Reintegration, Community Building, and Revitalization: An Examination of the Community Arts and Reintegration Project
Reintegration, Community Building, and Revitalization: An Examination of the Community Arts and Reintegration Project
The Prison Journal, Ahead of Print.
The Community Arts and Reintegration Project in Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania, is a community and restorative justice–based mural arts program. The program currently utilizes youth probationers in conjunction with community members and organizations to collaboratively cultivate and paint large-scale murals. Murals can develop in response to criminality that occurs in a community or in coordination with revitalization and community building efforts. This article examines the project’s development and implementation efforts following the completion of its first community mural. Lessons learned from the pilot project provide the basis for increasing program fidelity.
The Community Arts and Reintegration Project in Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania, is a community and restorative justice–based mural arts program. The program currently utilizes youth probationers in conjunction with community members and organizations to collaboratively cultivate and paint large-scale murals. Murals can develop in response to criminality that occurs in a community or in coordination with revitalization and community building efforts. This article examines the project’s development and implementation efforts following the completion of its first community mural. Lessons learned from the pilot project provide the basis for increasing program fidelity.
Timothy J. Holler