Introduction
We are asking for your support of our new three-year capital campaign to raise $600,000 to enhance our ties to the community and grow our impact.
The Celebrate! Maya Project was started in 2014 with the goal of promoting the life, contributions, and history of Dr. Maya Angelou, and to help youth find their voice and prepare for a successful future. The Celebrate Maya Project is a 501.C.3 nonprofit organization.
While we have been constantly committed to offering scholarships and programs in honor of Maya Angelou’s life, we’ve yet to have a space of
our own to expand our work. We’re introducing “Planting Seeds and Growing Dreams,” our three-year capital campaign to raise $600,000 to enhance our ties to the community and grow our impact. Our campaign has three focus goals: to renovate a building, increase
scholarships and expand our programming. With your support, we will grow our services and programs, increase our administrative and volunteer staff, extend our outreach, and expand intergenerational and cross-cultural community initiatives.
As a thank you, your name will be recognized on the site of our renovated space. Enclosed in this document is additional information about our history, our work within communities and how you can support our dreams. Every gift makes a difference. With your support, we’ll do our part in helping Maya Angelou’s legacy live forever.
About Celebrate! Maya Project
The Celebrate! Maya Project was established in 2014 to honor and share the creativity, social conciousness and inclusion that artist and activist Dr. Maya Angelou modeled in her life and work. In 2015, we became a cerified exempt non-profit organization. We promote Dr. Angelou’s life and legacy through public forums, writing, poetry, history workshops and creative arts competitions. We seek to partner with schools throughout the state, with an emphasis on the Arkansas delta region, and feel it critical to enhance Arkansas’ knowledge of its native daughter.
Our overarching focus is youth throughout Arkansas, and we are especially attentive to the needs of youth in the Arkansas delta region, where youth and their families remain most in need – economically, socially and educationally. We work with parents, community leaders, school leaders and educators, as well as other nonprofit organizations in the region. Our interest in serving the Delta is in response to the decades-long studies that tell us the student populations in this region are likely to be poorer and have far less access to quality education, health and social services. This results far too often in students being
less motivated to graduate from school or to enter college. We promote the life, contributions and history of Dr. Angelou. We research and document her global contributions to share with the state of Arkansas. Most importantly, we seek ways to edcuate Arkansas’ youth about how this literary and humanities advocate continues to impact the country, the world and the state. By bringing her legacy to life, we strive to continue bringing humanities and the arts into our communities.
We Need Your Help!
“Never before has the Celebrate! Maya Project had a place to call our own. With your help, we will.”
Since our start in 2014, the Celebrate! Maya Project has shared the life and works of Maya Angelou through programs that strengthen literacy among Arkansas youth.
It’s now time to plant the seeds to expand our work: We’re building a Celebrate! Maya Project headquarters, and we need your help.
Our programs include history immersion projects, where high school students interview Arkansas historymakers and pen essays on their life. A published book of their work is shared with the community. Little Rock Nine member Carlotta Walls LaNier, 2019 Arkansas Teacher of the Year Stacey McAdoo, Judge Wiley Branton Jr. and Grif Stockley are just a few Arkansans
who have coached students in the program. We’ve presented community coversations on the documentary “Maya Angelou: And Still I Rise.” We welcomed the film’s director, Rita Coburn Whack, to Little Rock for our celebration of Angelou’s 90th birthday. Our partnership with the Coretta Scott King Center presented Little Rock Nine member Minnijean Brown Trickey, who spoke in honor of Coretta Scott King and Dr. Angelou’s birthdays. We hold poetry writing contests for youth, and we’ve awarded 14 scholarships, helping children in the Arkansas delta realize their college dreams.
For years our partners across the state have shared their space for our programs. Now, we’re raising $600,000 through 2025 to rehabilitate a 92-year-old property in the historic Little Rock Central High neighborhood.
Future Home of The Celebrate! Maya Project
Our plans for the 2,500-plus-square-foot space include:
- Three classrooms for after-school tutoring, workshops, art classes and camp sessions.
- A community room and learning center for intergenerational forums and presentations.
- An art and history gallery in honor of Maya Angelou.
- Two offices for administrators, part-time staff, volunteers, and board meetings.
- A community garden and memory park to educate on migration and sustainability, as well as on-site recognition of donors.
Donate
We are asking for your help in supporting our capital campaign so we can renovate a place for the Celebrate! Maya Project to call home. With this space, we will increase our outreach to youth and contributions to the community.
“The desire to reach the stars is ambitious. The desire to reach the heart is wise.” – Maya Angelou
Ways To Give
1. Contact Janis F. Kearney at (501) 772-2930 or email at: janis@celebratemayaproject.org.
2. Give through our Giving Link, at https://celebratemayaproject.org/capitalcampaign/
3. Mail your contribution to: Celebrate! Maya Project/Capital Campaign, P.O. Box 241972, Little Rock, AR 72223
A Message from our Campaign Chair
Carolyn Allen, Chair, Celebrate! Maya Project Capital Campaign
Two months ago, the Celebrate! Maya Project embarked on a first: a launch of our first-ever capital campaign for our first-ever headquarters.
We’re raising $600,000 through 2025 to renovate a 92-year-old home in the Little Rock Central High School district to provide a learning and training environment for creative programming and fostering community connections.
We’re doing it all in the spirit of Maya Angelou, and your support can make this possible.
The Celebrate! Maya Project has been Planting Seeds and Growing Dreams in Arkansas since our start eight years ago. We’ve held history immersion projects, where high school students interview Arkansas history makers, pen essays on their life and see their work in a published book.
We’ve presented community conversations on the documentary “Maya Angelou: And Still I Rise,” and even welcomed the film’s director, Rita Coburn Whack, to Little Rock. We’ve showcased and heard from community leaders who assist our students with writing, creating poetry and essays, and presenting their work to audiences. We’ve held poetry contests, art competitions, career-planning workshops and concerts that have enriched our community and enabled our students to develop college-ready skills.
We selected the home in the historic Central High neighborhood because we want it to be a place where all citizens within the community can come together for learning and fellowship. The renovated space we will offer:
- 3 classrooms for after-school tutoring, writing workshops, art classes and camp sessions
- A community room and learning center for intergenerational forums and presentations
- An art and history gallery in honor of Maya Angelou
- 2 offices for administrators, staff, volunteers, and board meetings
- A community garden and memory park to educate on migration and sustainability
- And on-site recognition of donors
Please explore our site to learn more and visit this page to pledge your support to the Planting Seeds and Growing Dreams campaign. Your contribution will support generations to come.