Mural Arts and partners tell Kensington committee art therapy, paid‑work programs aid recovery and reentry

Mural Arts Philadelphia and its partners testified before the Philadelphia City Council special committee on Kensington that art‑based programs provide low‑barrier pathways to mental‑health support, paid work and reentry services for people affected by substance use disorder and incarceration.

The testimony matters because the programs combine immediate cash work, trauma‑informed group activities and public art production; advocates and participants said those elements produce measurable gains in employment readiness, housing connections and reduced recidivism among program participants.

Jane Golden, executive director of Mural Arts Philadelphia, told the committee that "Creative expression supports healing. That is the bottom line," and described partnerships across Porchlight, Color Me Back and Restorative Justice. Porchlight, she said, "provides a pathway to mental and behavioral health services through art making" and is designed for people who may not engage with other therapeutic approaches.

Nadia Malek, director of Porchlight, described Color Me Back, the program that pays participants daily for art work, saying it has worked with more than 1,400 unique participants and distributed more than $660,000 in direct payments. "We pay unhoused and economically insecure folks, in cash daily to work on art making," she said, and added that the program also provides wraparound referrals for items such as IDs, benefits and housing services.

Sandy Scheller, a board‑certified art therapist who funds and consults on the program through the Scheller Family Foundation, framed the work as clinical and social support: she called Color Me Back "a decompression chamber for many as they find their path back into society" and said the foundation has funded the program at roughly $350,000 a year since its creation.

Participants gave first‑hand accounts of the programs’ effects. Caridad "Angie" Hernandez said the program offered her a safe place and the chance to be paid while building skills while Becky Schenck, a former participant and now a contracted assistant artist, told the committee Color Me Back helped her leave homelessness and remain in recovery: "I went to rehab and they had my back. They promised when you come back, there's gonna be work for you, Becky. And they were right and they did." Other participants said the studio work reduced isolation, improved de‑escalation skills and led to vocational certifications.

Damon McWhite, director of restorative justice for Mural Arts, outlined the department’s three core programs: the Guild (a 12‑week life‑readiness program), the Rec Crew (a 24‑week workforce development track) and the SCI Phoenix program (art instruction and mural production for people serving long sentences). McWhite said his department paid more than $1.1 million in wages and sales to participants and reported a 6% recidivism rate for restorative‑justice participants since program inception versus a 55% baseline recidivism figure cited for Pennsylvania.

Morgan Jacob, deputy commissioner for restorative and transitional services at the Philadelphia Department of Prisons, told the committee the department already contracts with Mural Arts for in‑custody murals and praised art therapy as a complementary, low‑barrier intervention. "PDP recognizes that art therapy fosters growth and provides space for exploring emotions and building self awareness and communication skills," Jacob said. The deputy commissioner said the department is evaluating intake and risk‑needs assessments to improve programming referrals and estimated that roughly one in four people in custody participate in some programming.

Councilmembers asked for program metrics and cost — what the programs cost to run per participant, how the programs track connections to housing or employment, and how a city can scale or stabilize funding. Mural Arts said it collects participant surveys and program metrics (including placements, wages paid and participant follow‑up) and offered to share data with the committee. Committee members and funders discussed the need to treat Mural Arts programs as part of workforce, behavioral‑health and reentry planning rather than as a stand‑alone arts line item.

Mural Arts and funders urged the city to consider sustained line‑item support or cross‑departmental funding because the programs touch workforce development, public health and restorative justice. The Scheller Family Foundation said philanthropic seed funding helped start Color Me Back and continued private support has been essential, but asked the council to consider more stable public support so the programs can scale without interrupting services.

Committee members said they would follow up on data requests and suggested touring mural‑arts sites and restorative justice events to see program activities first‑hand.