Youth Mural Program (Fiscal Sponsor: Grant County Community Foundation)

In 2024, the Gila National Forest will celebrate the 100th year anniversary of the first designated national wilderness area. In preparations of this celebration the Forest Service has partnered with the Youth Mural Program to commemorate this milestone through public art murals created and designed by area youth. Two permanent murals will connect the Gila, Aldo, and Blue Range Wilderness areas to Silver City NM, and surrounding communities. The murals will be maintained in partnership with the Forest Service and Youth Mural Program, creating a lasting legacy of public land stewardship and wilderness education.

The Youth Mural Program (YMP) empowers teens to develop artistic skills, leadership, and civic engagement via the creation of outdoor public art, while highlighting the cultural, historical, and environmental heritage of southwestern New Mexico. The program plans to enable approximately 40 youths to actively participate in the creation of two thematic murals – one focusing on history, migration, and culture in Lordsburg, and another exploring fire ecology, archaeology, and the night sky at City of Rocks State Park. This immersion in outdoor activities enhances the participant's environmental understanding, historical knowledge, cultural awareness, and creative expression. YMP, with twenty years of fruitful programming and collaborations with local entities, underlines the significance of community preservation, particularly involving underserved, rural, and low-income teenagers. The expected end results are enhanced leadership skills, amplified cultural literacy, fortified civic pride among the youth, and enduring visual landmarks promoting community relations, environmental consciousness, and community identity.