MMAP’s Technology Lab gives community youth access to advanced technology not often available in homes or schools.  “Bridging the Gap: Connecting Communities” raises awareness of the lack of access to technology, and urges its audience to level these inequalities.
On the bottom left of the mural, a young Indian girl sits at a desk with an outdated laptop connected to the internet by “dial-up” technology.  She happily chats with a peer across the globe about technological issues facing teens today.  To her right, we see a mound of obsolete computer hardware.  Directly across from her sits the person on the other side of the conversation.  A young American boy uses up-to-date desktop and laptop computers, illustrating the contrast in technological access between the two.
At the center of the mural, a steel bridge connects the two teenagers’ locations, and the gap between them.  The gap separates the “developing” and the “developed” communities of the world; communities oceans away or literally just one bridge apart; and between students in the same classroom.
On the ceiling hovers a single satellite, a vital tool for the transmission of knowledge.  It sends signals to the communities of both the Indian girl and the American boy, implying equality in all aspects of technology and enabling a truly global society.  The satellite represents the power to join communities together, juxtaposed against the power to divide and exclude.  The mural fundamentally represents youth leadership and self-empowerment achieving the vision of technological equity.

Bridging the Gap: Connecting Communities

Mural Verse

Welcome to the room where the children of MMAP
Engage in international video chats;
The teen across the world shows the little she has
And reveals the devastation of the digital gap.
The lack of technology can kill and destroy,
Leaving kids without hope, stealing the joy.
But the bridge we construct is filling the void,
And we’ll keep on trucking until it’s adjoined.

This mural represents leadership in education.  It depicts a future view of our local, statewide and national communities and their roles in fostering a strong education system.
On the left hand side of the wall, a young girl sits on a stack of books and ponders what she will chronicle next.  The notebook becomes enlarged before her, a testament to the power of her expression.  Scales represent the expected victory in the Robles-Wong v. California litigation, which seeks to bring equitable reform to the state’s education funding system. The ladder behind her symbolizes a passage to investigate her history.
In the center of the mural, a young boy reaches out to touch his reflection in a mirror.  In his reflection he wears a graduation cap, representing success and his growth as a leader of the future.  The mural invites viewers to look into the mosaic mirror centerpiece, reinforcing the idea that we can each strive to become leaders.
On the mural’s right, a MMAP youth stands on a sturdy column and kicks down pillars that represent inequities in our current education system, rendering them as rubble.  California poppies emerge, symbolizing the state’s education vision, and bees pollinate across the state.  These mural elements demonstrate the strength of MMAP teens as students and creative learners in the community.

Face The Future: Making Leaders in the Classroom

Mural Verse

A young girl sits on a stack of books
In the middle of a library as she looks
At the case of Robles-Wong vs. the state of Cali
Which balance EPA’s school system with Paly’s;
The large companies came in an destroyed
The Ravenswood School for the girls and boys;
She studies and she ponders,
She wonders and she wanders,
Wishing for her school to return from over yonder;
Climbs the ladder everyday for the knowledge
As a young boy pictures himself in a college.
Staring at the mirror, he’s dressed for graduation
An educated leader of the next generation.
Kicking the pillars down that holds the prisons up
Holding the children down so much they giving up
But now the pillars just a pile of debris
Poppies sprouting from it; here comes California’s seeds!

Featured at the entry of MMAP’s headquarters, this mural represents leadership in civic engagement and depicts how MMAP teens strive to take individual and collective actions to identify and address issues of public concern.  A noble eagle envelops the room, spreading its wings upward across the walls and ceiling, representing the determination of a people to develop and sustain a just society. This enduring American icon also represents MMAP’s efforts to develop young people as a powerful, positive force that extends its wings throughout the community.  Interwoven with the eagle’s feathers are portraits of past and present MMAP students.  They demonstrate their leadership and civic engagement through painting, musical production, and performance.  Within the eagle’s pinions, an amalgamation of MMAP’s public art legacy is depicted portraying themes of justice, peace, and collaboration.
“We Are the Change: Leading Our Generation” represents MMAP’s collective and sustained endeavors to improve our community.  The mural design reflects the youth who have made an impact on their community and continue to do so through the creative arts.  The mural welcomes visitors to the MMAP family and to a home where artistic and life aspirations can be achieved.

We Are The Change: Leading Our Generation

Mural Verse written by the HHH Cohort within the 2010 Teen Mural Program

You see the world changing, MMAP made it happen,
Getting involved daily come on let’s make it happen;
Most of my action revolve around community,
Just open up your eyes because our lives are what’s real to me -
Music and the arts, painting and making music,
Studying about leadership and peace, you can use it.
What people are confused with, this meaning of hip-hop;
Helping Individuals Prosper, that’s what hip got.
Getting Paid to learn facts, high quality knowledge kid,
98 murals and they all dope and positive;
Preparing us for college, failure is abolished,
mind elevated, all the hatred is demolished;
we stay awake and we stay involved,
We stay in tune without the radio on;
Some looking for the leaders, who they waiting for,
We are the one’s we’ve been waiting for.

TMA Jervon Holland leads a Mural Tour

Thank you to all who joined us to celebrate the culmination of the 2010 Teen Mural Program! This summer we had the honor of working with talented teens from East Palo Alto and San Francisco to explore the theme of Leadership.  Over 225 guests celebrated our program as we unveiled five vibrant murals, performed original Hip Hop songs, spoken word and dance and recognized the leadership of our teens and community.

All of us at MMAP would like to thank you for supporting our work, our teens, and our community.  We hope you feel inspired by their hard work and talent, and their arts-based message of leadership for strong, healthy communities.

TMAs Celebrate their Leadership Awards