Art can help unify a neighborhood and bring a sense of community. David Wylie tells us about an effort to do just that in one area of our city. It has been said that Art has a way of bringing a community together. That’s the goal of a new mural project planned in Rancho Cucamonga. With the help of a grant from the Southern California Association of Governments, Rancho Cucamonga is launching a design and paint effort for a new mural near Los Amigo Elementary School on the city’s southwest side. It’s been shown that murals are a positive way to unify…to promote a sense of identity, welcoming and openness to a community. and the city of Rancho Cucamonga felt it was important to include community input for the mural project. A series of workshops were held at Los Amigos Elementary school to help gather community ideas for the project and give local residents a voice. And there was no shortage of examples and ideas at the workshops giving the designing artist lots work work with. But the community input doesn’t stop there, once the mural is designed, local residents are being invited to actually paint the mural. And the hope is that with this successful mural project, it will encourage more community based art in other parts of the community. The community is invited to come out and help with the mural painting on Community Paint Day ,September 29th from 9am to 2pm at the corner of Ninth St. and Baker Ave. near Los Amigos Elementary School. We hope to see you there.I’m David Wylie for Healthy RC Living.