Harrisburg

The summer of 2006 marks the second year KPB has worked with the Allison Hill neighborhood, and the 5th year Jesse Hunting, KPB's Program Coordinator, has worked with the neighborhood. KPB has found that placing interns in an environment that is prepared for them and one that has an established support network, greatly enhances all aspects of the internship.

The Harrisburg project was an ambitious undertaking that set out to engage the local community in the planning, design, painting, and celebration of a mural. The project was successful at involving the community and using the mural to promote an anti-gun violence message that encourages peaceful dialogue among area residents.

The interns initiated the design process by collecting mural ideas from community members and by speaking at several large planning meetings. At the final planning meeting, the interns presented the community with three designs inspired by their feedback. Those at the final meeting voted on a design that can now be seen on the wall.

Once the design was selected, the interns began engaging the community in the painting process. The process of painting a mural can be equated to making wall paper. Before the mural painting began, the interns outlined sections of the mural on synthetic fabric panels and set up a giant paint by numbers system. The interns worked with youth groups, community members, church groups, and work release crews to paint the panels. Once completed, the panels were then glued to the wall.

The mural was completed in-time to have a mural unveiling ceremony. The ceremony was a huge success and was well attended by press, residents, local organizations, and officials from the City of Harrisburg. The success of the project was clearly due to community involvement, which was highlighted during the unveiling. For future press events, KPB and PDC should plan to be more involved with all public relations and media communications.

Harrisburg Intern Report , PDF
Group and Volunteer Specifics, PDF
Patriot News Story - Page One , JPG
Patriot News Story - Page Two, JPG