Highland Park center gets new life through mural

The Detroit Summer youth group gave new life to the Ruth Ellis Center in Highland Park through a painted mural.

Excerpt from the Detroit Free Press:

Dasean Walters watched in approval as the multiracial youth group Detroit Summer began installing a mural on the outside brick wall of the Ruth Ellis Center in Highland Park.

"It's good to have youth from different cultures helping us out and doing something new and different here," said Walters, 22, who has lived at the center since 2005. "I applaud them."

The center is one of three agencies in the U.S. dedicated to homeless youths who are lesbian, gay, bi-attractional, transgender or questioning their sexual orientation. It also provides short-term and long-term residential space and support services.

Detroit Summer, made up of Detroiters ages 14 to 21, began collaborating with the center and other organizations in 2006 for a documentary called "Rising from the Ashes: Chronicles of a Dropout." The mural was created as an extension of the work Detroit Summer has done with the center.

Read the entire article here.