The Young Graffiti Masters Program at Parents' & Children's Services

The Young Graffiti Masters Program is a ground-breaking effort to steer the energies of artistically gifted youth away from the illegal activity of defacing graffiti and into productive and mainstream applications of their talent. Initiated in 1992, by Ms. Janaya Janey, an art teacher in Boston Public Schools, as an experimental program for inner-city youth, the program has had five successful years. Ms. Janey continues to volunteer her time and talents to work with inner city African-American and Latino young men. Under Ms. Janey's guidance, students have developed positive relationships based on camaraderie and friendship instead of fear. They have bonded together as a positive artistic group engaged in sanctioned art, such as murals, posters and billboards, rather than operating as an illegal graffiti posse.

At Team Harmony IV, some of YGM's work was highlighted.