CINCINNATI — When completed, a wall that started looking like a giant paint-by-numbers prompt will be a place for a community to heal and communicate with its law enforcement officers.

The hard work of artists, officers and neighbors is bringing Cincinnati’s mediation mural to life.

One pair with pink, sits at the top of scaffolding, another with yellow making the letters pop, while at the bottom, two more use black paint to form the outline.

At a glance, it looks like a giant paint by numbers prompt, but as the afternoon wears on, the hard work of artists, officers, and neighbors is bringing Cincinnati’s mediation mural to life.

ArtWorks, a nonprofit that employs youth to create public art for their communities, is spearheading the project in the city’s Avondale neighborhood. One of the largest predominantly-Black neighborhoods in Cincinnati, Avondale has a long history of racial tension between local residents, police and city government.

Apprentices and guests work on mediation mural

In 2020, in the wake of the police killings of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor and other Black men and women — as well as the protests and unrest that followed nationwide — the Avondale Development Corporation worked with District 4 police and ArtWorks to develop a series of meetings culminating in a piece of public art on Rockdale Avenue.

Lt. Shannon Heine said as a neighborhood liaison officer with the Place-based Investigations of Violent Offender Territories (PIVOT), the mural aligned perfectly with their goals. She saw it as a great opportunity to better communicate with those living near the mural and make the street more beautiful.

“We’re working Avondale and what can we do to engage our youth,” she said. “What can we do to engage our community to make it cleaner safer, more loved?”

Before 2020, Heine said the PIVOT interventions seemed to be working. Crime in Avondale was at its lowest point and she believed the relationship between the police and the community was strong. Then the pandemic hit, the country was in the midst of a national reckoning regarding police brutality and Cincinnati was facing its most violent year on record.

“When you go into a neighborhood, you have to realize that we don’t know everything,” Heine said.

Lt. Heine in plain clothes assists with mural

She said the police relationship with the Avondale community was deteriorating. The neighborhood seemed to lose some trust with its officers — they didn’t always call police when they needed to. Heine said it was time for both sides to come together and listen to each other. 

“We need to respect Avondale, and we need to respect the role they play in our city,” she said. “Avondale is the heart of Cincinnati.”

During the mediation meetings, police officers, including Heine, met with several young Black men and women from Avondale. Both sides shared their concerns, their anxieties, their stories and their perspectives. 

Jeni Jenkins, the mural’s designer said “Hear us out” seemed to be the strongest sentiment from each side, so it became the theme of the mural. 

“I thought that that resonated with everything that they were saying,” she said.

Mediation mural design, courtesy of Jeni Jenkins

Now those words will be permanently planted on the side of a former fire station. Jenkins said she wanted the mural to simulate a dialogue between officers and youth in Avondale. Three portraits of youth will stand on one side. Three officers on the other. Heine is one of them.

“It wasn’t my intention, but I am honored that they put me on there,” she said.

Heine said the mediation was illuminating. She said the young people expressed a lot of raw fears and anxieties, concern police would escalate violence or misunderstand the situation. Still, she said she was relieved by what she didn’t hear. 

“They don’t hate the police, they just question some of the things that we do and why we do things the way we do things,” she said.

From Heine’s side, she wanted the youth to know why she wanted to be an officer in the first place. 

“I started off wanting to be a pediatrician, a baby doctor,” she said. “My soccer coach was a police officer for the city.”

Heine said he was a father to her, when her dad couldn’t be. She wanted to do for others, what he did for her. 

“I know he helped save me,” she said.

Eight youth apprentices, hired by ArtWorks are responsible for completing the majority of the mural. All of them live in Avondale.

Youth apprentices work to finish mural

As a part of the mediation process, though, members of the Avondale community and District 4 police officers were invited to community paint days to help bring the mural together. On those paint days, anyone stopping by was invited to share their own thoughts about how to improve the relationship between police and the community.

Jenkins said the mural isn’t meant to be the solution, but rather an attempt to bring both sides to the table and continue their discussion.

“This mural’s not going to solve all the problems,” she said. “It’s just one little seed to help the community.”

The mural is scheduled to be completed in mid-September. ArtWorks will dedicate the mural in early October, inviting police and community members to come out and continue their conversation.