Publicolor is a not-for-profit organization that uses the power of color and collaboration to engage at-risk students in their education by involving them in painting the public spaces of their neglected schools and nearby community sites. Through our afterschool programs for at-risk innercity teenagers, we use the process of teaching and honing the marketable skill of commercial painting — and our commitment to neighborhood revitalization through color and good design — as a powerful vehicle for youth development.

Founded by industrial designer Ruth Lande Shuman in 1996, Publicolor uses design to underscore the importance of education while transforming schools into vibrant learning environments. Not only do students learn a marketable skill, but they also develop excellent work habits that are transferable to homework and the world of work. Publicolor also provides lifeskills and career exposure workshops, college counseling, summer job placement, tutoring and mentoring. In recent years Publicolor has begun supporting its students in their efforts to prepare effectively for a college education and to manage the transition to college.

Since its founding, Publicolor has transformed over 88 dreary, depressing New York City schools, thereby impacting the daily lives of 200,000 students and teachers. Transformed schools report increased teacher attendance, lower rates of violence and graffiti, and a greater sense of pride and ownership among students. Similarly, 109 run-down community sites, including police precincts, homeless shelters and health clinics, are now enjoying the benefits of a Publicolor transformation, including improved staff attendance and a sense of pride among program participants that help each agency deliver better services. Publicolor mobilizes corporate and school volunteers to paint side-by-side with students, informally mentoring them as they work together. For its work with volunteers in the community, Publicolor received the nation’s highest honor, the Presidential Service Award, in 2000.

Programs

Through our afterschool Paint Clubs, we teach middle and high school students the marketable skill of commercial painting and empower them to paint all the public spaces of their institutional-looking schools in warm color (a school transformation). Through a steady stream of small but tangible successes, we engage disaffected teens in their schools and encourage them to invest in themselves. Students develop excellent work habits that are transferable to homework and the world of work. They paint alongside corporate, college and community volunteers who informally mentor them, providing crucial exposure to positive role models. In short, we underscore the importance of education while transforming schools into vibrant learning environments.

COLOR Club: Each year up to 30 teenagers are recruited from Paint Clubs to join The COLOR Club, our paid apprenticeship program designed to help our students envision and plan for a rewarding future. The COLOR Club provides a rigorous weekly menu of academic enrichment, intervention/prevention, and personal development for 75-80 students, many of whom participate for three years or more. Students are required to attend at least three days a week: two days afterschool, and Saturdays. Weekly one-on-one tutoring from Credit Suisse employees provides strong mentor relationships and academic help. Career Exposure/Life Skills Workshops, organized into industry-centric modules, allow students to explore different career paths and the skills needed in each. On Saturdays, students serve as junior staff for our transformation projects, earning stipends based on their responsibilities. This provides a supportive framework for learning and risk-taking, and provides ample exposure to positive role models. Monthly roundtables (“Hour of Power“), individual counseling, frequent cultural activities, antiviolence workshops, homework sessions, and a supportive environment of dedicated staff all help students develop important skills for school, work and life.

Next Steps: Our program for our juniors and seniors focuses on helping students identify and achieve career goals through intense training, counseling and workshops in resume-building, interviewing, etc. Our part-time college counselor works with students one-on-one and leads weekly workshops in college preparedness, including SAT registration, identifying schools, and completing college and financial aid applications. Individual attention is an important aspect of the program. We conduct two college bus tours annually and administer a college scholarship fund to help close the shortfalls in financial aid packages. We also created a college mentorship program so that all of our former students now in college receive one-on-one help to bolster their chances of graduating.

Fresh Coat:  Our semi-professional painting crew, touches up previously-Publicolored schools and sites, extending the impact of our work to thousands more students every year.

Next Steps Prep: Our intensive summer academic enrichment program was introduced in 2004 to help level the academic playing field for our students and provide a crucial jump-start for the new school year. We provide intensive SAT prep and literacy immersion in small classes for 40 students using a non-traditional literacy curriculum custom-tailored for our students’ needs and mirroring our well-honed strategies for confidence-building. In the afternoons, students participate in painting community sites as part of Publicolor’s expansion into community revitalization. Friday enrichment activities include day trips and cultural excursions.

CONTACT:                                                                                                       FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE        

Susan Blond Inc.

Elizabeth Rosenthal (212) 333-7728, X105

erosenthal@susanblondinc.com

Publicolor Celebrates 10 Years Of Colorful Transformations At Their Annual

Stir, Splatter + Roll Benefit

Event Honors Founding Chairman Richard D. Segal,

with Special Tribute to NYC Schools Chancellor Joel I. Klein;

Guests will create collaborative artworks alongside

Christo + Jeanne-Claude, among others

New York, NY (March 9, 2007) – Publicolor, a dynamic 501(c)(3) not-for-profit organization known for its creative youth development afterschool programs, will celebrate 10 years using color, design, collaboration and the painting process to push back at our nation’s dropout rate and catalyze change in struggling inner-city schools and community facilities. The organization will honor its Founding Chairman, Richard D. Segal, with a special tribute to New York City Schools Chancellor Joel I. Klein, at their seventh annual high-energy fundraiser Stir, Splatter + Roll on April 10th, 6PM, at the Louis D. Brandeis High School, 145 West 84th Street (between Amsterdam and Columbus Aves). Gene Mercy and Carmen Thain are Event Co-Chairs. Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg, Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer, and New York City Council Speaker Christine Quinn will attend, as will Fox 5 Anchor Rick Folbaum along with other notable guests.

“Publicolor began 10 years ago as a creative solution to the rising drop-out rate in our public schools,” said Ruth Lande Shuman, Publicolor’s Founder and President. “Thanks in large part to Rick Segal’s thoughtful counsel, we have proven that color and good design can transform attitudes and behavior in our schools and neglected neighborhood facilities. And by providing high-risk students a chance to experience a sense of accomplishment, as well as pride and ownership in their schools and communities, they develop an increased self-confidence lending to their future success.”

Richard D. Segal serves as Publicolor’s Chairman Emeritus. He is the Chairman and CEO of Seavest Inc. and serves as Chairman of the Rye Country Day School and President of the A.L. Mailman Family Foundation.

Publicolor will also present its first-ever Colman Genn Award to Joel I. Klein, Chancellor of the New York City Department of Education, the largest public school system in the United States with over 1.1 million students and 83,000 teachers in over 1,450 schools, for his far-sighted efforts to improve the city’s public schools, and thereby the prospects of low-income youth. The Award is named for the late Colman Genn, a founding Publicolor board member and powerful mentor to Ruth Lande Shuman. Genn was the courageous career educator who exposed corruption in community school boards in the late 1980s and who later additionally helped create numerous small, experimental schools as Senior Fellow at the Center for Educational Innovation-Public Education Association (CEI-PEA). 

“We are thrilled to recognize Chancellor Klein’s efforts to improve the quality of education available to all students in every neighborhood,” said Ms. Shuman, “Publicolor has been proud to support the efforts of dedicated principals and teachers, and especially our current Chancellor who is leaving no stone unturned to improve public education.”

“Publicolor has built a reputation for creative programs that engage high-risk students as the agents of powerful change in their daily environments,” said Chancellor Klein. “Publicolor brings important resources to public education — energy and mentorship among them —along with the essential message that every learning environment can be a work of art.

Guests at Stir, Splatter + Roll will have the opportunity to paint collaborative artworks in teams. All guests will be offered white Tyvek® suits to put over their party clothes! This is followed by seated dinner, including silent and live auctions, wines donated by Barefoot Wines, vodka donated by Reyka Vodka and the premier of a documentary short film by Mike Alfieri of Night Train films.

Some of New York City’s most illustrious designers are donating their time as Team Leaders. They will be working with the party guests to execute large-scale collaborative painting projects. Team Leaders include: Kate + Andy Spade, David Rockwell, Will Cotton, Michele Oka Doner, Hugh Hardy, Tom Krizmanic, David Ling, Frank Lupo, Jonathan Marvel + Rob Rogers, Suzanne Tick + Terry Mowers, Jeannie + Tom Phifer, Michael Rock of 2x4, Gillian Rose, Leni Schwendinger, Alex + Michael A. Shuman, Adam Tihany, Tucker Viemeister, Gael Towey + Stephen Doyle, Jamie Drake, Douglas Wilson, Vicente Wolf and many more. Honorary Team Leaders include: Christo + Jeanne-Claude, Ralph Appelbaum, Mark di Suvero, Milton Glaser, Philip Glass, architect A. Eugene Kohn, and Lella + Massimo Vignelli. 

At 9PM the Top Coat after party kicks off for Publicolor’s group of young professionals to paint, party, mingle and groove with live music, and an auction.

ABOUT PUBLICOLOR:

Publicolor is a nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization which uses color, collaboration, design and the painting process to empower young people to transform themselves, their schools, and their communities. Publicolor teaches the marketable skill of commercial painting while engaging inner city teens in their education and has transformed over 80 New York City public school buildings and 103 community sites, including homeless shelters, neighborhood health clinics, senior centers, and police precinct houses, impacting the daily lives of some 200,000 students and teachers while mobilizing the efforts of some 2,000 volunteers annually.

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