On a windy spring day DIVAS for Social Justice completed their second mural in Laurelton, Queens in partnership with RPGA Studio Inc. Both organizations share a passion for providing a platform for giving voice to community issues through technology.
DIVAS for Social Justice offers a 15- hour a week after-school program entitled STEAM (Science Technology Engineering Arts Math) for Social Change at the Linden SDA School. This program is free to middle school students and is funded through the Department of Youth and Community Development. The after-school provides training and exposure to STEAM based activities that include digital media, 3D design and the arts. As students are exposed to these skills the program chooses an overall community theme to explore through STEAM based activities. The community theme this year was economic development. The youth in the program decided as a collective that economic development in Southeast Queens needed to be identified visually through the vision of the dollar van. The dollar van represented the makeup of the community being predominantly Afro Caribbean and also the importance of how the dollar van system has created jobs for individuals living in the community. The youth in the program participated in an 8-week residency learning stencil design from RPGA Studio and designed dollar vans that represented economic development in Laurelton.
Students from The Linden SDA School and the greater Laurelton community painted the stencil designs.
With the support of The Federated Blocks of Laurelton flowers will be placed in the future around the murals. DIVAS for Social Justice is looking forward to growing their community design projects and providing a platform for students to express themselves.
