‘Juneteenth’s Home’ Announces Community Engagement Phase, Master-Planning Team

GALVESTON, TX (August 31, 2026) – The Juneteenth’s Home initiative today announced the launch of the next major phase of its development: a comprehensive master‑planning process that will engage Galveston residents, descendants, and community partners in shaping a national home for Juneteenth history and culture.

The initiative, established to ensure that Galveston – the birthplace of Juneteenth – becomes the national center for Juneteenth storytelling, education, and cultural preservation, is transitioning from committee‑led groundwork to a broad community‑engagement phase. This stage will invite public input through structured listening sessions and engagement opportunities designed to ensure that the emerging vision reflects the people and history it represents.

Following a formal RFQ/RFP process reviewed and ranked by a five‑member community committee, Juneteenth’s Home selected SmithGroup, in collaboration with Sources Cultural Resources Management and The Projects Group, to lead the master-planning process. Together, they form one of the nation’s most experienced cultural‑planning teams, bringing deep specialization in African American history, sites of trauma and resilience, and community‑driven cultural development.

• SmithGroup is one of the nation’s leading cultural‑planning and museum design firms, with a portfolio that includes the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture, the Whitney Plantation, and the National Slavery Museum at Lumpkin’s Slave Jail.

  
  

• Sources CRM is led by cultural historian Dr. Calinda Lee, an award‑winning historian and curator who is an expert in Juneteenth, emancipation history, and global Black freedom movements. Sources’ clients include the Smithsonian Institution, National Trust for Historic Preservation, and U.S. Department of State, among others. Lee, former Head of Interpretation for the National Center for Civil & Human Rights, will guide the project’s historical research, interpretive framework, and descendant engagement.

  
  

• The Projects Group (TPG) will provide governance, operational, and implementation strategy to support long‑term institutional sustainability.

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  Dayton Schroeter of SmithGroup

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  Dr. Calinda Lee of Sources CRM

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  Dr. Deborah Mack

About the Master-Planning Process

The master‑planning process will span approximately one year in seven phases and will include the development of a planning charter, ongoing community and descendant engagement integrated throughout all phases, interpretive and visitor‑experience frameworks, site evaluation and physical planning analysis, governance modeling, and an implementation roadmap. The process will culminate in two major deliverables: a Future State & Recommendations Report and a Final Master Plan, which will outline a clear, community‑aligned path forward for Juneteenth’s Home.

Juneteenth’s Home is facilitated by Galveston Historical Foundation’s African American Heritage Committee (AAHC) in collaboration with city leaders and state officials. The five-member community committee that reviewed applications to find a master-planning partner included: Alice Gatson and Tommie Boudreaux of GHF’s African American Heritage Committee, Galveston City Councilwoman Sharon Lewis, Galveston ISD Board Trustee David O’Neal, and Former Galveston County Commissioner Stephen Holmes.

“We are committed to ensuring that Juneteenth’s Home is a community‑anchored initiative, and we have selected a master‑planning firm whose experience and approach reflect that value,” said Stephen Holmes, spokesman for Juneteenth’s Home. “The master-planning phase will give descendants, residents, and cultural leaders a direct role in shaping a national center that honors the legacy of emancipation and those who safeguarded its meaning across generations.”

The RFQ/RFP process to find a master-planning firm was funded through the generous support of local philanthropic organizations, including the Moody Foundation, Eliza and Harris Kempner Fund, Ippolito Charitable Foundation, Cynthia and George Mitchell Foundation, and the Permanent Endowment Fund of Moody Methodist Church. Funding for the master-planning phase has been awarded through a grant from the Texas Historical Commission.

“We are honored to support this effort in the birthplace of Juneteenth,” SmithGroup Vice President and Design Director Dayton Schroeter said. “Our role is to listen first. We do not arrive with preconceived concepts; we work alongside communities to understand their history, their priorities, and their aspirations. The vision for Juneteenth’s Home will emerge from Galveston’s residents and descendants, and we are committed to ensuring the plan reflects their leadership and lived experience.”

Next Steps for Juneteenth’s Home

• Community engagement sessions led by SmithGroup and Sources CRM will begin in Galveston in mid-fall. 

  
  

• Juneteenth’s Home is currently expanding its planning committee to include local and regional partners. The vision for the committee is to bring together descendant families, elders, church leaders, neighborhood voices, cultural practitioners, scholars, young leaders, and other committed community members to ensure the project reflects deep history, shared priorities, and inclusive insight. Additional details will be announced soon.

  
  

• Juneteenth’s Home is committed to community input and collaboration, and will announce public engagement opportunities throughout the process via press releases, social media, newsletters, and on the news section of www.juneteenthshome.com.

Additional Background:

Galveston is state recognized as the “Official Juneteenth Capital of Texas” as the birthplace of the historical event and celebration of emancipation.  In June 2025, the Galveston City Council passed a resolution in support of creating a national Juneteenth center in the city, and by October 2025 the Juneteenth’s Home initiative was formed to conduct a formal RFQ/RFP in search of a master-planning partner thanks to the support of local philanthropic organizations. A formal RFQ was issued through national museum and cultural‑heritage networks in November 2025. After receiving 15 proposals in January, the committee evaluated all entries and issued a formal RFP in February. Of the five firms included in the RFP, the committee selected two finalists for in-person interviews in April. After presentations and discussion, the committee selected SmithGroup and its team to lead the master-planning effort. Grant funding for the master-planning phase was awarded in June through a grant from the Texas Historical Commission.

Quotes from Community Leaders:

State Rep. Terri Leo Wilson:

“Galveston is the birthplace of Juneteenth, making it the most fitting place for a museum dedicated to preserving the history and meaning of this celebration of freedom,” Leo Wilson said. “I am proud to have led efforts to designate Galveston as the Juneteenth Capital of Texas, author legislation allowing the sale and use of fireworks during the Juneteenth holiday, and work to secure the $7 million appropriated in the Texas budget for a Galveston Juneteenth Museum, alongside federal efforts to make this vision possible. We have a responsibility to preserve this history and ensure future generations understand the significance of freedom and the events that made Juneteenth a national celebration.”

Former Galveston Mayor Dr. Craig Brown:

“Galveston Historical Foundation‘s African American Heritage Committee has spent nearly 25 years doing serious, research‑driven work to preserve and share Black history on the island,” said Brown, who served as mayor of Galveston when City Council passed a resolution in June 2025 supporting the creation of a national Juneteenth center in the city. “GHF has a long, proven record of administering state grants with the professionalism these efforts require. I appreciate GHF for bringing their expertise to a history of such profound importance.”

About Juneteenth’s Home

Juneteenth’s Home is a national initiative that honors Galveston as the birthplace of Juneteenth and seeks to build a home for its history, stories, and future. The effort is facilitated by Galveston Historical Foundation’s African American Heritage Committee (AAHC) in collaboration with city leaders and state officials. Juneteenth’s Home is guided by a community‑driven master‑planning process led by SmithGroup — in collaboration with Sources CRM and The Projects Group — one of the nation’s leading cultural‑planning and museum‑design teams. Together with local residents, descendants, cultural organizations, historians, and partners, the team is shaping a vision for how Juneteenth’s history, stories, and future should be honored. The initiative explores a range of possibilities, from programs and public spaces to the potential development of a landmark institution or cultural anchor. For more information, visit www.juneteenthshome.com.

About Galveston Historical Foundation’s African American Heritage Committee

For more than two decades, Galveston Historical Foundation's African American Heritage Committee (AAHC) has been a driving force in preserving, documenting, and elevating Galveston’s African American history, especially the story of Juneteenth. Founded in 2002 at Ashton Villa, the AAHC has protected historic sites like Rosewood Cemetery; developed Galveston’s Juneteenth exhibit And Still We Rise…; and secured multiple Texas Historical Commission markers honoring Juneteenth, the Middle Passage, and local pioneers. Publications by the AAHC and its members – Galveston’s African American Historic Places & Pioneers (2005), African Americans of Galveston (2013), Lost Restaurants of Galveston’s African American Community (2021), and Galveston’s Juneteenth Story (2024) – form a growing archive of the island’s Black history and cultural memory. As facilitator of the Juneteenth’s Home initiative, the AAHC brings this long-standing record of stewardship, research, and community leadership to the ongoing work of honoring Galveston’s Juneteenth story.