BACH coalition youth picked up paint brushes and created dynamic murals to mark the Boston Housing Authority’s (BHA) move to become smoke free in September 2012.

Using the theme “Celebrate Tobacco-Free Living,” young people from Charlestown, Dorchester and South Boston spent their February school vacation week designing and painting the murals for local BHA developments.  Each team was assigned a seasoned mural artist who met with the youth to brainstorm and sketch ideas for the project.

“It was wonderful to collaborate with the Boston Alliance for Community Health on this mural project. Many of the youth live in our developments so it makes the message that much stronger. And the results are beautiful”, reflected Kate Bennett, Director of Planning for the BHA. The project was coordinated by Nancy Marks, Tobacco Project Director for BACH.

Jazzed up by  music, pizza, and laughter, over thirty five youth streamed in and out of donated mural-painting space—a house in Dorchester, a community center in South Boston and a church in Charlestown. Coordinators and parents alike were amazed that so many kids showed up before 10 am on the first day of vacation week ready, eager to start working. By the week’s end, two out of the three murals were completed, with the third close behind.

The project was funded by a grant from the Boston Public Health Commission’s Communities Putting Prevention to Work (CPPW). This was a great use of CPPW federal stimulus funds, which prioritized job creation, with the hiring of local mural artists and compensating the youth painters for their time with local merchants’ gift cards. The project proved a great opportunity for the young people to talk more about issues of tobacco use and earn a modest stipend. Many participants shared that it was ‘way more fun’ than watching TV as some of the youth admitted they would have probably done.

View photo gallery for each mural project: Charlestown, Codman Square, and South Boston.