Cops and Kids: Daring to Cross the Waters

Cops and Kids:Daring to Cross the Waters by artist Cesar Viveros is painted on an exterior wall of the Vaird-Feltonville Youth Club in the Feltonville neighborhood of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. This mural is part of the City of Philadelphia Mural Arts Program’s Adolescent Violence Reduction Partnership (AVRP) which embarked on a special initiative called Cops & Kids: Turning the Corner to give at-risk youth a unique opportunity to work side-by-side police officers from their neighborhoods on a large-scale community mural. The mural uses water as a metaphor for the gap that exists in some communities between police and the residents of a community. In this mural members of the local community are shown standing in the water arms outstretched creating a bridge between the two groups. It is difficult to cross this bridge at times, but as this mural suggests through its creation a better community lies on the other side.

Project Partners: Boys and Girls Club, AVRP, 25th Police District, Northeast Treatment Centers, Congreso, Police District Advisory Council, and The Daily News