Songs of Hope

Songs of Hope by Donald Gensler is painted on the side of Gate to Heaven Ministries, a storefront church in the Mantua neighborhood of West Philadelphia. This mural was a model project for the “My Anti-Drug” mural-making guidebook. Both the church and the artist felt songs provided an alternative to drugs. Song is also a metaphor for hope and positive change. The main image shows a young boy – meant to be representative of the many young people who gathered at the church during a summer 2002 tent revival which the artist observed – stopped in his tracks as if listening to beautiful music emanating from the church. It shows his journey to a more positive, spiritual life.

In 1998, with the bipartisan support of Congress and the President, the Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) created the National Youth Anti-Drug Media Campaign, an effort designed to educate and empower youth to reject illicit drugs. Counting on an unprecedented blend of public and private partnerships, nonprofit community service organizations, volunteerism, and youth-to-youth communications, the Campaign was designed to reach Americans of diverse backgrounds wherever they live, learn, work, play, and practice their faith.

Starting in 2000, the National Youth Anti-Drug Media Campaign worked with corporate and community-based organizations to create “My Anti-Drug” murals. These murals, located in 26 cities around the United States, provided youth with an opportunity to express and tell the world what stands between them and drugs. The murals supported the Campaign’s positive messages of a drug-free lifestyle by encouraging youth to focus on the thing that keeps them from using drugs – their Anti-Drug.

A “My Anti-Drug” Mural Guide, an initiative of the National Youth Anti-Drug Media Campaign, was developed in partnership with the Philadelphia Mural Arts Program and made possible by the generous support of AT&T Wireless. The guide gives mural arts and youth-serving organizations creative ways to use substance abuse prevention themes in their arts programs.