CHARLOTTE (QUEEN CITY NEWS) — Usually it’s all about keeping sidewalks clean on Charlotte – Mecklenburg school campuses, but this pressure washing job is leaving something behind.
“Pretty much the dirtier the sidewalk, the longer it’s going to stay there,” said Tracie Campbell, senior health manager for the Office of Violence Prevention, for Mecklenburg County.
It’s a message CMS and Mecklenburg County officials hope leaves a lasting effect on students at 25 middle and high schools. It’s called clean graffiti and is the brainchild of Torrie Savage, founder and owner of The Savage Way.
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“I was helping my dad pressure wash his back sidewalk,” added Savage. “I wrote the name ‘Savage’ and a flower with the pressure washer, right. I had this aha moment like this could be an ad, this could be something.”
That was 12 years ago, Savage is known for creative projects. Her company creates a lot of moss art which is seen in the city, and there is a good chance you’ve seen many different clean graffiti pieces on sidewalks around the crown.
She says you just need a stencil and a dirty sidewalk. “It is a niche guerilla marketing tactic,” said Savage. “But to date, we have been in over 80 cities and going strong.”
For the last two years, the Mecklenburg County Office of Violence Prevention has been using the violence-free zone messaging.
“We’ve really had so much positive feedback from placing these stencils down, we typically place them in high-traffic areas where people are going to be walking or standing,” said Campbell. “In neighborhoods where we might see more violence occurring.”
This is the first year that clean graffiti has been allowed on CMS campuses. Last year there were 16 reportable offenses of weapons in the CMS district according to the district officials.
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“What better way to set the tone and environment for a safe space than to have these clean graffiti placed in the front of the school building and in the back where the students are getting off of the bus entering into the schools,” added Campbell.
“It’s fun to do advertising, but when we can actually do community messaging that is our heart, we love this,” says Savage.
It’s a way to help students start the year by seeing the good at school. “Schools should be a safe place for all of our students to attend,” said Campbell.
The messaging is in English and Spanish to reach more students. The clean graffiti can last anywhere from 30 days to 3 months. It depends on the foot traffic in the area and the hope is to add more schools to the program next year.
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