PPG has announced the completion of a Colorful Communities project in Monterrey, Mexico, that helped to revitalize the auditorium, library, computer center and six classrooms at DIF Capullos, located in the municipality of Guadalupe. The Colorful Communities program provides PPG volunteers and products along with financial contributions to bring color and vitality to communities where the company operates around the world, such as in Nuevo León, where PPG has a powder coatings plant and a distribution center.

The project brought together about 100 PPG employees and family members to volunteer for two full days at the DIF Capullos site, which is a government facility that provides temporary shelter to children and adolescents who are victims of abuse and family violence. PPG provided about $5,500 for this project, including donated COMEX paints and supplies, and the company held a festival for children served by the facility with games, face painting and a movie.

“We are very grateful to PPG and its local employees for bringing vibrant, cheerful color to our center, especially to the many children and teenagers who find refuge here,” said Martha González, director of DIF Capullos. “These young people are coming from very tough situations, and our brighter, improved environment will help them to feel more positive as they recover.”

DIF Capullos currently serves 300 children, between newborn and 17 years old, who are in a difficult legal situation or who suffered abuse or abandonment.

“We are very proud to bring the Colorful Communities program to Nuevo Leon for the first time,” said Orel Salinas Cisneros, manager of the PPG powder coatings plant in Monterrey. “By filling the DIF Capullos site with color, we want to help motivate and inspire the imagination of all children residing here.”

The Colorful Communities program is PPG’s signature initiative for community engagement efforts, with the aim to protect and beautify the neighborhoods where PPG operates around the world. The program increases PPG’s commitment to invest in communities by adding $10 million to support efforts made during a 10-year period. It supports projects that transform community assets, providing PPG volunteers and donated PPG products. PPG completed 11 Colorful Communities projects in 2015, and it expects to complete about 30 more this year.

PPG and PPG Comex have completed several Colorful Communities projects in Mexico. The first project was completed in 2015, in the community of San Juan del Rio, Queretaro, where PPG employees added color to the auditorium of Mahatma Gandhi Middle School. Other projects have revitalized sites in central and northern Mexico.