“We bring all the supplies and help coordinate everything … All the school has to do is supply the wall.”Įlmore said she is especially proud of a series of multicultural murals Operation Clean Slate completed on the handball courts of her school, celebrating the diversity on her campus.Īnd while Elmore has no concrete data to prove it, she thinks the murals may even be improving student achievement. “With cutbacks these days, teachers are overworked and schools are understaffed but we come in and make it so easy to give kids a little art.” “We cover quite a few bases,” Howard said. Now Operation Clean Slate partners with school districts like LAUSD to produce murals that promote healthy nutrition and anti-tobacco messages, with help from donations, grants and corporate sponsorships. What started as a way to prevent graffiti quickly grew to a way to also promote positive behavior, especially for students attending schools in impoverished communities with little access to public art. “Most of the anti-graffiti programs placed penalties and fines on the kids, but they did nothing to give kids a creative outlet,” Howard said.
Many said they would produce legal public art if they knew how to get permission. Howard took his question to his students at the correctional facility, and he says he was told by the teens that students painted walls clandestinely to get attention and recognition. “I was driving on the freeway and noticed some graffiti on a wall and started to think about why students were motivated to do this,” Howard said. Howard said the idea of Operation Clean Slate came to him on his way home from work as a teacher at an Orange County juvenile hall. “You go into most Los Angeles Unified schools and the colors of paint used are limited and drab … Our parents, students and staff all comment on the happiness our murals bring.”
“Murals make people feel welcome,” Elmore said. It depicts students and storybook characters enjoying books – an image designed to promote reading. Herrick boasts 10 murals completed by Operation Clean Slate, including a massive painting along a 70-foot wall. “I know for a fact what putting a little paint on a wall can do for kids,” said Michael Howard, founder and director of the Costa Mesa based group which has completed murals at many San Fernando Valley schools.įor principals like Rosie Elmore, of Herrick Elementary in Sylmar, Operation Clean Slate’s murals help breathe new life into a school. It is with this goal in mind that Operation Clean Slate has dedicated itself for the last 18 years to bringing a little bit of color to campuses across the Southland. and how we see future collaboration improving to fight these threats and protect our economy and infrastructure.If a picture is worth 1,000 words, one splashed across a 70-foot-long school wall it can help rewrite a campus’ story. This session will discuss DHS’ role in cyber security, how the private sector and Federal partners are communicating, what threats are at the forefront from cyber hackers, hostile nation states etc. Legislators on Capitol Hill are trying to determine how to streamline authorities and responsibilities and law enforcement and other agencies in the Federal government are grappling with preventing and mitigating the impacts of this threat.
Most admit and understand that our cyber security relies on a strong and vital collaboration between industry and government - whether that be the industry protecting our critical infrastructure or industry that provides the underpinning of our economy. Since Executive Order 13636 and PPD-21 were issued in February 2013, there has been a renewed focus on the challenges of security the nation’s digital infrastructure. Join GTSC and the InfraGard National Capital Region Members Alliance for a cyber program focused on the threats to the public and private sector. 23: Cyber Security: Focus on Public Private Sector Collaboration