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For a year, the students worked after school and weekends to paint a mural on the side of a kosher chocolate factory, depicting a golden bird cage nestled in a metaphoric depiction of the struggles of immigrant families. Sananman decided to make murals her full-time focus after that, founding the Groundswell Community Mural Project in Since then, over participants have created more than 50 murals around the city.

Although the project serves youth of both genders, Sananman says she believes in the value of giving girls and young women a chance to explore their voices and issues that affect them in a safe space "outside the expectations and eyes of male presence. Wider issues, from globalization to the military to sexual assault, are explored and then related back to their own lives.

The programs are designed to give participants experience and strength in four areas: collaboration, using creativity as a tool, compassion and critical thinking. The goal is not necessarily to train them as artists, Sananman says, but rather for them to gain confidence and skills for success at whatever field they choose. Neighborhood residents were concerned by some of the imagery.

Looking back, Sananman says it provided a way to focus on class and racial tensions.

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Even these types of controversies over public art are learning experiences for the young women, Sananman says, because it teaches them about negotiation, communication and censorship issues. But she also sees the physical work of creating murals as a means of helping young women. Climbing up and down scaffolding, they learn about their own physicality in new ways.