By bringing to reality a bright floral concept to cover a 500-foot concrete wall along Miller Road, artist Eliana Davila recently helped lift the spirits of 12,000 motorists a day and the pride of an entire neighborhood.

But she didn't do it alone. It's a community mural, a result of the Office of Neighborhood Vitality's Where the Heart Is program. With paint and supplies provided, neighbors came to help as did others who answered the call of the Volunteer Garland program. Some whose property backs to Miller Road painted segments (Davila's design broke the project into 32 segments) below their own backyard fences.

And when weekend rains negated back-to-back planned community paint days, the neighbors found help just across the street. The community day shifted to a Wednesday and students from the Garland ISD Alternative Education Center drove a one-day response to 100 painters strong. Watch the video.

The mural fronts the current target neighborhood for Where the Heart Is, Quail Creek. Bound by Miller Road, Swan Drive, Quail Drive, High Meadow Drive and Danbury Drive, Quail Creek features 500 single family homes, a magnet school, a green parkway and a neighborhood park.

Where the Heart Is annually partners Garland's Office of Neighborhood Vitality with one neighborhood to instigate overall neighborhood reinvestment. Residents work together with City staff, non-profits, businesses, religious groups and volunteers to stimulate positive physical and social change over the year.

Resident engagement is pivotal to the success of this program. Residents brainstorm ideas, connect resources, identify assets, help neighbors and work together to creatively solve problems and improve their neighborhood.

Simultaneously the City of Garland is reinvesting in the neighborhood in various ways - for example improving streets, updating street lights, improving park access, educating residents and connecting residents to available resources to improve their homes.

Contact the Office of Neighborhood Vitality at [email protected] for more information and to get involved.

"The City reached out to me with a special opportunity and I was so excited," said Davila, who lives in Mesquite. Her mother and her grandmother ("It's not elderly abuse if she wants to be here") also helped with the project. More about Davila and her work can be found at elistry.art.