The beginning of Project Hope:
Mayor Duffy Attends Project Hope Unveiling

Sarah Lentini, The Arts Council; Charles Reeves, Commissioner of Parks and Recreation; Mayor Duffy; Bob Good, UMHN President; Achille Forgione, artist; Dan Hurly and Patrick Fisher, Project Hope.

On Saturday, Nov. 18th, three new Project Hope pieces were unveiled for neighbors, friends, and people who made the pieces of art a reality. Mayor Duffy was in attendance, along with many other dignitaries. It was a wonderful event and one that will be remembered by many.

The next phase of this project will be producing the artwork and installing it along Elmwood, Westfall/Westmoreland, South and Kendrick. Due to the approaching winter, this will most likely happen in the spring. Stay tuned for more news and updates on this exciting project.

Project Hope began as a vision of Patrick Fisher, an active UMHN member when he lived in this neighborhood. He saw this area as an avenue and home for many people and organizations with missions of hope; more specifically, the U of R Medical Center, Mary Cariola Children’s Center, neighborhood churches, businesses, and Mt. Hope Cemetery – all offering a sense of hope for those in need.

Working with students at the Mary Cariola Children’s Center, Patrick requested them to express their feelings of “hope” in drawings, which were then transformed into steel silhouettes, by local artist Achille Forgione and Larry Warner of GM Welding. The Upper Mt. Hope Neighborhood Association was the recipient of an earlier “Culture Builds Communities” grant from The Greater Rochester Arts and Cultural Council; funding for this first grant was made possible by the generous contributions of the City of Rochester and M&T Bank. This money was used to create and install the artwork now seen along Mt. Hope Avenue, hanging from utility poles. In early 2006, UMHN Association applied for a second grant and was graciously awarded $15, 495. which will be used to create additional artwork, this time featuring 3 different designs, again from Mary Cariola students’ drawings.

Special thanks to the following individuals for helping to make Patrick’s vision a reality:

• Achille Forgione, Fine Arts Studio
• Larry Warner, GM Welding
• Sara Latini, Leonard Urso, and Clare Gunther. Arts and Cultural Council of Greater Rochester
• Kathy Kloeck and Sara Cardillo, M&T Bank
• Peter Saxe, NBN Sector 6
• Robert Duffy, Mayor, City of Rochester
• Adam McFadden, Councilman, City of Rochester
• Harry Bronson, Monroe County Legislature
• Susan John, State Assemblywoman
• Charles Reeves, Julio Vasquez, Terry Mott, Matt McCarthy,Vicky Bell and JoAnn Beck, City of Rochester
• Carole Thomas, Street Lighting, City of Rochester
• Molly Clifford, NET Director
• Helen Hogan, South East Area Coalition
• Sharon Locke, Beyond Creative Boundaries
• The Mary Cariola Childrens’ Center

Extra special thanks to Dan Hurley, member of UMHN, whose extraordinary dedication to Project Hope was the driving force from the beginning. His attention to every aspect of this project is to be applauded.