Special Initiatives
Through special initiatives, Groundswell partners with community organizations on a series of murals built around a single social justice issue. These campaigns raise public awareness, spark community engagement, and position young people as ambassadors for change, creating artwork that shifts attitudes and drives lasting social and policy impact.
12 Murals.
10,000 square feet.
All 5 Boroughs.
2026
Groundswell and the Office of the Mayor, NYC Parks, NYC Department of Cultural Affairs, and NYC Department of Youth & Community Development brought the spirit of the 2026 World Cup to communities across New York City through a series of 12 community murals.
In July 2026, Mayor Zohran Kwame Mamdani and the Groundswell Community Mural Project announced 12 community-designed murals by twelve Groundswell artists in parks across all five boroughs to continue the celebration of the 2026 World Cup activations.
Launched in partnership with the New York City Department of Parks & Recreation, the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, and the New York City Department of Youth and Community Development, the initiative transformed public spaces into vibrant works of art created by young people, artists, and community members.
Throughout the summer, New Yorkers of all ages participated in community paint days at each site, helping bring the murals to life. Neighborhood conversations shaped each design, ensuring that the completed artworks reflected the identities, cultures, and aspirations of the communities surrounding them.
The 12 murals celebrated the energy, creativity, diversity, and community spirit of New York City.
Peace in Destruction: Art from Rikers Island
2008-26
For over a decade, Groundswell’s mural program on Rikers Island gave young people a space to create and collaborate with teaching artists, transforming their ideas and experiences into collective works of art.
The early murals established many of the themes that would continue throughout Groundswell’s work on Rikers. Incarcerated Minds (2008) invited young people to envision positive futures beyond the walls, while This Too Shall Pass (2009) explored the dreams and wishes of incarcerated teenagers, including family, freedom, and the possibility of returning to everyday life. Later projects continued to explore ideas of transformation, healing, and restorative futures, demonstrating how the mural process evolved alongside the young people and teaching artists who participated in it.
In 2026, the exhibition Peace in Destruction: Art from Rikers Island at Weeksville Heritage Center brought this largely unseen history into public view through photographs of the murals by renowned photographers Martha Cooper and Logan Hicks, alongside a mobile mural project and other artwork pieces.
Across all of this work, there was a powerful opportunity to create art, build community, and inspire hope among participants.
Livable Streets Initiative
2008
Each year in New York City, thousands of pedestrians are seriously injured, and hundreds are killed in traffic accidents.
Because every New Yorker deserves to feel safe on our city streets, Groundswell and the Department of Transportation began collaborating in 2008 to use art as a tool to inspire safer decisions for the entire community.
Through the artmaking process, youth artists became ambassadors for livable streets and traffic safety. Groundswell and the NYC DOT continued their collaboration for a decade under the Traffic Safety Banner Residency, the Traffic Safety Sign Education Program (in which safety signs designed by students were fabricated by the DOT sign shop and installed), and multiple mural collaborations.
Groundswell and the NYC DOT have collaborated on many murals throughout our decade-long partnership. These projects give youth like Malikah Mahone the opportunity to become advocates for livable streets. Malikah helped create the 2015 mural, “The Crossroads / La Encrucijada” in collaboration with Groundswell and the NYC DOT. The 2,000 sq ft mural, located on a Food Bazaar Supermarket in the South Bronx, reminds New Yorkers that their choices matter when it comes to reducing Driving While Intoxicated (DWI) crashes. About her experience, Malikah said, “Using the knowledge that I have gained during the summer, I am able to create a dialogue with my peers and others about the efforts to stop DWI-related crashes across the city.”
Detained Youth Restorative Justice Program
2016-17
Creating pathways to healing, hope, and opportunity through art programs for incarcerated youth.
Through a mural residency program for incarcerated youth, Groundswell artists worked onsite within detention facilities. Through the art-making process, young people who were incarcerated had a platform to share their visions for restorative justice and for transformative futures for themselves. They had the opportunity to experience how collaboration may impact their lives post-release, and develop mentorship relationships with Groundswell artists and staff.
From November 2016 to March 2017, youth who were incarcerated awaiting and wervice sentences at Rikers Island collaborated with Groundswell artists on “Perspectives from the Inside: A Rikers Mural Project”, a twelve-mural initiative that highlighted the positive impact the young people can have on their surroundings, no matter how difficult.
April 6, 2017, Groundswell presented “Freedom is a Constant Struggle”, with Angela Davis. Renowned author, activist, and scholar Angela Davis joined a distinguished panel of Groundswell-affiliated artists and academics for a conversation about youth incarceration and making art inside the walls of Rikers Island.
This event celebrated Groundswell’s 20th anniversary with an in-depth look at its ongoing work creating public art on Rikers Island with New York City youth imprisoned there.
“I don’t believe we can see radical change without art.”
— Angela Davis, activist and scholar
Transform/Restore: Brownsville
2014-15
From 2014 to 2015, the New York City Department of Probation, the Pitkin Avenue Business Improvement District, and Groundswell presented “Transform/Restore: Brownsville,” a transformative mural project.
This participatory public art project was supported by the National Endowment for the Arts’ Our Town program and Governor Andrew Cuomo’s Regional Economic Development Council (REDC) Initiative.
This two-year initiative used a series of community public art making projects to bring together artists, young adult probation clients, Groundswell youth leaders, local businesses, and community members to identify and highlight the hidden treasures of Brownsville. The series provided a highly visible platform for all participants to create permanent and positive change within their own neighborhood, while expanding their access to new opportunities, resources, and services.
The five murals of “Transform/Restore: Brownsville” provided opportunities to reflect on the people who make Brownsville a vibrant community, encouraged all Brownsville residents to honor themselves and inspired all of New York to celebrate and recognize this community.
“Through the painting of this mural, the elders’ voices from the community were made much more visible because their concerns were for bettering the younger generations and having more activities for them.”
— Youth Artist
Public Art / Public Housing
2016
In 2016, Groundswell teamed up with the New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA) and New York Council Committee on Public Housing Chair Ritchie Torres, to present “Public Art / Public Housing.”
This mural initiative brought together youth, teaching artists, and community leaders to co-create fifteen murals at five NYCHA public housing developments, one in each borough. The selected developments were Tompkins Houses (Brooklyn), Queensbridge Houses (Queens), Saint Nicholas Houses (Manhattan), Castle Hill Houses (Bronx), and Stapleton Houses (Staten Island). This collaboration celebrated the stories, hidden treasures, and imaginations of NYCHA residents by activating their communities as sites of dialogue through public art.
Groundswell employed NYCHA resident youth to use art as a tool for social change by cultivating stewardship of public space, community asset mapping, and the collaborative mural-making process. The artist teams illustrated a shared vision of revitalized communities by tackling a diverse array of pressing issues, including promoting holistic wellness, bridging the intergenerational divide, and ending gun violence.
“These murals have uplifted the whole community and deeply engaged young people who worked diligently for six months to better this housing development. They became part of something that will last for a long time.”
–Geraldine Lamb, Tenant Association Leader, Castle Hill Houses.
Streetwise: Hunts Point
2012-13
Groundswell engaged youth, artists, and other community members between 2012 and 2013 in a series of five murals that identified and prioritized transportation and environmental concerns in their South Bronx community.
The two-year “StreetWise: Hunts Point,” campaign inspired community members to envision a better community, implement short-term streetscape solutions, and secure a commitment for the realization of longer-term transportation solutions.
The artist teams used their projects to propose specific traffic interventions and street treatments to improve some of the physical attributes of the Hunts Point area. The youth asked for crosswalks and bike lanes to be refreshed, and for signage and kiosks to be installed to help people find and utilize the green spaces in their neighborhood. The murals also honored community members of the past and present who stayed in the Bronx after it was burning and helped it to rise like the legendary phoenix that holds a revitalized Bronx between its wings.
Recovery Diaspora
2013
In 2013, as a response to the devastation caused by Superstorm Sandy, Groundswell and LISC New York City presented “Recovery Diaspora,”
A collaborative citywide public art installation created by renowned street artist Swoon, in collaboration with Groundswell teaching artists and youth from Red Hook, Coney Island, Staten Island and the Rockaways, among the neighborhoods most affected by the storm.
Through this project, Groundswell youth artists drew from stories of healing and recovery from impacted neighborhoods to create a visual narrative that captures the concerns, hopes, and overall spirits of these communities.
The teen participants dedicated their summers to creating four permanent murals for their communities, created in collaboration with local partners Astella Development Corporation (Coney Island), Fifth Avenue Committee (Red Hook), Northfield Community LDC (Staten Island) and Ocean Bay Community Development Corporation (the Rockaways). The teams met with Swoon through a series of classes and studio visits with the artist, renowned for her delicate paste ups and large-scale installation work.
We were able to see that we are all connected in some way. That was the most important thing about this mural project for me – relating to one another to create family and have valuable shared experiences. I was able to open up and let new people into my life, which I know will help me move forward.
— Tasleem Sheikh, youth artist
Elements from these four murals were brought together into one design in a temporary mural on the Bowery Mural wall, a testament to both resilience and vulnerability. By engaging the public in its design, “Recovery Diaspora” highlighted the importance of continued relief efforts by and for Sandy’s victims.