When Mike Peringer founded ArtWorks, he was just trying to clean up his Sodo neighborhood.

But in the nearly 12 years since he began, the non-profit organization has grown, serving an estimated 5,000 at-risk kids and finding more purposes than its founder predicted.

		Dan DeLong / P-I
	Travana King, 15, applies a protective coating to a mural at ArtWorks in Pioneer Square. The program was founded by Mike Peringer, a Jefferson Awards winner.

Peringer, 71, won a Jefferson Award in 2003 for creating the South Seattle program, which has transformed previously dumpy areas by using brightly colored public art, which helps deter "tagging" or graffiti on construction site walls and other downtown buildings.

ArtWorks united a community, including businesses, seniors and youths of various socioeconomic backgrounds, to beautify the Sodo area. It also helped juvenile offenders serve court-ordered community service hours, gain job skills, earn paychecks and pay restitution to victims -- transforming their lives as well.

Peringer said winning the Jefferson Award -- considered the nation's Nobel Prize for volunteerism -- was a high honor that helped the program gain broader community support.

The Jefferson Awards program was created in 1972 by Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis and Sen. Robert Taft Jr., as well as economic-development expert Sam Beard, to honor citizens for selfless and often unrecognized public and community service.

The Seattle P-I, which has sponsored the Jefferson Awards since 1976, is asking people throughout the state to nominate inspirational volunteers in their communities. Microsoft Corp. will join the P-I this year in co-sponsoring the program, which has recognized a spectrum of volunteer efforts and people statewide.

Nominations, including the completed form, a letter and supporting documentation, must be received by Thursday. For more information about the awards, call 877-295-3025 or visit seattlepi.com/jefferson.

"A lot of these kids were not even artists, just kids at a vulnerable age who came from troubled homes and who needed a break, some guidance and some leadership," said Peringer, now president emeritus of ArtWorks and president of the Sodo Business Association. "It is amazing to see how it's grown, how the community has come together to support it."

ArtWorks links public mural and other projects with the King County juvenile court system, which uses grant and other federal, state and local funding to pay artists, ages 13 to 17, $7.50 an hour while in the program.

Some of the wages are garnished for restitution, but the midlevel juvenile offenders also keep some of their earned income.

In the last few years, ArtWorks has grown from a summer-only program to a year-round one with corporate and public sponsors.

The program also teaches letter- and résumé-writing and other job skills and uses computers to teach Web site development and graphic design, thanks to a corporate grant.

A new home in Pioneer Square features an artists studio, a gallery, a computer room and a space for a new fabric art program supported by the Frye Art Museum.

Peringer said the reoffense rate is low while kids are in the program, although it is difficult to track them once they leave. He has been so inspired by the kids' stories, he has collected them for an upcoming book on ArtWorks. Proceeds will be funneled back into the program, he said.

Jesse Brown, now 24, said the program changed his life for the better -- and the lives of other kids as well.

He was 16 when King County juvenile court ordered him into the ArtWorks program after he was caught trespassing on some railroad property in south Seattle. A high-school dropout, Brown worked off 16 hours of community service by painting murals.

"I was interested in art, but ArtWorks made the idea of becoming an artist a real possibility," Brown said. He now mentors youths as the program's lead artist.

"For a lot of kids, this is their first work experience, and it makes a difference to get out from under the restitution -- and start earning your own paycheck."

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