Groundswell, New York’s leading organization dedicated to community public art, the New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA), and New York City Council Public Housing Chair Ritchie Torres collaborated on a major one-year initiative entitled “Public Art / Public Housing.” The pieces were designed and installed by a total of 200 young adult NYCHA residents ages 16-24, in the transformation of vacant walls throughout public housing developments in all five boroughs. The tenant's association at each development guided the creation of three mural projects, for a total of 15 new public artworks throughout New York City.
 
“Dreams and Aspirations” centers on the message: the future is in our children. The mural is located at the entrance of a childcare center. The artist team focused on the creating a piece that the young children at the daycare will be able to see themselves reflected in. The mural incorporates child appropriate symbols such as alphabet blocks, paper airplanes, and sandcastles. Figures of varying ages look upward through clouds and ladders towards their ended future in the sky. The upward movement in the mural’s composition symbolizes the sights of children as they look toward their own futures, unimpeded by any obstacles. The mural extends to the ceiling, with a young man throwing a paper plane into a galactic sky. “Dreams and Aspirations” shows that children are active agents of change.