We serve schools designated by the GA Department of Education as Title 1 based on students eligible for free/ reduced lunch (FRL). We also serve some “priority” ranked schools that are particularly low performing. On average, our Title 1 partners have 65-95% of their students eligible for FRL. Over half of the art teachers at our Title 1 partners have zero budget for supplies, and at best, serve between 500-1000 students with a supply budget of $1- $3 per student for the year. All school budgets have decreased or remained stagnant over the last 5 years. Because the Atlanta area is a hub for newcomer refugees and immigrants, most school partners have a high rate of English language learners and children who do not speak English. Partner applications also highlight highly transient populations- including homeless children and those in the foster care system. We have an application process for any Title 1 school or nonprofit serving youth across metro-Atlanta, including DeKalb, Fulton, Forsyth, Gwinnett, Cobb, or Cherokee counties. Impact looks like growing community at many of our Title 1 school partners where building community and camaraderie between grades and working on large-scale collaborative projects like murals are near impossible for art teachers with few resources. Each Paint Love project focuses on an art skill or medium, incorporates a non-art social-emotional learning theme or focus like gratitude or skill like a healthy coping mechanism (even if it is subtle), and clearly highlights one of the National Education Association’s re-vamp of 21st Century Skills: Creativity, Collaboration, Creative thinking, and Communication. Ensuring each project engages at least one of the “Four C’s” helps classroom educators incorporate our projects into already established lesson plans and interdisciplinary curriculum, and is more universal that attempting to meet specific metrics that are different for each grade level, although it is certainly possible for teachers to do that.

Starting in fall 2021, Paint Love will run a new mentorship program at South Cobb High School (SCHS). Paint Love’s mission is to provide art programming to all students but also support the artist community. By supporting the artist community in its youth, artists can enter the profession with wisdom, connections, and education. Paint Love's mentor program promotes creative sector professions and builds the artist community within Atlanta, while promoting the graduation rates of local districts. Technology has changed the art world - specifically social media and the ease at which it seems art makes money. Aspiring artists, especially teens, have access to many more ways of engaging with their own and others' art. For some, this ease of access has seemingly decreased the value of school and furthering their education. Especially for those creative students, the structure of the traditional school day can be overwhelming and disengaging. Often these kids drop out or have absenteeism issues. In Georgia, students over 16 are required to attend school by Georgia’s Compulsory Attendance Law. If students do not attend, a court referral can be made for truancy issues. Data shows that lack of engagement and chronic absenteeism may lead to poor overall health and financial stress in the future.

Paint Love partners with youth-serving nonprofit organizations to engage youth through projects that are artist-led and specially formulated by trauma-informed standards. Our partners include but are not limited to: residential programs working with girls who have been removed from sex trafficking, children fleeing domestic violence, counseling and advocacy centers for children who face trauma or grief, homeless and emergency shelters, after school programs for new immigrants and refugees, community centers and neighborhood groups in underserved communities, and more. Success looks different for each of our partners. Impact looks like consistency at some sites, like Jesse’s House and Wellspring Living, where we work with teen girls who haven’t had a lot of stability in their lives. We’ve integrated new waves of thinking about trauma into our programming and look at each project under the lens of what steps their brains and bodies need to go through in order to feel safe and relaxed enough to create and fully engage