Help Build Juneteenth 2027
Your Talent Belongs Here.
Bring your ideas, experience, relationships, creativity, or willingness to work. Help us preserve history, celebrate freedom, and strengthen our community.
Our Growing Team
2027 Annual Planning Committee
As community members commit, their names can be added below. Every “Open” space is an invitation to bring your strengths to the work.
Festival Leadership
Annual Planning Committee Chair
Chair: [Name]
OpenAnnual Planning Committee Vice Chair
Vice Chair: [Name]
OpenOperations & Logistics
Logistics & Coordination
Lead: [Name]
Members: [Names]
OpenSafety & Security
Lead: [Name]
Members: [Names]
OpenSite Layout & Signage
Lead: [Name]
Members: [Names]
OpenProgramming & Entertainment
History & Education
Lead: [Name]
Members: [Names]
OpenHealth & Wellness
Lead: [Name]
Members: [Names]
OpenAudio, Stage & Music
Lead: [Name]
Members: [Names]
OpenYouth & Children
Lead: [Name]
Members: [Names]
OpenContests
Lead: [Name]
Members: [Names]
OpenCommunity Outreach & Engagement
Media: Social, Print & Website
Lead: [Name]
Members: [Names]
OpenSponsor Engagement
Lead: [Name]
Members: [Names]
OpenVolunteer Coordination
Lead: [Name]
Members: [Names]
OpenVendor Coordination
Lead: [Name]
Members: [Names]
OpenBudgeting, Fundraising & Compliance
Budget & Accounting
Lead: [Name]
Members: [Names]
OpenFundraising & Grants
Lead: [Name]
Members: [Names]
OpenProcess Improvement & Compliance
Lead: [Name]
Members: [Names]
OpenHelp Turn Vision Into Celebration
What Planning Committee Members Do
Members work throughout the year to create an event that is historically meaningful, welcoming, safe, accessible, and joyful.
Plan With Purpose
Develop programs, activities, budgets, educational experiences, schedules, and milestones that keep the celebration rooted in Juneteenth’s meaning.
Build Community
Coordinate vendors, volunteers, performers, sponsors, schools, nonprofits, businesses, public agencies, and community partners.
Deliver the Experience
Support stages, equipment, signage, parking, accessibility, health, safety, youth activities, contests, media, and guest services.
Improve What Comes Next
Gather feedback, document results, complete financial and grant reporting, and help strengthen future celebrations.
Find Your Place
Explore the Committees
Open a committee below to see where your interests and experience can make the greatest impact.
Logistics & Coordination
Great for: project managers, planners, energetic problem-solvers, and people who enjoy making complex events work.
- Coordinate permits, venues, tents, stages, equipment, restrooms, parking, accessibility, setup, and cleanup.
- Manage deliveries, inventories, transportation, wayfinding, and sustainability needs.
Safety & Security
Great for: people with safety, security, emergency-management, sanitation, or public-service experience.
- Coordinate with police, fire, emergency medical, and security partners.
- Support emergency, weather, evacuation, and missing-child procedures.
Site Layout & Signage
Great for: spatial planners, mapmakers, designers, and clear communicators.
- Develop the site map and assign space for vendors, stages, services, sponsors, and activities.
- Plan and install parking, restroom, accessibility, health, and directional signs.
History & Education
Great for: historians, educators, researchers, storytellers, archivists, and exhibit designers.
- Create accurate, engaging exhibits, panels, displays, and learning experiences.
- Connect Juneteenth’s national significance with Fauquier County’s local history.
Health & Wellness
Great for: healthcare professionals, wellness advocates, educators, and community-resource partners.
- Recruit providers and coordinate screenings, demonstrations, resources, and first aid.
- Promote mental, physical, and emotional well-being as essential parts of freedom.
Audio, Stage & Music
Great for: music lovers, producers, stage managers, audio professionals, and performer liaisons.
- Secure performers and coordinate contracts, schedules, technical requirements, and hospitality.
- Manage arrivals, sound checks, stage transitions, and the day-of entertainment flow.
Youth & Children’s Activities
Great for: educators, parents, coaches, artists, youth leaders, and the young at heart.
- Plan safe, inclusive, age-appropriate games, art, storytelling, movement, and educational activities.
- Coordinate providers, volunteers, accessibility, screening, and safety procedures.
Contests
Great for: creative organizers, judges, hosts, educators, and community-engagement leaders.
- Develop culturally meaningful contests, rules, judging criteria, prizes, and promotions.
- Coordinate contestants, judges, scholarships, Community Heroes, and award presentations.
Media: Social, Print & Website
Great for: writers, designers, marketers, photographers, videographers, and digital storytellers.
- Create coordinated social, print, web, radio, and community-awareness campaigns.
- Capture and share the people, stories, and moments that define Fauquier Juneteenth.
Sponsor Engagement
Great for: relationship-builders, fundraisers, business leaders, and community ambassadors.
- Develop sponsorship packages, recruit partners, and renew past commitments.
- Coordinate recognition, onsite hospitality, appreciation, and follow-up.
Volunteer Coordination
Great for: people who enjoy communication, scheduling, training, and supporting teams.
- Collect volunteer needs and create shifts, assignments, orientation, and check-in procedures.
- Match volunteers with meaningful roles and support them throughout the event.
Vendor Coordination
Great for: customer-service leaders, small-business supporters, organizers, and compliance-minded communicators.
- Manage registration, selection, communications, payments, and required documentation.
- Coordinate locations, check-in, inspections, onsite questions, and departure.
Budget & Accounting
Great for: accountants, financial managers, recordkeepers, and people committed to public trust.
- Track income, expenses, budgets, payments, deposits, and reimbursements.
- Maintain accurate records and prepare post-event financial reports.
Fundraising & Grants
Great for: researchers, writers, fundraisers, program evaluators, and partnership-builders.
- Identify opportunities and prepare proposals, budgets, and supporting documents.
- Track awards, compliance, expenditures, outcomes, and required reports.
Process Improvement & Compliance
Great for: policy, governance, risk, quality, operations, and organizational-development professionals.
- Strengthen procedures, transparency, accountability, and compliance.
- Identify risks, opportunities, lessons learned, and improvements for future years.
How We Work Together
What We Ask of Committee Members
You do not need to be an expert in Juneteenth or event planning. You do need to be ready to learn, communicate, collaborate, and follow through.
Planning Schedule
Monthly: September–January | Biweekly: February–April | Weekly: May–June
Additional subcommittee meetings are scheduled as needed. Availability during the Juneteenth celebration is strongly encouraged and may be essential for operational roles.
Board Leadership & Community Roots
Meet the Board of Directors
This is a working Board—not a symbolic one. Members provide strategic direction, protect the mission, oversee accountability, build partnerships, and support sustainable growth.
Executor of the Board
Barrie Newman
Barrie brings extensive nonprofit governance, community development, and historical leadership. His service with Fauquier Habitat for Humanity and the Afro-American Historical Association strengthens the organization’s partnerships, credibility, and cultural foundation. In 2020, he helped return a Juneteenth celebration to Fauquier County after a long hiatus.
Board Member
Leonard A. Settles
Leonard brings more than two decades of military service, national-security experience, federal law-enforcement leadership, and operational management. A Warrenton native and active veterans’ organization leader, he contributes a disciplined approach to safety, risk oversight, accountability, and community engagement.
Board Member
Karen Hughes White
Karen is a distinguished historian and archivist dedicated to preserving African American heritage in Fauquier County. As co-founder and director of the Afro-American Historical Association of Fauquier County, she helps ensure Fauquier Juneteenth remains historically accurate, educationally meaningful, and deeply connected to local history.
Board Member
Miriam Wallace
Miriam brings systems-level leadership, technical expertise, strategic planning, and process improvement. With degrees in Aerospace Engineering and Systems Engineering, she connects organizational vision with the people, processes, technology, fundraising, and data-informed decisions required for sustainable growth.
Help Guide What Comes Next
Board Member Openings
We seek prospective Board members prepared to provide active leadership and meaningful service—not simply lend their names to the organization.
Governance & Accountability
Protect the mission; review major budgets, contracts, policies, and organizational decisions; and provide fiscal, legal, ethical, and compliance oversight.
Strategy & Sustainability
Establish long-term goals, strengthen fundraising and resource development, and help position the organization for responsible growth.
Community Leadership
Build relationships with community institutions, sponsors, public agencies, supporters, and partners while serving as an ambassador for the mission.
Active Service
Attend meetings, review materials, participate in informed decisions, maintain confidentiality, disclose conflicts, and contribute to the work.
Another Way to Help
Not Ready for a Year-Round Role?
Day-of volunteers support setup, vendor check-in, wellness services, safety, youth activities, contests, stage management, sanitation, community meals, and guest assistance.
Your Talent Belongs Here
Help Us Carry Freedom Forward.
You do not have to know everything to make a difference. Bring what you know, bring what you love, and bring your willingness to serve.
