Students continue artwork despite disappointment
Tyler Butler knelt his linebacker-sized body in a shady spot on an asphalt parking lot in Duquesne. His hands were covered with the white primer he was helping a group of fellow teenagers put on a blank banner.
It was the mural behind them, however, that worried Butler, 18, of Duquesne. He and some of the other student painters thought they would get $1,000 for the summer to work on it full time. Two weeks before the project started, organizers offered him half the pay for part-time work, and now Butler thinks the wall might not get finished, he said.
"The only reason I stayed around after they cut the pay was because I like (the work)," he said during a break from painting. "I want to see this wall get done. I probably would do it if I didn't get paid, but I was disappointed."
Butler is one of more than 100 teenagers to work this summer as painters for the National City Moving the Lives of Kids Community Mural Project. Organizers offered up to $1,000 for five days of painting per week -- and paid $1,000 to all students last summer -- but cut offers in half for many students when a donor gave less than what organizers expected, CEO Kyle Holbrook said Wednesday.
About half the students are making $500 for working three days per week. Holbrook, who said he does not get paid for his work, declined to name the donor that gave less.
The move to part-time painters helped give more students the opportunity to work, Holbrook said. There were about 1,200 applicants this year. He didn't find out about the funding shortfall until near the end of May.
"They knew at the orientation. So no one was lied to," Holbrook said. "I don't get paid. I'm just trying to get kids paid."
Pittsburgh and Allegheny County officials lauded Holbrook and the project for its work last year. Students painted colorful murals at spots along the Port Authority's East Busway. County officials have received no complaints this year, spokeswoman Megan Dardanell said.
In a statement, National City spokesman William Eiler said National City believes the project "provides a wonderful opportunity for students," but said it would not be appropriate to comment on the project's daily administration.
The program started with a week of orientation in June. Students were told June 7, at their final interview, if they would be offered only part-time assignments, according to Holbrook and chief operating officer Edward Rawson.
Samuel Kirkland, 17, of East Liberty is in his second year of the program. This summer he chose the part-time option, he said, and it has given him time to play in basketball tournaments and look for a second job.
Kirkland is working Downtown on a banner for the August Wilson Center for African American Culture. One of his co-workers there is Andrea Bennett, 16, of Greenfield.
This is her first year in the program and, although some were given the option to choose between part time and full time, she was given only the part-time option, she said. That didn't upset her, but she would have preferred to work for the full $1,000, she said.
"It's been interesting. I've learned a lot of new stuff," she said of her few weeks on the project. "But I think it would be cooler to work full time, but I'm OK with being part time."
The situation has been more complicated in Duquesne and Homestead, where one of the project funders backed out just a week before work was to begin, Rawson said. Organizers were forced to downsize the Homestead project and shifted some of the students to Duquesne at part-time pay. Many were disappointed, and some took a smaller $250 pay and quit, he said.
Some of the problems could have been avoided with better communication, said Lori Rue of the Duquesne Community Mobilization Project, whose son is a painter. She employs Butler and three other Duquesne painters.
"Being a nonprofit (leader), I understand when things fall through," she said. "But when things fall through I sit down and explain it to the kids and families, and explain it again until they understand."
Some students in Duquesne have to travel farther distances than they expected, Rue said. They didn't have time to find jobs that could have paid them more money either, she added.
"I thought it was unfair," said Butler, who is trying to save for college at Slippery Rock University. "I was really looking forward to getting that $1,000."
