Good afternoon, Council. Thank you for having us here today. My name is Nadia Malik. I'm the director of the Porch Light Department. Porch Light is an 7 year partnership with the city's 8 Department of Behavioral Health and 9 Intellectual Disability Services. 10 I moved to Philadelphia 11 eight years ago to attend social 12 work school and my goal in social 13 work school was really to study art 14 and mental health. And eight years 15 later, the only reason I'm still in 16 the city is because Mural Arts kept 17 me here because of the amazing work 18 that we do in Philadelphia.
Good afternoon. My name is Damon McWhite. I'm the director of the Restorative Justice Program at Mural Arts. I started with the department about three years ago working on the job development side. And over the last three years, the work that we are doing with not only individuals who are currently incarcerated, but the folks who are coming H.O.M.E has inspired me to continue that work as a director of the program. So I'm very excited to be here and be a part of the testimony.
These dedicated individuals, along with our amazing team at Mural Arts, engage thousands of community members through critical work that uses arts and culture to drive economic development, improve public space, catalyze civic engagement, and provide young people and adults with skills to join our city's workforce. Our core programs directly support Mayor Parker's priorities of public safety, access to economic opportunity, education, and moving towards a cleaner, greener city. Here are just a few examples of that work. Our Restorative Justice program addresses public safety head on with its focus on providing a rigorous curriculum that provides job skills, training, and pipeline development. The Guild program, a paid- life readiness program for justice impacted to 24-year olds, has a 13 one-year recidivism rate of six 14 percent. Let me say that again, six 15 percent. The rate in the 16 Commonwealth is 55 percent, the 17 national average is 65 percent. The 18 Rec Crew workforce development also prepares justice impacted individuals through trainings, skill building, job readiness, and also the Rec Crew transforms recreation centers throughout the city, making buildings beautiful where our children go. Economic opportunity is key to Philadelphia's future, and I'm proud that participants in our Guild and Rec Crew programs earned nearly half a million dollars in 2024, putting that back into the economy. And we have an 85 percent placement rate in jobs or additional training. Yay. Sorry, I get so excited. Now let's look at Porch Light. Our partnership with the Department of Behavioral Health and Intellectual Disability Services. Porch Light signature project in fiscal year 2024, directly addressed gun violence through a weapons buyback initiative. Guns are being melted down and we're creating a peace park in Kensington. Our signature project for fiscal 2025 focuses on a citywide suicide prevention awareness project, culminating in a beautiful mural at St. Christopher's Hospital for Children. 4 million to the creative economy of our city. Color Me Back has provided same day work for over 1,400 people facing housing insecurity and totaling over a quarter of a million dollars annually. We have also connected 240 Philadelphians who have been struggling to CareerLink, and we place people in job training and positions within the Mural Arts program. There is always a pathway at Mural Arts. In the Northeast and South Philly, both neighborhoods with many immigrant and first- generation residents, our Porch Light storefronts offer practical necessities such as citizenship or English as a second language. Through Porch Light, we strive to create a sense of belonging and empathy amongst neighbors. Whether new or long established. Our art education program aligns with the mayor's extended school day and year-round priorities by providing both in-school and after school programs. Each year, well over 2,000 students across all 10 council districts study everything from entrepreneurship to portfolio development, while they contribute to public art projects that enhance our neighborhoods. Yay. And of course, at the heart of our work, it is about engaging the community in bringing beauty and meaning to public spaces. So we thank our community murals department. Yay, community murals. In fiscal -- that's right. In fiscal 2024, we created murals, again, in every council district. We are everywhere. We dedicated -- just dedicate -- we -- just recently, we've dedicated 81 public art installations. We completed 53 restorations, and in the first two quarters of fiscal 25, we dedicated another 50 new public art installations. And we're in the midst of doing 130 projects right now. So we're busy bees. We continue to expand the concept of community engaged public art as we tap into the extraordinary creative energy of Philadelphia sector. For example, FloatLab. You could ask, what is FloatLab?
It is a unique civic space that will be right by Bartram's on the Schuylkill River. And by day it will be a laboratory where young people can study the river and environmental issues. And at night, it'll be a spot where people can meditate on the river or have performance. Right now, we are living in unprecedented times. Our residents, our institutions of higher education and many vital programs normally funded by the federal government are threatened. In the face of this, Mural Art's commitment to community, to connection, and creativity helps foster resilience and keeps hope alive. Our mural projects create opportunities for neighborhoods all across the city to come together to understand their uniqueness and their shared values. Innovative projects like the People's Budget funded by the William Penn Foundation, build knowledge through civic engagement and strengthen democracy locally. As we look to 2026, Mural Arts is planning a full range of programs to -- designed to reflect on this moment, reimagine the future, and celebrate and transform our city. Printmaking by the People is a partnership with the free library that invites people to participate and reimagine the Declaration of Independence. Bells across Philadelphia will bring artists and communities together to decorate Liberty Bell replicas along 10 commercial corridors and in parks, reinforcing our city's historic brand. Preparing for the expected influx of visitors, we are creating monumental new artworks and key gateways to the city to celebrate Philadelphia's revolutionary and innovative spirit. The funding for these murals was appropriated in the fiscal 2025 transfer ordinance. Thank you so much. We are really, really grateful and excited. A potential new project -- a new project coming in Fiscal is our partnership with CLIP, and we're going to be working with the Office of Clean & Green to Beautify Highways. I am very excited about this opportunity. It's very large, very big, very daunting and very inspiring. And I want to thank the Mayor for supporting this important initiative. As you heard, our work is so much more than murals. It's about strengthening Philadelphia spirit, its neighborhoods, its people, and its future. It's about using art and culture as a tool to heal, to connect and to push forward. Just recently, USA Today named Philadelphia the number one city in the country for street art and murals. Let's hear it. That recognition matters. Number one, Cincinnati thought they could get it, but there was just no 24 way. And it matters not just for what it says about our creative talent, but what it says about who we are and what we believe in. Every mural, every project we take on, is a daily act of hope. In a world that feels fractured, this work says we still believe in each other. We believe that change is possible. I always say that art ignites change because I see it happen again and again and again. This is the kind of change Philadelphia deserves; creative, connected, and community driven. We are incredibly grateful more than you'll ever know, for your support and for the belief that you have in us, that Mayor Parker has with us, that our Chief Cultural Val Gay has with us. Thank you, thank you, thank you. Because of all of you, we can keep building a city where what's possible becomes real, block by block, wall by wall, person to person. Thank you from the bottom of my heart.
Thank you very much, and we appreciate, as always, your very enthusiastic and inspirational --
-- testimony for something that's critically important here in the city of Philadelphia. I know I asked the administration some time ago at my own research regarding the proposed FY26 budget that includes the $190,000, which you talked about for the beautification of I-95. However, funding for Color Me Back program, which is $750,000, is not recognized in the five-year plan. So give me an idea of how this funding shift of priorities will affect your ability to support your five core programs such as Color Me Back and Restorative Justice.
Okay. To answer that question, we're going to tag team. So, Lisa Murch, if you would come up here and introduce yourself.
My name is Lisa Murch, and I'm the Chief Operating Officer at Mural Arts. The 750 that you were referring to for the Color Me Back program is actually coming to us through another source in the city, which we're very pleased about. The CEO office will be providing us $750 directly to the Porch Light Color Me Back program, which is wonderful and a new development for us. So we're really grateful for that. The funding that we're going to have difficulty raising for our other programming is our Guilds program. Oh, sorry.
So the 790 for the highways. So the budget is 3.7. Of the 3.7, as you just indicated, 790 is for the highways. So we take that out and we have 2.9, something like that. 2.8, 2.9. So that, and now Lisa will talk about what that means.
Yeah. So that reduction in our general operating dollars will impact our programming, right? So we will only be able to do half the number of community projects that we normally engage in. We would not be able to run our guild program as planned. Restorations would have no 22 budget in our -- in our budget this year. And then our crew, we are also hoping to bring some of the members who are least compensated to what we feel like is a healthy living wage. So all of those things would really be a wonderful thing for the program if we could bring those back.
So let's do a deeper diver ground around the issue of public safety. Right now we see the City of Philadelphia, as a matter of fact, it was mentioned yesterday, a 50 year historic low when it comes to homicides and shootings. So talk about the role that Mural Arts have played. A lot of people when you think Mural Arts, if they don't know the overall mission, the first thing that come to their mind is, you're doing great murals across the city of Philadelphia. You're cleaning up graffiti and you're doing some painting. But it's -- the mission is much, much more than that. Particularly when it comes to the issue of public safety, giving young people a second chance, giving adults a second chance, and also a purpose to transform their lives when they are incarcerated and also returning citizens as we talk about public safety here in the city of Philadelphia.
Thank you, Council President, for that question. I'll turn it over to my colleague in a minute. But I want to say to all of you that the Restorative Justice program at Mural Arts, and you could all look at me and say, but Jane Golden, you're biased. But I'm a person who I believe that this is not a job. For me, it's a moral imperative. And we do the work with the utmost integrity. If I'm giving you a statistic, it's because it's real. The changes that we've seen over years, we started working in Graterford Prison 20 years ago. We started our reentry program in 2008. And what we saw were extraordinary changes. Many of the young people are here today. They have talent and genius and potential that has just gone unrecognized in our society. And people should not be judged endlessly because of a mistake they've made. We've all made mistakes. And we are a program that provides people with love and with rigor and with training and the data backs it up. Six percent recidivism, 85 percent chance, I mean, of people moving on to jobs. We are not an ambivalent employer. We are one that cares about our constituents. And so now I'll turn it over to Damon. I just had to say that because I get so wound up and excited and I believe in the work.
It's not a lot of meat left on the bone. Yeah, for sure. So thank you Council president for acknowledging that. So in our Restorative Justice department, as I mentioned earlier, we operate programs both at the State Correctional Institution and also at our space at 915 Spring Garden Street. What we've seen and what I've personally seen within that program is opportunities for Philadelphians to reconnect back to their community. So you're talking about young people who are not only potentially offenders, but they're also victims of those same crimes that are happening in their community. And these mural projects and this opportunity to work at rec centers and work with community members is not only building that customer service skill that a lot of our city employees are looking for and opportunities that could exist to them, but it's also reconnecting them to those communities that they feel like they're no longer a part of when they're incarcerated. So on upon their return, we're working on projects that are directly impacting these neighborhoods. We're getting community members to come up and engage with our participants to ask about the process, ask about their experience, ask about what they're excited about the program for. And they're building those one-on-one communication skills that are going to help them when they leave our program in the future. And to Lisa's point, one of our main concerns for next year is losing that opportunity for that life readiness program that Jane mentioned because of the importance of giving people the opportunity to identify a purpose that they can begin to pursue, and then having a community of support from Mural Arts to be able to move on with that. We have participants that are here today that are selling artwork that would've never thought before about themselves being artists. We have participants here today that have other job opportunities that they're waiting for. We have participants in coding programs. I know I saw a couple of councilmembers at our event yesterday. But we're connecting people to opportunities that exist even outside of art, but we're using art as the opportunity to connect that thread. And without that Guild program, we would definitely be losing the opportunity to do so for a number of Philadelphians.
And, Council President, it's also, as you pointed out, I think that Mural Arts is a deceptively complex organization because it's public safety, but it's also beautification, it's opportunity, it's economic development, and it's also around mental health problems. But it's about like going like this and saying, we are going to provide pathways, a foundation, and opportunities for people across this city, some of whom have really struggled. But why not have a chance to move on with your life and thrive. And that's what we see. So we are probably seeing, how many people every year in the Guild and the Rec Crew?
Typically, between 60 to 80 people in those programs. And with the structure that we're building and the structure that we have in place, we want to be able to increase that work. But we understand like this situation could potentially limit the amount of people flowing into the program that could ultimately be a part of the Rec Crew. And that's one of our major concerns with losing the Guild program.
And the other thing is, I know you go out to Phoenix, which thank you for doing that, and we had a field trip and we're going to do it everybody again in July. And Councilmember O'Rourke, thank you for joining us. And it was amazing. A hundred new murals throughout the institution of images of places. The men there will never travel to, but exist in their minds. We cannot tap down their imagination and creativity, and we need to nurture it.
How much was the FY25 budget? Your budget? Your total budget for Mural Arts last year for FY25?
Yeah. So our original base budget was close to 3.7. Right. But after additions from Council over the course of the year, we get to about $5 million.
Okay. So let's just stick with the base budget. So the base budget is how much?
That's 3.7. And then I know you came back, we did a midyear transfer -- came back to the mid-year transfer for 2.50. Now, and I'm asking you this question because the 790, which really is not about your programming, right? That means those programs that has -- so those programs are already supported prior to the 790, correct?
So for last year's fiscal year, yes, we are supported through the end of this fiscal.
But the 790, which is going to -- what has to be used in a certain types of -- in a -- in a certain way leaves these programs out, correct?
That is correct. And what we -- when we were doing our assessment around 5 million, it keeps our program like organizationally strong so that we can keep doing this without interruption.
Got it. So I want to turn it over to our champion of arts as well. Another patron on here who have led this effort in Council for a while. Councilmember Isaiah Thomas. And then we'll start our around. Councilmember THOMAS: Good morning -- good afternoon, colleagues. Good afternoon, Council President. Good afternoon to all of BS and people from Mural Arts. Jane Golden, we love you. Your energy is contagious. Council president, I have no questions. I'm a board member for Mural Arts. I know firsthand the great work that's done through the Guild program and all the initiatives that run through Mural Arts. And I'll just close out by saying this Council President, we talk about the importance of 2026 and everything that's going to happen next year. It's imperative that we fund Mural Arts in a way that they're needed to assure that they are the quality partner that we know that they can be and have been in the past to put us in a position to display Philadelphia in the best eye for the world to see. So I just wanted to put those remarks on the record, Council President. Of course, Jane, the entire team, thank you for all the great work that you're doing. Of course, you know, you have my support. And I also just want to close out by thanking all of the other board members for Mural Arts because the Mural Arts Board is a phenomenal board who does great work. And it's one of those boards where it's not supposed to be a working board, but Jane puts us to work just like she does everybody else. So, thank you, Council President.
Thank you very much. The Chair recognize Councilman Rue Landau, then Councilmember Kathy Gilmore-Richardson, and Councilmember Phillips after that.
Thank you, Council President. First of all, yay, Mural Arts. I love you guys. It is absolutely true that all of your enthusiasm is contagious. You're so lucky to work with this institution every single day. It's easy to get up and go to work when you have this kind of enthusiasm. Right? I'm also -- I cannot describe what an amazing fan I am of all of your work and the way in which you have transformed lives. I was really moved when we were talking now about your Restorative Justice work and your work with people returning from incarceration or anybody who's got a record. You know, I've done a lot of restorative justice work in my time where people are kind of apologizing and healing a bit in a conversation or in a community. But to think that after that process, you have a product on the wall too. You've taken part in amazing art project, whether it's a mural or something where you can always walk back to it and look at it and remember the growth that you've had personally and the growth to the community is really something very special. So thank you so much for that. I want to start by just -- I'm confused and want to get to some nitty -- my one nitty-gritty budget number to start with. Because I'm excited about this I-95 project. I would like every avenue and way people are going to come and experience our wonderful city to be beautified. But my understanding is that about -- so you're calling it 790, about $790,000 is -- was allocated to support the Clean & Green Initiative, but it didn't come from Clean & Green's budget. So then that means it comes from your budget, which means there's $790,000 worth of other things that you can't do; is that right?
Okay. I -- I'm against that. I'm voting against that already. I don't like that. So we'd love to -- we have to try to make you whole in some way. I appreciate you taking on this initiative. You always try new things along with the work you currently do, but I'm assuming that includes you'd need more hands and more material and things like that in order to make that happen. So okay. So that cleared that up for me. What additional funding would you need in order to complete that project along with all of your other work? Is it exactly $790,000?
Well, actually we would really love $1.5 million so that we could do the work we need to do to keep serving the citizens of the city in the best way we can. We're very grateful for the budget that we have and for the support that we get. But the truth is that Mural Arts is an ambitious program in the best sense of that word. We are opportunistic, we see opportunities everywhere, and we want to be able to seize them in a manner, like as I said before, with integrity, that's serving individuals, creating a city that looks at public safety, beautification transformation of sites. I mean, just over the last number of years you think about it, there's been inflation. There's like things -- like, it's just more expensive to do work. And our budget is for the most part, pretty flat over the many years that we've been doing this work. So we're not -- you know, we -- you know, we can't ask for the sky, but 1.5 would be, like, incredible. But we do -- we have to -- it would just be heartbreaking to not be able to continue serving our city's young people, justice impacted young people in the manner with which we've been doing. And also, you know, working along commercial corridors, hiring artists. I mean, like, individual artists. It's so wonderful that there is a place to go to create in public space where there's a real community around that. Artists move to Philadelphia, but they may not stay here if they're not opportunities. So 1.5, I'm sorry, that was a long way answer.
Thank you for the 1.5. So that -- would that also -- I know 2026 is coming and so this I-95 is only one part of that. Would your -- would $1.5 million also cover whatever your vision is to expand what we should be doing in Philadelphia for 2026?
No, it would not. It would cover our operations and that's what it would cover. We have raised additional funds for some of our projects, but, you know, our dream would be -- we have a very, very little restoration budget. We should be restoring some of our landmark murals. We should be creating a new collection like the City of Los Angeles there -- because the Olympics are, I guess, in '28, they've already started commissioning new work. It's like, we need to think this way. I mean, we're -- it's like we're Philly, we lead the world in public art. It's like so awesome. So if you ask me, I know you know this about, like, for five minutes, like, what -- like ideas for 2026. We're doing some great things. And of course we have other ideas because that's just who we are. It's like in our DNA.
Okay. Thank you so much. I'll come back for another round. I got like 100 questions for you guys. Love you guys.
Thank you. Dr. Phillips, Majority Leader Gilmore-Richardson, Quetcy Lozada, Councilmember Harrity.
Thank you so much, Jane Golden, for the work that you do in the city of Philadelphia and all your amazing team. It's a -- it's excellent. So keep up the work. I just want to begin by thanking you for your dedication to working well with the community. Your entire mural staff does a lot of work with, you know, engaging neighbors about what they want to see from their murals, but also finding ways to get additional funding to get the murals completed. So I just want to pull out the fact that -- I just want to bring up the fact that you have -- we're noting that it would be a potentially an additional $1.5 million needed to keep your current operation funds in place. And what I want to say is that we had a conversation the last budget cycle, and I said this cycle, I would want to deliver on this because this was something I asked, I did some research, learned about from your team that it costs about 30 to $80,000 depending on the size of murals and, you know, because some are very tall and so forth. And I said, can you imagine the city of Philadelphia with two murals minimum per Council district in all districts? And I'm like, what would that cost? So I did the numbers and that -- and it was agreed upon that it would be an additional million dollars. So what I'm suggesting from all of us at City Council is that, you know, we don't just do the $5.2 million, but we do $6.2 million so that we can get the minimum of 2 million. And so -- and so I'm very hopeful by all of our colleagues that we could find a way to make that happen. Because if that's the minimum of getting two murals per district, and we can work even with our counselor, our large members and so forth in thinking about all these things, I think it would be an amazing thing for all of the city of Philadelphia. So just want to talk about, you know, that -- your thoughts on that.
Well, it would be a dream. I'd probably would faint and you'd have to bring me back to life. But thank you. We -- you know, first of all, we have -- and my colleagues here in the project management office know this. We have a waiting list. Like, the demand for projects far exceeds our ability to do it. That's like a -- that's a bottom line real scenario. And so we could probably do work in the Council districts and then for our at-large colleagues, there would be some other projects we could do. So it would be -- it would be amazing and we could do it and we'd be very energized and inspired and really good team players.
Thank you. Because we already know that the 5.2 covers your -- just to keep you afloat, but that additional million would bring more life to the city of Philadelphia when it comes to art. So hopefully we can not only keep you afloat with the 5.2, but bring more to our districts. Thank you so much. Thank you.
Thank you, Dr. Phillips. Councilmember Gilmore-Richardson, then Councilmember Quetcy Lozada, then Councilmember Jim Harrity.
Thank you, Mr. President. And thank you so much, much Jane Golden and to the entire mural arts team. You know, you just bring such wonderful energy and life to this work and really underscore the importance of arts in our community. I'm really excited to hear about the I-95 project in particular because I've noticed even in my travels on 76 and even in the park, I've noticed more graffiti in the park, which that was kind of like an unspoken unwritten rule for years that we don't impact our park spaces with graffiti. But I'm noticing even now, like Chamounix Drive over in closer to west Philadelphia, more and more graffiti even in the park. So I know that you all are working on the 2026 activities and all of the other additional murals. Some of which I have seen some of the concepts and I'm just thrilled and excited for and so is the community. So I thank you for that. And also thank you for your commitment to Tussin as well. But are you all working towards any projects in the park in specific just around graffiti removal? Or --
Well, what we -- what we hope to do with some of the funds that have come in, and we're very, again, grateful to all of you, the mayor, and to Director Williams from Clean and Green, and of course Chief Cultural Officer Val Gay. We're very -- we would like to take a portion of that. And I believe the mayor even touched on this in her budget address and work with graffiti writers. Because as you know, and many of you know, back in the day, I did work for the Anti- Graffiti Network a thousand years ago.
But we love that work and we feel that -- I mean, just recently there was a young man who had been defacing property, and one of my colleagues here gave him an opportunity to work on a mural. And I will say that he did an amazing job. And then he sent me an email and he said, dear Ms. Golden, I just want you to know that that experience was so important. I would like to now do murals on daycare centers in my neighborhood. That's a real story. And it's like, there are so many more young people like him who would -- who would like -- would be willing and eager and interested to help transform our city for the better, if only for an opportunity. So thank you for that question. We would love to do that.
That would be great. I wanted to bring it up because, and I'm sure if former Councilmember, Blondell Reynolds, was listening right now, which she does from time to time, you know, that was her entree into politics was when someone wrote graffiti on her first house down in University City in Mantua, and she was not happy about it. And that was her foray into the entire graffiti network and the birth of mural arts. And so I wanted to bring that up because we've seen more of it as of late. And I have -- I guess this will be more of a, I guess, funny question, but I've seen recently, even on the Girard Avenue Bridge, when you're coming from Brewery town or North Philly, coming over towards the zoo near Lansdowne Drive on that bridge, you know, where the -- typically we have some of the SEPTA trains and Amtrak trains that run on that line. More graffiti even on that bridge. And that's really been a real gateway for folks that are coming in and out of the city who may be coming from the west side, but also from other areas. And just thinking about not only Kelly Drive, but the reopening of Dr. Martin Luther King Drive that we anticipate with the mayor's stating in her address, the bridge being finished by the art museum in the fall of 25. How do we restore a bridge like that that's so high up? So are you -- I'm sure you're on the platform, right? And I don't know how are they're getting that graffiti all the way over top of the river?
Well, if we're talking about the same wall, there is a great wall right by 30th Street where all the big graffiti writers are. Is that the one that you --
No. This one is the bridge where the zoo is located.
Well, it would be possible. I mean, we have funding. So this is -- we have funding from the midyear transfer for a gateway project, and we're going to soon be putting together an advisory committee to think about how do we define where our gateway should be. But then I think, you know, connected to that, there might be -- because it's 500,000, a project like that would probably be quite expensive, but I think doable. We'd have to do a real serious analysis and work with CLIP because there would be safety concerns.
But I think we have to -- I think that's such a great question because we have to be thinking about what are people going to see and what do we see as people who live here --
-- every day in these key locations. And I think that we should think about how do we beautify either with color or with image.
Because you all have a mural there on the 76 west portion of -- when you enter from Girard Avenue going eastbound on 76. But again, this is the bridge in particular. And I'm just trying to conceptualize because my kids and I, we walk from home all the way downtown a couple times a year, and we walk over that bridge and it's a gate. It's a really high gate. So I don't even know how they're getting over there, is what I'm saying, to do that and then how we would rectify the issue. Like, that projects that you all typically work on, because it's really -- it's nothing there. Like, it's not even like the ground is there 30, 40 feet below. It's not -- it's just the Schuylkill River.
I have no idea how they're doing it. I look at it in amazement and they think some of them -- I mean, there's -- I saw a few spaces last week and I thought they must be repelling down. And someone told me that's exactly what they're doing, yet they're, like, getting trained.
So, I mean, that's why I thought the mayor's idea actually of in some places just using color is a way to go.
And we've actually seen some images around the country that are really interesting. And so that's what I would advocate for. So I think it's possible with the right research, but I would advocate for color and I really do believe that would be quite striking and beautiful.
Okay. That'll be great. Well, I just wanted to mention that because that's on the sort of traffic corridor in thoroughfare when people will be coming in and out of the city. And also when we go back and forth to work, school and play, we're seeing this as well. But, you know, I'm an avid supporter of mural arts, we appreciate all the work that you all are doing, and I look forward to personally ensuring that we are being supportive of your request.
Thank you very much. The Chair recognizes the Councilmember Quetcy Lozada, then Councilman Jim Harrity, then Councilmember Squilla, and then O'Rourke.
Thank you, Council President. I just briefly want to recognize and thank Jane for the amazing project that was just completed on Francisca and the Haiku project that connects Louisa with the residents of Naval Square. I can't tell you the number of people who have said how much they appreciate that project and how beautiful it is and how much they can't wait to see more projects in and across the 7th Council District. And so my question to you is: Can you tell us how many projects specific you have by district? And is there a specific budget that you would need for each one, and if you know what that is, at least, for the 7th, could you share that with me?
Sure. So I think that the councilman referred to in the number a million dollars of two projects per district were placed in a range between 30 and 80k was your estimate, correct? So I think that would be kind of a base level to start from as a price point.
And I just want to thank you for your support and we're really excited to go and look at the commercial corridors. And I think that's about right. That's -- it's interesting because if you did an analysis of our budget, the sliver that goes to murals is actually quite small. It's ironic but true. So thank you for that. Really good question.
Thank you. The Chair recognizes Councilmember Jim Harrity.
Thank you, Council President. Jane, my baby, you know -- you know I love you. I remember Anti-Graffiti. I started in 93 with the Controller's office. I remember Anti-Graffiti from when I first started working and also from when I was a kid. But I had the pleasure of working with you when I worked for John Street and the managing director's office. I actually was in -- that's when you had the kids program over on North Broad Street, the after school program, which was really great, so big supporter. I'd just like to know -- you know, and thank you again, like Quetcy said, for the 7th District, you know, we need help over there. Murals really do brighten up the scenery, and the kids, it makes them feel good. So I'd love to see some more over there. Why are these programs especially critical to Kensington Community, the mental health community and those involved in the restorative justice and reentry communities? What outcomes or impacts have you seen in these areas? And if Mural Arts budget stays stagnant and is not fully funded, what is going to happen to the restorative justice aspects that you have highlighted to us?
Well, one thing is for sure the Guild Program that we love and that many of you have supported over the years will go away. I mean, I think it's -- there's -- we just -- it's a math issue. We just can't support it. Our -- the work we do in Kensington with Porch Light, and I would like Nadia to speak about it, has been extremely inspiring that we could be at rec centers, we could be at schools, we can be in parks. I mean, we're very facile and responsive, and so we want to be there and we want to have a consistent presence there. And then the Color Me Back work is really -- it's like God's work. It's really transforming people's lives. Nadia, do you want to -- would you like to add?
Of course. Yeah, so, you know, Mural Arts in general has a long commitment to the Kensington neighborhood. The Porch Light department, we've been in the neighborhood for eight years, and I think that consistency is a big part of it. We have seen every single year that we've been in the neighborhood. The one thing that we always hear from people in Kensington is that we want people to prove that you're here and in it for the long run, right? That we don't want people dropping in and out. We want people to listen to us, to tell -- to hear what we want in the neighborhood. And I think that's the biggest effect that we've had, is that we are consistently there. We have a storefront right now on Kensington and Allegheny.
Yeah. And it is, you know, you live there, you know, Kensington and Allegheny, not many people want to come out to that corner and come out to work there. Since we've been there, we have great partnership with Esperanza right around the corner, the Hispanic Community Counseling Services across the street, RAWtools is next to us. That combination of people being there consistently has made a huge difference. And that people know that we're there. They know that when they come into our space, it's a safe space for them. We accept them. But in terms of outcomes, I think it is that just we have -- we're consistently there. And also providing an outlet for people that might not have a space to have an outlet for just free art programming, right, just that outlet of expressing themselves, the outlet of a space to gather. We heard from a lot of people that there just aren't space -- The McPherson Library is an amazing space. People gather there, but there's very few and far between spaces where people can just come in. They know that they're safe there, they can bring their family members there. But we've also just seen, you know, being -- referring people to services, that idea of community, and I think Damon speaks about this a lot with the Guild, but in our Color me Back program, we've been in Kensington for three years. And that idea of seeing people who've been through that program, who were going through the same concerns, the same mental health concerns, the same substance use concerns, they serve as a role model for someone else has done this, so I can also do this. I can -- I have this clear pathway for myself.
Yeah. That's the other thing I like, is the fact that you're bringing people from that community in there to work on those pieces along with the kids. I think you do an amazing job and I know that there were a bunch of us last budget cycle fighting to get Mural Arts some more money. We did get a little bit. We didn't get everything we needed, but, you know, me, I'm -- I'm going to vote for fully funding it because I also believe that we need to make a good impression for -- we need to make a good impression for the birthday of our country. And to be honest, Mural Arts is literally probably one of the least expensive ways that we could do that compared to -- compared to some of the other projects. So I just hope that my colleagues, we can stand strong on this issue and dig our heels in because I think this is important. I think it's something that lights up a neighborhood, it brings joy, makes the kids smile. For me, that's what it's about.
And thank you so much. And it's really a joy to see people go through Color me Back, and then have, like, either jobs with us or jobs in other places. It's so -- you feel so inspired by that. And that's why we're very grateful that 750,000 came back because, if not, I would've been sitting here today and telling you we're cutting Color me Back. So that's very precarious as well, and someday it would be a dream if that was incorporated into our budget, just generally.
Thank you. CHAIR THOMAS: Thank you, Councilman. The Chair recognizes Councilmember Squilla followed by Councilmember O'Rourke, and then we'll close out with Councilmember Landau.
Thank you, Mr. Chair, and thank you Jane and Mural Arts for being here. First of all, let's cut to the chase, I'm supportive of the $1.5 million in the budget, obviously. But I want to go back to the question. Because when Carlton Williams was here, Clean and Green testified, we had asked him about the highway funding and he had mentioned that they were going to work with graffiti writers and how that would work. I'm just curious, do you have a -- do you know the plan or what the plan is and how that 750 will be spent? Because you know my goal and which we're going to talk about privately, but, you know, to try to create a graffiti wall where we could have a wall where we could use graffiti writers, engage them, have them show their art and then make it a place where people could visit and then every year change it up and have it over and over again. And, you know, I would like to be able to work with you on that. And I know you're burdened with nine million other projects to do, but, you know, and find the resources to do that. But the -- Carlton had said that the goal was to come up with working with graffiti writers on some of this program. Do we have any idea of how that would work? Or is that funding specifically for that? Or are you just using the funding to paint over to graffiti on the highways?
That's a great question, Councilmember Squilla. Thank you for asking that. We really believe very strongly that it's important to keep our -- the highways, keep our city clean, and we really commend CLIP for all they do. At the same time, it's very important to impact behavior, otherwise we'll just be here again and again. So I think that it's a -- it's multitasking and we have written a number of proposals, we've shared proposals with Director Williams. He's very open to it. It's now a question of, you know, sitting down now this very, very late spring and making a plan to both beautify the highways, but taking a fraction of that money because we're ready to fly into action because we have a history of doing it, of working with the graffiti writers. And I love your idea and I commend you for this and we look forward to working with you to have some legal walls that change. I mean, I was invited to go to Miami Beach during Art Basel to be on a panel. And first of all, there were like hundreds of people there from all over. And they had taken spray and there were all these murals everywhere that were rotating and people were so captivated by it that I think that we're missing out on opportunities that we could both change kids' lives and get something beautiful and also sort of captivating and attract people to it. So I think there's a way of doing all those things. And I think we -- that we just should -- we should do it and now is the time. We're very eager to do this.
But we know all those things cost money and resources, and if we want them to happen, we have to be able to support them. So saying that and engaging the graffiti writers and understanding, because we know -- we see -- we never used to see graffiti on murals before. We're seeing that now, right?
So we're seeing that change. And the goal is if you bring these people in, work with them, show them that their art is important and it means something, they don't want anybody writing on their art, wo we won't want you writing on somebody else's art. And I think by getting them involved and being part of the solution will really bring us to have -- spend less resources in just cleaning up graffiti or putting a million dollars into just cleaning up highways because they're going to be doing their art on these walls and then people are going to go take pictures in front of them.
You're absolutely right. I will always remember the first mural I did in the city of Philadelphia, when I worked for the Anti-Graffiti Network, I was working with about a hundred graffiti writers on the spring garden street bridge. And it was just like, it was chaotic, but it was inspiring. And at one point we got to work all of us and someone had written their name across the bridge and they were like, Jane, this is awful. And I'm like, well, what do you think you've been doing around the city? And they're like, Oh, right. And it was like a moment of epiphany. And then a few days later, this young man comes walking up to us and their kids are like, that's Pez. I'm like, what? And I just run up to him and he goes, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. I'm sorry. I came to apologize. I said, this is how you apologize. You're going to start working for us today. And I gave him a brush and you know what? He stayed seven years and now he's a big designer, lives in Denver, has two kids.
That's good. That's great. But maybe we could do that for cornbread, right? Or some of the other guys out there. So, yes, happy to work on that with you and obviously supporting the additional dollars in Mural Arts. We know -- I love seeing the shirts and the signs today because, you know, I always say Mural Arts is not just murals. We are the biggest outdoor art museum in the world, but it's more than just murals, right? So thank you so much. Great job. CHAIR THOMAS: Thank you, Councilman, and thank you for your advocacy and your work on this issue. The Chair recognizes Councilmember O'Rourke, and then we'll close out with Councilmember Landau.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. First and foremost, I want to add my voice to the course of my colleagues and thank Mural Arts for all that you do for our city. It is late in the afternoon, so why don't we go ahead and give another round of applause to Mural Arts for all that they do. You mentioned it already. We have more murals than any city on the planet that we call Earth, and that simply wouldn't be the case without your work. And so thank you for that. You also do phenomenal restorative justice work. You may have talked about it prior to my coming into the chamber. I recently toured, as you mentioned, SEI Phoenix with you and your team. And I suggest, if you haven't already, colleagues, that every member do the same. Go up there and see with your own eyes the sort of work that's being done in that space, in the way that it feeds the spirit in the midst of a cage. I think it's important. I think I was -- came in, you were talking about Color me Back. I was going to ask about that. But I do want to know, your office does a lot of work around the budget engagement; is that correct?
Can you tell us about the work of the People's Budget Office?
Sure. Thank you for asking that question. It's a really innovative program. I want to give a lot of credit to Phoebe Bachman who had this idea. We're -- I just want to say this, that we're an organization that's always open to ideas. I think in life, people here know a lot. And so we like to think about yes and how we could do it. So this is about using artists to help people learn about the city budget, think about what possibilities are. And, you know, artists have a wonderful way of communicating and interpreting things in our world. Sometimes it's things that we, you know, don't think about, but somehow an artist will see something different or new path out. They will see the light. And so this people's budget is so fascinating to me because we're -- we have artist residencies, we have a container in Love Park that we've turned into an office. And then we have these budget 101s and 201s all over the city. And I went to one at Bach a few weeks ago, just stopped in on a Sunday afternoon. And I'm thinking, well, how many people could be here Sunday at 3:00 o'clock? I walked in, it was packed. It was standing room only because people yearn to know more. People love our city, they're invested in our city. And this is a way of knowledge sharing. And so it's like, okay, we all have a vested interest in our city. And so understanding the budget is really important and using art is a way to welcome people in has been fascinating. It's really a wonderful program. I was thrilled that William Penn provided us with this, a very significant grant. And I want to say that every program officer from William Penn came to the People's Budget last week to the office, and they all worked with them for several hours and talked about the city budget and then did art activations.
I appreciate Member Harrity's point. We can clap for that. Yes, we can. I appreciate Member Harrity's point around being one of the cheaper ways or -- yeah, I guess cheaper ways by which we're able to do amazing things. One of those amazing things, and I'll preach this to the day that I lay my head down in the grave, democracy is more than just voting on election day or election season. It's what you do prior to throughout election season and after the fact. And when you are able to provide a program that creates more access points for the common citizen of one of our neighbors to be able to engage and be able to know more about how our city runs, how things are flowing, what have you, we are re engendering a sense of civic responsibility and engagement in a way that I think we -- it could be overlooked. And I just want to raise that as we talk about every election cycle, voter turnout, by the way, May 20th, don't forget to go vote. Why, as we talk about those sorts of things, seeing these points as well as opportunities for us to be able to be a more democratic city and therefore be a beacon for others. I still got some time on the clock. So I'll say that another program that I think speaks to Mural Arts multifaceted impact. And if you talked about this already, I apologize, is the Kensington storefront. Was that mentioned this already? Which is one of the several specific spaces run throughout the city. How does the Kensington storefront community curator program work? And can you tell us more about the impact that it has?
Yeah. Thank you so much for your question. Yeah, so we've been running the Kensington storefront in different spaces, but for eight years now, the biggest impact I can talk about in the last year, I see this as a culmination of all the work we did in the neighborhood is we were able to install three 12-foot-tall vessels in the neighborhood done by artists Roberto Lugo, who grew up in Kensington, right? He grew up there, lived in several different spaces in the neighborhood, and now he's at MoMA and he's around the world and he's this amazing ceramic artist. But he wanted to come back to the neighborhood and put his beautiful pieces in that neighborhood because he was like, this neighborhood deserves it, right? This -- it's art, it's for everyone. That's what we do at Mural Arts. But in Kensington, we would not have been able to do that project if we hadn't been committed to that neighborhood for many, many years and have amazing partnerships in that neighborhood. So yeah, we continue to do those kinds of workshops. We offered ceramic workshops. We had two churches starting to come to our free ceramic workshops, had never touched clay before, started coming every week. We have these amazing clay pieces now in our space. And so that's the effect that we see is just that long-term engagement with folks, they just keep coming back to us and we keep offering whatever we can with the budget that we have.
And I just want to say that the storefronts, because Barb Bower's here from the Tacony LAB, it's a way of being in neighborhoods that are far from any anchor arts institution and opening up the door and saying all are welcome. And someone once said a long time ago, Councilmember, it was the biggest compliment to me ever that mural arts is the visualization of democracy because people are invited into a civic space and their voice matters.
Yeah. Again, thank you so much for help bringing vibrancy and life to our city for all the work that you do. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Chair. CHAIR THOMAS: Thank you. Thank you, Councilman, and thank you for your advocacy. Those was a great line of questioning and thank you for your answers. We'll get ready to close out today's session. So Councilmember Landau, you are our last person for today.
Thank you so much. Just a couple more anecdotes and one final question to make sure I get this one on the record. First, as you engage with more graffiti writers, I told Clean and Green, and I will tell you I'd like to meet Rew, R-E-W, who is all over the city. When you find that person, please connect Rue to Rew. And the second -- and Rew is very talented, you'll enjoy. And the second is, I will not ever forget my experience at the Kensington storefront with the Porch Light Series. When I was watching local folks work on your Petrykikva Gardens.
Yes. Where they had already said that they had worked on this. So it was like an homage to the Ukrainian community. And I had -- there were folks in Kensington talking about how they were engaging with the Ukrainian community. I believe some people came from Ukraine to actually work on this project. Then got to see the installation of it. I -- to see this all full circle and to see your artists there on the ground at the installation at a great art gallery was just such an amazing Philadelphia story and Philadelphia experience. So thank you so much, even for allowing me to be a part of that.
And I think I just want to end to make sure I ask this question clearly because I think we -- you know, you've got a whole bunch of fans here and we absolutely want to help you get a fully funded budget. But what would happen if you don't get the extra funding? What would be the effect on employment for class and any of the projects you have on class 200? Again, hoping this could never happen, but I want to get on the record what the damage would be.
Well, I first want to say our class 100, we don't really have -- we used to have 9 city employees back in the day. We 10 have now how many? We have 10. So 11 half. And we would worry that they 12 would be doomed to the salaries that 13 they have, which are not sufficient. 14
It's not a 17 living wage for them. And that's 18 heartbreaking. So that's number 19 one, for class 100. For class 200, 20 the Guild would go away. We would do a fraction of our restorations. We would do a fraction of new murals. So going into 2026, we would really -- like, it would be really -- it would be hard on us, really difficult, but really a shame for the city because we're an organization that flies and can even fly more. What else, Lisa, on this?
Okay. Those are the main -- well, those are the main things that would happen. So it would impact employment of artists, employment of constituents, and the kind of work that we can do. To be really clear, it would be a hardship.
Okay. We will work so hard to make sure that doesn't happen. Thank you so much for all that you guys do.
Thank you very much. Any other questions, comments from members of the committee? Jane, again, we want to thank you for your leadership. We want to thank your team for your leadership as well. And we hear you loud and clearly and it seems like you even have majority of members of Council will be advocating and fighting for you during this budget process to make sure that we continue to keep the programs moving forward to help not only beautify our city, but most importantly continue improving the quality of life of our young people. So thank you for being here.
With that being said, the Chair recognizes Councilmember Gilmore-Richardson for a motion that the public hearing and meeting on the bills and resolutions before the committee today stand in recess until Tuesday, May 13th, 2025 at 10:00 a.m.
It has -- it has been moved and properly seconded that the public hearing and meeting on the bills and resolution before the committee today stand in recess until Tuesday, May 13th, 2025 at 10:00 a.m. in room 11 400. All those in favor will signify by saying aye. COUNCILMEMBERS: Aye.
Those opposed? The ayes have it. The motion carries. And this committee stands in recess until Tuesday, May 13th at 10:00 a.m. (Public hearing and meeting on bills and resolutions concluded at 3:40 p.m.) C E R T I F I C A T I O N I hereby certify that the proceedings and evidence are contained fully and accurately in the notes taken by me of the above case, and this copy is a correct transcript of the same. _______________ Samanda J. Rios