Justice, leverages the transformative power of art education to ignite positive change in the lives of justice-involved youth. Rapid City is one of five communities in the country to receive the grant for this transformative initiative.
The vision for JUMP is justice-involved youth will benefit from culturally relevant arts education, resulting in fewer disciplinary infractions and greater compassion for themselves and others. If justice-involved youth have opportunities to engage in group-based projects to create public murals, the participants will participate less often in damaging behavior, gain critical self-management and social skills, develop new social bonds, and heal from traumas that lead to involvement in the justice system. These students will be transformed. |
How the Murals Come AboutYouth at the Juvenile Services Center pull from their tougher then average life experience to design a concept of a mural with a counselor and artist. The 3-day workshop at JSC culminates in a sketch which gets passed to students in Juvenile Diversion (JD).
Through placement by the Pennington County State's Attorney's Juvenile Diversion program, Juvenile Diversion participants attend a 10-day class at the Dahl where they bring that sketch to life. They paint the mural while bringing in their own stories and add elements from their own personal experiences to this artwork. By the end of each mural it has been transformed by 23 justice-involved youth in Rapid City. |
We Need You!This impact can’t happen with out the help of artists. By getting involved in this project you are helping youth in Rapid City find a better outlet to express themselves. Make a difference in your community today by getting involved as a Workshop Artist.
Call for Artists - Workshop Artists As the artist in the room you will aid in the design process and/or lead the transfer of the design on paper to painted on canvas. You'll get the students involved by helping them find their artistic strengths. For the next 16 months, Artists may contract for 10-day or 3-day workshops (90-minutes per day) helping students find an outlet through art. |