Rebecca Yenawine’s unorthodox approach to a group of teenage vandals led her to create a unique art school for inner city kids. Yenawine’s dedication to community work began in high school, when she volunteered as a youth mediator between parents and young people, created a bias awareness group and took care of children in a battered women's shelter. After moving to Baltimore for art school, Yenawine bought a large row-house in Reservoir Hill, a low-income, African-American neighborhood. Catching some teenage girls making graffiti with spray paint, Yenawine invited them into her home for art lessons. This informal invitation for art-related activities and a safe space away from the neighborhood drug trade grew into a structured after-school and summer program for local teens, Kids on the Hill, helping them find their voices and beautifying the neighborhood. Yenawine went on to launch New Lens, a program for teens to create videos that showcase underrepresented perspectives and learn business skills by taking on commissions.

Rebecca Yenawine was honored at the 2002 Women Who Dared event in Baltimore.