Late in 2021, Impact Prevention’s Southern Ohio Youth Council decided that they wanted to leave a physical, positive mark on their community.
Impact Prevention in partnership with the Ohio Suicide Prevention Foundation (OSPF) hosted the annual Suicide Prevention Walk in September 2021.
It was there that they announced that Impact Prevention and the Youth Council were granted approval to paint a portion of the floodwall located beside the Ohio Riverfront.
The Southern Ohio Youth Council worked together to design an interactive mural depicting a colorful megaphone with positive and uplifting messages coming from it. The megaphone allows for one to pose as if they were chanting the positive messages displayed.
The goal behind this interactive mural is to promote connectedness, positivity and bring a sense of brightness to a once gloomy area of Ironton.
In March of 2022, Impact Prevention and the Youth Council were able to begin progress on their mural by painting a base color, blocking the shapes and dimensions, sketching out an outline of the mural and, finally, painting.
It is with great hopes that the mural will be completed by late May, and the citizens residing in Ironton or visitors from other areas will finally be able to admire and interact with the mural, all while contributing to the mission of spreading positivity and bringing the community closer together!
If you are interested in becoming a part of Impact Youth Council find us on Facebook at Impact Prevention, call 740-534-3356 or visit www.impactprevention.org.
This project is made possible through grant funding from the Pallottine Foundation of Huntington called Inspiring Community Change Agents.

Kaley Fetty is a 2022 Rock Hill High School graduate, where she was a member of the Impact Prevention and Quiz Bowl teams, a Civic Scholar Fellow, and a Southern Ohio Youth Council and marching band member.