Graffiti grants winners announced

Stamford, Conn.-based Keep America Beautiful, Inc. (KAB) has announced the winners of the 2012 Graffiti Hurts Grant Program. This year, KAB provided four $2,500 cash grants as well as two $2,500 paint supply certificates from the Cleveland-based Sherwin-Williams Co. Torrance, Calif.-based Q-Star Technology provided a FlashCAM system, valued at $6,100, to a winning recipient. The FlashCAM is a deterrent system that works to prevent illegal trespassing during hours trespassing most often occurs.

Award winners



$2,500 cash grant recipients:
• Population >250,000: University Heights Tool Library, Buffalo, N.Y., and Keep Cincinnati Beautiful, Cincinnati, Ohio
• Population 75,000 – 250,000: Community Housing of Wyandotte County, Kansas City, Kan.
• Population < 75,000: French Quarter Business Association, New Orleans, La.

$2,500 Sherwin-Williams paint supply certificate recipients:
• Population > 75,000: The Our Town Project, Oakland, Calif.
• Population < 75,000: California State University-Northridge, Northridge, Calif.

Q-Star FlashCAM recipient:
• Keep Las Cruces Beautiful, Las Cruces, N.M.

“The recipients of this year’s Graffiti Hurts Grant Program remind us how powerful volunteer action can be in solving a community’s challenges,” said Matthew McKenna, president and CEO of Keep America Beautiful. “We’re grateful to the Sherwin-Williams Company for its ongoing support of the Graffiti Hurts program, a nationwide resource for addressing graffiti problems.”



Responding to the blight of graffiti vandalism, the Graffiti Hurts program was developed in 1996 through a partnership between Keep America Beautiful, a nonprofit education and volunteer action organization, and the Sherwin-Williams Co., maker of Krylon paint. The Graffiti Hurts Grant Program was initiated in 2007. According to the U.S. Department of Justice, graffiti contributes to lost revenue associated with reduced ridership on transit systems, reduced retail sales, and declines in the value of surrounding residential and commercial property.

“The Graffiti Hurts Grant Program provides an opportunity to raise awareness of the attendant costs of graffiti vandalism and the creative solutions that these local partners employ to eradicate blight,” said Harvey Sass, president and general manager, Diversified Brands Division, at the Sherwin-Williams Co.

For more information regarding the winning grant communities, visit this site.