Originally, 80 young people from the juvenile justice program were recruited to help work on the mural. They worked about 25 hours a week and made minimum wage. The diversity of backgrounds among the young people was a challenge for Baca to coordinate. She recalls that there were "warring neighborhoods" and that her teams spoke many different languages. In addition, the people who lived in the middle-class neighborhood of Tujunga Wash were skeptical that this "invasion of juvenile delinquents" would behave themselves. Baca found a way to make things work harmoniously. She was labeled by her young workers as the "mural lady". She mentored many young people during the project. Baca felt that they were able to learn many useful skills, such as math, history, and art. This was important since many of them had few of these skills mastered at the time. In the years 1981 and 1983, additional young people were hired through a grant from the Jewish Community Foundation. The names of the young people who worked on the "Great Wall of Los Angeles" are recorded in various places on the mural.