Greetings Reuse Fans,
Last night, I had the privilege of attending an awards ceremony at the Allegheny County Courthouse. This event was part of Juvenile Justice Week organized by Allegheny County Juvenile Probation. This particular event recognized youth’s accomplishments while in juvenile detention or on probation in arts programing. The juvenile justice world is not one that I am not very familiar with. I am not familiar with the legal process nor can I decipher the alphabet soup of acronyms, but it is a system I feel that nonprofits organizations like CJ need to actively participate in. Of course, the system is actually kids that have made some life choices their parents and friends deeply wished they had not made. CJ participates modestly in the juvenile justice system not as an expert, but as an organization that has space and resources to support the work of Gerry Florida. Her Studio Blue project works to bring art to kids in detention and on probation as a means to give these kids different choices that foster creativity, recognize potential talent and generate self-esteem.
Gerry was recognized last night for her work developing Studio Blue, a project that has intently and purposefully focused 10 years of her life and art. Studio Blue has a location in Shuman Juvenile Detention Center and we are working on the location at Construction Junction. Youth from the Holy Family Institute and the Community Intensive Supervision Program (CISP) have participated in furniture painting in the studio at CJ and we, along with other nonprofits, have donated furniture for youth to paint at the Studio Blue space in Shuman. In addition to furniture painting, the youth have created posters (as part of Studio Blue’s “Why Art” campaign) that are currently on display on the first floor of the Allegheny County Courthouse (440 Ross Street). CJ is sponsoring a poster that illustrates the furniture painting project at our location which is currently on display on the rear of Port Authority buses (see the ad image below).
CJ is proud to support Gerry. Studio Blue is an inspirational project working to expand the positive choices youth can make after they have made some bad ones. We will continue to explore how we partner with these efforts because, as with our materials, we believe in creating second chances.
