Sponsor a Voice. Sustain a Tradition. Strengthen a Community.
A Partnership Invitation from the Jack Dappa Blues Heritage Preservation Foundation
https://www.paypal.com/biz/profile/LamontJack
We Are Still Blues People. And Our Stories Are Worth Preserving.
The Blues People have always carried more than music.
We carry the stories of our families, the memory of the land, the experiences of labor and migration, the wisdom of our elders, the traditions of our communities, and the cultural knowledge that has sustained generations of Black American life.
These stories do not belong only in history books, museums, or recordings. They continue to breathe through our music, language, family traditions, churches, neighborhoods, gatherings, and everyday experiences.
But preserving these traditions requires more than appreciation.
It requires people willing to listen, institutions willing to invest, and communities empowered to define, document, protect, and share their cultural knowledge on their own terms.
Since 2011, the Jack Dappa Blues Heritage Preservation Foundation (JDBHPF) has worked to preserve, interpret, and present Black cultural heritage through traditional Blues, folklore, oral history, public media, publishing, education, documentary storytelling, and community-centered cultural stewardship.
Through our We Are Still Blues People campaign, we invite businesses, foundations, universities, museums, libraries, cultural organizations, and community partners to help sustain this work.
We are not simply asking you to sponsor a broadcast or publication. We are inviting you to invest in the people, knowledge, and cultural infrastructure that make preservation possible.
Become a Sponsor | Underwrite a Program | Discuss a Partnership
Who We Are
More Than a Radio Program. A Cultural Preservation Ecosystem.
The Jack Dappa Blues Heritage Preservation Foundation is a Black-led 501(c)(3) nonprofit cultural heritage organization founded in 2011 and federally recognized as tax-exempt in 2016.
Our mission is to preserve, protect, document, interpret, and celebrate Black cultural heritage while advancing community ownership, cultural education, and responsible stewardship of Black stories and traditions.
We accomplish this through an interconnected ecosystem of media, publishing, scholarship, educational programming, and community preservation initiatives.
Our platforms include:
Jack Dappa Blues Radio & TV
Public-facing broadcasts, interviews, documentaries, and educational programming exploring the Blues, Black traditional music, folklore, cultural history, and the experiences of the Blues People.
WBPR — We The Blues People Radio Network
An independent broadcasting platform providing opportunities for cultural programming, historical interpretation, community voices, and traditional music.
The African American Folklorist
Our print, digital, and multimedia publication dedicated to Black American folklore, cultural expression, scholarship, community knowledge, and the authority of Black people to tell their own stories.
Documentary and Oral History Initiatives
Community-centered interviews, field recordings, documentary productions, and cultural documentation projects that preserve the knowledge and experiences of tradition bearers.
Education, Workshops, and Professional Development
Public lectures, community workshops, courses, and training programs in Blues history, folklore, ethical documentation, cultural preservation, oral history, and community archiving.
Community Heritage Preservation
Initiatives addressing cultural memory, family archives, Black heritage sites, cemeteries, cultural landscapes, and the protection of community narratives.
Together, these programs form a cultural preservation ecosystem where research, documentation, education, media, and community participation strengthen one another.
Why Your Partnership Matters
Cultural Preservation Requires Sustainable Institutions
Black cultural heritage is often celebrated through performances, festivals, exhibitions, and commemorations. Yet the ongoing labor of documentation, education, archival care, independent publishing, and community engagement frequently remains underfunded.
A recorded interview requires preparation, trust, consent, production, preservation, and responsible access.
A magazine requires writers, editors, researchers, design, publishing, and distribution.
A workshop requires curriculum development, skilled instruction, accessibility, educational resources, and community participation.
A radio or documentary program requires research, recording, editing, equipment, hosting, and continued production.
And an organization committed to this work requires the operational infrastructure to serve its communities consistently.
Your sponsorship helps sustain the work behind the work.
It creates opportunities to strengthen independent Black cultural media, support educational access, compensate cultural workers, preserve community knowledge, and develop programs that connect generations.
Investing in JDBHPF means helping Black communities retain a meaningful voice in how their histories, cultural expressions, and traditions are documented and represented.
What Your Sponsorship Can Support
1. Independent Black Cultural Media
Keep the Stories Broadcasting
Support Jack Dappa Blues Radio & TV, WBPR — We The Blues People Radio Network, podcasts, documentary features, and educational broadcasts.
Sponsorship can help provide resources for research, production, editing, broadcasting infrastructure, technical services, and the documentation of artists, scholars, and community tradition bearers.
Partnership opportunities include:
- Radio program underwriting
- Podcast episode sponsorship
- Documentary series sponsorship
- Special broadcast underwriting
- Black History Month and Black Music Month programming
- Educational media partnerships
2. The African American Folklorist
Support Black Stories Told on Our Own Terms
The African American Folklorist provides a publishing and multimedia platform for scholars, community researchers, artists, cultural practitioners, and tradition bearers.
The publication centers Black cultural authority while encouraging dialogue between academic scholarship and community knowledge.
Sponsorship can support editorial development, contributor opportunities, printing, distribution, digital publishing, and educational access.
Partnership opportunities include:
- Print and digital issue sponsorship
- Publication underwriting
- Community scholarship support
- Emerging folklorist initiatives
- Educational distribution
- Multimedia storytelling
3. Adult Education and Lifelong Learning
Cultural Education Does Not End with Graduation
Our educational programs recognize that adults remain learners, teachers, community historians, cultural practitioners, and stewards of family and community knowledge.
JDBHPF develops workshops and educational experiences for adults interested in Blues history, folklore, cultural preservation, family documentation, oral history, archiving, and community storytelling.
Support can help expand accessible learning opportunities for adults, working professionals, community scholars, and people returning to cultural education later in life.
Partnership opportunities include:
- Adult education workshops
- Continuing education programs
- Community archiving classes
- Professional development
- Cultural history seminars
- Public folklore and oral history training
4. Elder Programs and Legacy Preservation
Our Elders Are Cultural Authorities
Our elders carry knowledge that cannot always be found in official archives.
Their memories preserve family relationships, local histories, traditional practices, music, community experiences, and the cultural knowledge passed from one generation to another.
JDBHPF recognizes elders not simply as subjects of documentation, but as teachers, storytellers, historians, cultural authorities, and active participants in preservation.
Support can help develop elder-centered programming that prioritizes accessibility, dignity, informed consent, participation, and cultural care.
Partnership opportunities include:
- Elder storytelling circles
- Oral history and legacy projects
- Family archive workshops
- Community memory gatherings
- Elder-led educational sessions
- Intergenerational cultural exchange
Our goal is not simply to collect memories. It is to support the people who carry them and respect their authority over how those memories are shared.
5. Youth and Intergenerational Learning
Connecting Generations Through Culture
Cultural preservation becomes stronger when young people, adults, and elders have opportunities to learn together.
Our educational approach connects traditional music, folklore, family history, oral storytelling, and community documentation with practical learning experiences.
Sponsorship can help support youth engagement, intergenerational workshops, mentorship, educational materials, and community programs.
These initiatives encourage participants to recognize the knowledge already present within their families and neighborhoods.
6. Community Archives and Heritage Preservation
Our Communities Deserve to Own Their Histories
Photographs, letters, recordings, church histories, family collections, traditional practices, cemeteries, and cultural landscapes hold important records of Black life.
Yet many of these materials remain vulnerable to loss, neglect, displacement, and misrepresentation.
JDBHPF promotes ethical documentation and community-centered preservation practices that emphasize ownership, consent, care, accessibility, and long-term stewardship.
Sponsorship can support training, preservation resources, field documentation, educational workshops, and collaborative heritage projects.
7. General Operations and Institutional Sustainability
Help Sustain the Foundation Behind the Programs
Public programs are the most visible part of our work. But the infrastructure that makes them possible is equally important.
General operating support helps JDBHPF sustain administrative capacity, organizational planning, communications, technology, program coordination, fundraising, financial management, and the people responsible for delivering our mission.
Flexible operational investments allow the Foundation to respond to community needs, strengthen existing programs, and build long-term organizational stability.
Strong programs require strong institutions.
We welcome partners who recognize that sustainable cultural preservation requires investment in both public programming and the organization responsible for carrying it forward.
Sponsorship and Partnership Opportunities
We offer several ways for organizations and individuals to participate.
Broadcast and Podcast Underwriting
Support a specific program, episode, series, or broadcasting initiative. Recognition opportunities depend on the platform, program format, and applicable underwriting requirements.
Publication Sponsorship
Support The African American Folklorist through issue underwriting, publication partnerships, contributor support, or educational distribution.
Education and Workshop Sponsorship
Help underwrite workshops, community learning opportunities, adult and elder education, or intergenerational cultural programs.
Documentary and Oral History Partnerships
Support documentary storytelling, community interviews, field recordings, and ethical cultural documentation.
Annual Institutional Partnerships
Establish a broader relationship with JDBHPF through annual or multi-year support across selected program areas.
General Operating Support
Make a flexible charitable contribution toward the ongoing operations and institutional capacity of the Foundation.
Workshop and Consulting Contracts
Museums, universities, libraries, schools, festivals, and cultural organizations may also contract JDBHPF to provide workshops, lectures, performances, research, documentary services, or cultural heritage consulting.
These professional service agreements are separate from charitable sponsorships and donations.
WBPR Station Underwriting
Support the broader work of WBPR — We The Blues People Radio Network.
Opportunities begin at $50/month and include website recognition, underwriting acknowledgments, newsletter mentions, sponsor spotlights, and presenting sponsorship opportunities.
Sponsorship Opportunities for Every Level of Support
We believe meaningful partnerships can begin at different levels.
Small businesses, community organizations, individual supporters, major institutions, and philanthropic foundations all have opportunities to participate.
Our existing broadcast and podcast underwriting opportunities provide accessible entry points for sponsors interested in supporting specific programs.
For organizations seeking broader partnerships, we also develop customized sponsorship agreements that align institutional priorities with defined cultural preservation and educational activities.
Depending on the program and agreement, sponsor recognition may include website acknowledgment, publication recognition, eligible broadcast underwriting messages, event acknowledgment, and program impact reporting.
All partnerships are subject to available opportunities, organizational approval, and our commitment to editorial independence and community-centered cultural stewardship.
We welcome both single-program sponsorships and sustained annual partnerships.
Why Partner With JDBHPF?
Experience. Cultural Knowledge. Community Commitment.
JDBHPF brings together traditional Blues performance, applied folklore, ethnomusicology, oral history, public scholarship, publishing, broadcasting, documentary production, and cultural preservation.
Our work is informed by years of engagement with artists, scholars, families, tradition bearers, and communities whose histories and cultural expressions deserve thoughtful representation.
Through public media, educational programming, scholarly presentations, publications, and documentary storytelling, we have developed an approach that connects cultural knowledge with meaningful public participation.
We understand that cultural preservation is not simply about collecting material.
It is about relationships, responsibility, ownership, accessibility, and sustained care.
Partners support an organization committed to these principles while helping expand the reach and accessibility of Black cultural education.
Our Commitment to Responsible Partnerships
The Jack Dappa Blues Heritage Preservation Foundation welcomes partnerships that respect the dignity, agency, and cultural authority of the communities we serve.
We believe sponsorship should strengthen—not compromise—our mission.
Our partnerships are guided by principles of:
- Community-centered cultural stewardship
- Ethical documentation and informed consent
- Respect for artists, elders, and tradition bearers
- Editorial and scholarly independence
- Accessibility and intergenerational participation
- Responsible use of cultural materials
- Transparent communication and accountability
Sponsorship does not provide ownership of community stories, unrestricted access to archival materials, or editorial authority over our programming.
We seek partnerships grounded in mutual respect and a shared commitment to preserving Black cultural heritage.
Become a Partner in Preserving the Blues People
Let’s Build Something That Lasts.
Whether you represent a local business, a university, a museum, a library, a foundation, a corporation, or a community organization, there is a place for you in this work.
You can sponsor a broadcast.
You can underwrite a publication.
You can help bring a workshop to a community.
You can support an elder’s opportunity to share their knowledge.
You can invest in the infrastructure that keeps our programs operating.
And you can help ensure that the Blues People have institutions committed to preserving their stories for generations to come.
We invite you to join us.
Start a Sponsorship Conversation
Tell us about your organization, your interests, and the kind of partnership you would like to explore.
Our team can discuss available sponsorship opportunities, program priorities, underwriting arrangements, and customized partnership proposals.
Contact:
Jack Dappa Blues Heritage Preservation Foundation
Email: lamontjackpearley@jackdappabluesradio.tv
Phone: 646-463-4074
Website: jackdappabluesradio.tv
Additional information: lamontjackpearley.com
We Are Still Blues People.
Our music carries memory.
Our stories carry knowledge.
Our elders carry history.
Our communities carry traditions.
And together, we carry the responsibility of preserving them.
Preserving the Blues People. One Voice at a Time.
Jack Dappa Blues Heritage Preservation Foundation