Five years after the launch of our first COLORFUL COMMUNITIES® project in Alessandria, Italy, a Colorful Communities team, together with our partners, recently returned to the northern Italy community to reinvigorate a local middle school with color. The project marks the safe return of our signature initiative in a country ravaged by coronavirus (COVID-19).
COLORFUL COMMUNITIES project is ‘beacon of hope’ in Italy
As part of the back-to-school project to rejuvenate IC Carducci Vochieri, PPG donated technical support and more than 2,100 liters of SIGMA® paints to the school, and supported local contractors who repainted the entire building in contemporary colors. Teams refurbished 30 classrooms, 2 laboratories, a large conference room, and the entryway so that the school would be ready for nearly 600 students and 58 teachers to begin classes September 14. The school had been closed since March.
“In 2015, we launched our global Colorful Communities initiative in Italy,” said Malesia Dunn, executive director, PPG Foundation and global social responsibility. “Today, it is an honor to resume our efforts in one of the countries hardest hit by COVID-19 and to focus on ways to benefit children. Now more than ever, we want to make environments for children and youth colorful and welcoming.”
With leadership from Silla Giusti, general manager, architectural coatings, Cavallirio, and Isabella Ercole, director of the PPG automotive coatings plant in Quattordio, the Colorful Communities team chose high-performing Sigma paints that are ideal for schools, in colors that stimulate creativity and foster learning. These included Chinese Porcelain, our 2020 color of the year, and Colonial Aqua.
“We know that color can affect mood and outlook, especially in schools,” said Giusti. “In a recent PPG study, the majority of students and teachers reported that colorful rooms give them a renewed sense of energy and passion. After months of lockdown, we hope students at IC Carducci Vochieri will see the renovation as a positive reminder of resiliency and hope.”
Gianfranco Cuttica di Revigliasco, mayor of Alessandria, understands the positive impact that PPG has on the community.
“We are very grateful that PPG has again turned its attention to Alessandria,” he said. “In the past, Colorful Communities benefitted our Children’s Hospital, and today it supports our students and schools. After the difficulty of these past few months, this project is a beacon of hope to our students for a gradual return to a normal life.”