PHILADELPHIA (CBS) - The Mural Arts Program has launched a unique, block-long multimedia project in West Philadelphia that brings attention to children and how homelessness affects them.

The project, called “A Place to Call Home,” is centered around the Art House at 3828 Melon Street in Mantua (below).   It’s free and open to the public, and uses multimedia animation, narrative furniture, and audio to tell the stories of city youth who have been homeless.

Small murals in the neighborhood and the painting of more than 30 façades of homes along the block will draw people to the site, according to Mural Arts director Jane Golden.

“We got this house and we created art in this house and now it is our responsibility to drive citizens all over this city to come here and see the art, to challenge them to do something about the issue,” she said.

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Pedro Ortiz, who was once homeless, worked on the project, which he says will give kids hope.

“This project will tell them that they are not alone, and that there are other people who worked on this project that have been through the same thing they have been through,” he told KYW Newsradio.

Reported by Karin Phillips, KYW Newsradio 1060