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.

Service Area: Cobb County

Categories Arts, Culture & Humanities Community Improvement & Capacity Building Crisis Intervention and Mental Health Education Environment & Beautification Youth Services & Development

• Population Served: Children 5 to 14, African Americans, Homeless, Immigrants,Newcomers,Refugees, Victims of Abuse, Teenagers 14 to 19

No locations for this program