We held community discussions in a variety of locations and hired residents from the community to conduct face-to-face interviews to map needs and experiences in five priority neighborhoods. These interviews and survey data were taken to CAM’s Interdisciplinary Research Lab to identify four emergent themes across the communities that formed the backdrop for community art projects.

The themes pulled from the mapping project were Community Vibrancy, Preservation of Community Culture, Outdoor Activation, and Youth Empowerment. With the support of the Mellon Foundation, we awarded nine community artists up to $10,000 for projects addressing at least one of the four themes. Each artist partnered with members of the five priority neighborhoods in the completion of their projects.