We understand how the quality of an environment relates to the emotional state, and how design can positively impact wellbeing, human connection, and happiness.  At the heart of every design challenge is an opportunity to create joy, to foster connection, and provide a sense of welcome or comfort. 

BAMO has partnered with Project Color Corps, a volunteer nonprofit organization, to bring beauty and possibility into an underserved neighborhood. The organization believes color is a change agent that infuses a sense of well-being, joy, and equity into communities. And its founder, Laura Guido-Clark, has invited us to transform Hoover Elementary School through the power of color. 

Located in Oakland, CA, Hoover Elementary School (K-5) serves approximately 300 students. Its mission is to prepare young children to be independent thinkers and lifelong learners. After reviewing several sites around the school, we selected the building’s primary façade to feature a large mural. This location has the most visibility since it faces the main playground as well as homes in the surrounding neighborhood. We’ve also invited our good friends at SWA to help us enhance the landscape and plantings on the site. 

Along with Project Color Corps, we engaged the school’s students and community members in a workshop to develop a mural design scheme that reflects their uniqueness and spirit. This interactivity created a greater sense of ownership, empowerment, and pride, which was extended further as the students and community members voted on the mural’s final design and colorway. Throughout this process, everyone learned the fundamentals of color and the connection between color and emotion. 

The Hoover students and community members selected a colorway that reflected the words “kind” and “safe”, and a mural design scheme that was inspired by the oak tree—representing wisdom, strength, and endurance. It is also the symbol of the City of Oakland. In a clever way, the mural will bring more nature onto Hoover’s campus.  

Now that the mural’s design scheme and colors have been selected, it’s time to paint! Plans are underway for us to engage the Hoover students and community members so we can start executing phases of the mural sometime this fall. We can’t wait to share with you the activities surrounding the mural’s day-of creation and completion.  

Design is transformative. Project Color Corps relies upon corporate and private individual contributions and foundational grants to complete its projects. Join BAMO and share the power of color with those who need it most. Your donation will help us employ professional painters and underwrite mural supplies, such as paint, brushes, drop cloths, and other miscellaneous expenses. But more importantly, you will help inspire and empower a community with messages of optimism and hope. 

DONATE HERE TO SUPPORT BAMO x PROJECT COLOR CORP for HOOVER ELEMENTARY
*Before submitting your donation online, please write BAMO in the “Leave a Comment” section. 

Project Color Corps is a 501(c)3 Non-Profit Charity Organization. Your donation is tax-deductible in compliance with IRS regulations.  

Project Color Corps is dedicated to creating change for students, schools, and communities in largely underserved neighborhoods around the country. Since its inception in 2011, the organization has been influencing the lives of over 10,000 children and their communities from coast to coast by completing 13 projects with four more expected this year. Follow them on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, and Vimeo.