Staff Reports

Corona – On Thurs., Feb. 5, at 6 p.m., the Riverside Art Museum unveiled a mural created by five young people who participated in the Corona Police Department’s California Gang Reduction and Intervention (CalGRIP) Summer Program.

These five Corona-Norco Unified School District middle school students spent 11 weeks over their summer vacation participating in the CalGRIP program, which included classes on social skills, life skills, resiliency skills and anger management. The students also took part in educational field trips including trips to the Museum of Tolerance, The West Wing Foundation and music lessons at the Fender Center for Performing Arts.

One of the program’s highlights included the creation of the mural, which was unveiled at the Feb. 5 Art Walk in downtown Riverside. The students spent six weeks learning drawing, composition and painting techniques and then put those skills to work over five weeks, creating the 64 square foot mural which was on display on the Riverside Art Museum’s front lawn.

The Corona Police Department’s CalGRIP program is a grant funded program, in collaboration with the Corona/Norco Unified School District, which strives to teach middle school age children the skills and abilities needed to become successful and productive members of our community, while emphasizing the dangers of gang involvement and at-risk behaviors through the use of multiple, evidence-based teaching programs and counseling and mentoring services.

The CalGRIP program’s goals include a reduction in gang involvement and at-risk behaviors including drug use, while increasing school attendance, grades and pro-social behaviors to better enable young people to positively interact with their peers, families and school community.