“Westside Views” began when the local Community Board recommended that developer amenity funds be used for a youth project to benefit the community. The result was a collaboration between Nitza Tufiño and 17 young people, most of whom were part of Grosvenor Neighborhood House's school equivalency and educational program. The team went into area streets to photograph important historic sites and interviewed members of the community, ultimately creating 40 ceramic tiles based on their work. The murals are permanently installed as a testament to the success of the project.

"As an artist, if I take my brushes and my skills and I invest in the lives of young people, then others can see what is possible," says Tufiño. "I believe human beings can do anything, if we find something that would positively influence them." 

Nitza Tufiño is a renowned Nuyorican artist based in New York City. Tufiño has been an advocate of culture in El Barrio for decades. Her career has led her to work with great masters of Puerto Rican, Mexican and Latin American graphics. Tufiño’s commitment to public art led her to be recognized as El Taller Boricua’s first female artist in 1970. She is also a member of “El Consejo Grafico,” a national coalition of Latino printmaking workshops and individual printmakers. Tufiño has been the recipient of many awards throughout her four decades as an artist.