Starting the project

I've decided to paint a mural as my project. For the essential questions, I'd probably look at whether or not public art decreases crime rates or the presence of graffiti.
It would be a long process; finding a lot, choosing art that would represent the area's culture, getting permission to paint a wall, cleaning, the actual painting, and getting the community involved. I'd have to take into consideration whether I want to work with an organization or do this on my own.
I've been looking at Sprout Public Art, http://www.sproutfund.org/publicart/ as a source to research. They might be able to help fund this project, but they have a selection process that takes a few months, and I don't know if that would be on the right schedule for the time I have left in high school because I'd have to apply in February/March.

Topics

I've narrowed down my topics to: sex abuse, helping people, and painting murals. These topics are interesting to me, and each seems like it can be spun into a project that will help me grow as a person.

I have some ideas for a sex abuse project. I've been looking into a website, http://www.darknesstolight.org, that is focused on childhood sex abuse prevention. I was thinking of using that site as a major source for my project.

Day 1

Today I answered questions about blogging and thought about a topic for my grad project.
I have a few ideas but they're pretty vague, so I'll have to work on narrowing it down.