Beyond NYC

Aiken Street Joy

Fresh Paint, Positive Messaging Lead a Park Transformation in East Baltimore After years of neglect, a local Baltimore park and playground received a much needed facelift thanks to a volunteer beautification project powered by a local non-profit organization Projectivity Group and local ministry Beyond The Walls Christian Ministry. Community organizers met with current and past…

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Randy Mason x Next Level USA

Thrive collective R.H.Y.M.E Director Randy Mason x Next Level USA 11.0 Next Level is an international hip hop diplomacy initiative by the U.S. Department of State, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and Meridian International. Exchange Our World and Next Level USA is building a global community through Hip-Hop culture! Last week, U.S.…

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Feliz Navidad y Próspero Año Nuevo

Feliz Navidad y Próspero Año Nuevo from Canóvanas, Puerto Rico. This fall, Thrive Collective completed our first two school mural programs at Colegio Católico Nuestra Señora del Pilar and Academia Bautista Sotera Sanchez in collaboration with Urban Strategies and PROSa / Grupo Nexo. Veteran Thrive teaching artist Tsvetana Dondero led the programs and art directed…

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Christian Penn Will Expand Thrive and Projectivity in the DMV Area

Thrive Collective and Projectivity Group are expanding to the DMV Region (District of Columbia, Maryland, Virginia). Christian Penn, the Operations Manager at Thrive Collective, has lived in New York City for the last 21 years, but is relocating back home to Maryland. Penn is looking forward to using the same creativity and passion there that…

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Art History: Murals Revitalize East 10th Street, Honor CHARAS Founders

On Saturday, December 17, an intergenerational group of Lower East Side leaders came together to celebrate the ribbon cutting for a series of murals that paid homage to the CHARAS/El Bohio Community Center, which was located at 605 East 9th Street from 1979 until the beginning of this century. The 152,000-square foot complex, once home…

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Still We Rise: South Oak Cliff HS, Dallas

STILL WE RISE ⇑ Thrive Collective’s first School Partners USA school mural project was completed on November 12, 2021, at South Oak Cliff High School in Dallas. Local ABC Affiliate WFAA 8 featured the ribbon cutting on their newscast. [Video above. See more at WFAA.] Art Direction by Michael McPheeters SPECIAL THANKS South Oak Cliff…

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Thrive Collective artists and mentors in Oakland

School Partners USA

Thrive Collective proudly launches School Partners USA today. To our friends in Dallas, San Diego, and Oakland: let’s get busy! _______________ Do you need help developing and implementing a strategy to impact your local schools? School Partners USA offers youth workers nine months of focused training and support for those who see engaging public schools…

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Cultural Legacy

This week as our executive director Jeremy Del Rio and his son Judah begin a writing project in Puerto Rico, we remember one of our earliest school murals. The “Legacy” mural (2015) at the Borinquen Plaza Senior Center celebrates the cultural legacy Puerto Rican immigrants brought with them from La Isla Del Encanto to Williamsburg, Brooklyn. Featuring…

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#WhatComesNextProject on Social

Thank you, Clorox, for helping amplify the story! Here are just a few recent posts on Instagram. Check the latest here.   View this post on Instagram   Sunday I had the honor of attending the grand opening of a new community center in West Oakland with @urbanlifementors + @nycthrive. The center is conveniently located…

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Hope Oakland Media Diary

So this happened on Saturday. How was your weekend? What a privilege to celebrate the Grand Opening of the UrbanLife Youth and Family Center in the Lower Bottoms neighborhood of West Oakland. The all-star collaboration between Kekoa (from Thrive) and Eric and Shawana (from UrbanLife), Lamorinda Construction, Camer1, and dozens of sponsors and volunteers absolutely crushed…

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