COLORFUL COMMUNITIES projects create vibrant classrooms worldwide

Published : 1-Oct-2022

When it comes to building better, brighter communities, PPG employee volunteers and the COLORFUL COMMUNITIES® program often start with students. Throughout the months of August and September 2022, our volunteers used the power of fresh paint and colors to transform classrooms into colorful, engaging and vibrant environments.

Building on the New Paint for a New Start initiative that focused on schools worldwide in July, our volunteers continued to enhance schools and learning environments over the past two months to create encouraging spaces where students and youth can thrive.  

Read on to learn about the 14 recently completed projects.

For youth in San Jose, California, the Smythe Clubhouse, part of the Boys & Girls Clubs of Silicon Valley, provides a welcoming, positive environment where kids and teens have fun, participate in life changing programs, and build supportive relationships. Now, when the Club’s members enter the facility, they will be greeted by a colorful, vision-themed mural, inspiring them to “look” to their futures thanks to volunteers from PPG’s Specialty Coatings & Materials (SCM) business’ Optical Monomers & Coatings group and Zenni Optical, an online optical retailer and PPG customer.

Later this year, PPG and Zenni will return to provide the Club’s youth with vision screenings. All of the students needing prescription eyeglasses will receive free eyewear made with PPG TRIVEX® lens material. Read more about this project.

In Mars, Pennsylvania, more than 75 PPG global finance employee volunteers set out to infuse spaces at Mars Home for Youth (MHY) with fresh paint and colors. The volunteers aimed to create vibrant and positive spaces where young people feel supported, comfortable and encouraged.

Teaming up with Heart of America, employee volunteers from PPG’s Traffic Solutions business and Greensboro, North Carolina coatings plant painted two murals and an art classroom and donated STEM activities at Ferndale Middle School in High Point, North Carolina. 

Meanwhile in Houston, Texas, more than 30 PPG employee volunteers provided a colorful makeover for the Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater Houston. In addition to painting the Spring Branch location’s hallways and rooms, a game room mural featuring a design from a local muralist was a focal point of the day, with volunteers using some of PPG’s most popular paint colors to bring the work to life. Learn more about this project. 

Separately, in Dallas, Texas, PPG employees united with volunteers from Premier Trucking Company to transform multiple spaces at the Oak Cliff Boys & Girls Club. The recreation room, gym and restroom facilities now feature colors such as Bell Heather, Pittsburgh Gray, King Triton and Livin' Large.

In Madison, Wisconsin, PPG volunteers collaborated with University of Wisconsin South Madison Partnership staff and campus partners such as the UW Bridge Program to the Chemistry Doctorate, which aims to increase the number of students from under-represented minority groups who complete the Ph.D. degree in chemistry and is supported by the PPG Foundation. The volunteers painted murals designed by Madison-based artist and UW–Madison alumna Lilada Gee to inspire the community and families that use the location for programming. 

Nearly 30 volunteers from PPG’s Abilities First Employee Network assembled at Flying Horse Farms Camp in Mt. Gilead, Ohio. Fresh paint now brightens the walls where the camp makes it possible for children with serious illnesses to heal, grow, and thrive. Learn more.

Our PPG colleagues in Birstall, United Kingdom found a unique way to add beauty and color to their community. By restoring four phone boxes with fresh paint, they created art galleries within the community for local schools and students to display their artwork on a monthly basis.

Nearly 200 students at Freemans Primary school in Stowmarket, United Kingdom now have access to a revitalized quiet room and outdoor learning and play area following a recent Colorful Communities project. 

PPG employee volunteers renovated the underpass to the school campus of Dr. Konrad Wiegand Mittelschule in Klingenberg, Germany. With design support from a local art association and the school’s students, the volunteers created a vibrant mural. 

In Valencia, Spain, PPG employee volunteers revitalized the outside of the Villar Palasí school, including the playground and schoolyard where 2,500 children spend their school days. A local artist helped to guide the volunteers in decorating three walls with a mural that represents diversity, equity and inclusion among the students. Learn more.

PPG volunteers got together to revitalize the Bethesda Children’s Hospital in Budapest, Hungary, a well-known and respected institution that provides care for socially disadvantaged children and their families. Using bright shades of colors, our colleagues helped to create a cozier space for the nearly 1,500 patients who attend the hospital daily. Read more about this project. 

Our team in Tianjin, China completed a colorful and transformative makeover at TEDA No.1 Kindergarten. PPG employee volunteers painted the school’s exterior walls, which were fading, peeling and cracking due to weathering. Using a color palette of Forsythia Blossom, Razzberries, Everglade Mist, and Fall Leaf, they created a theme of a “happy colorful castle.” Learn more.

Last but not the least, at the Houcheng Kindergarten in Zhangjiagang, China, more than 60 PPG volunteers painted the school’s exterior walls to refurbish the facility to create a colorful and beautiful space for more than 650 students and educators. Volunteers used red, yellow, blue, white and green hues to develop colorful patterns that provided a refreshing visual effect. Read more about this project here

To learn more about the Colorful Communities program and to see past projects, click here.