About

You won't devalue someone's else's life if you find value within yours.

This Dear Summer event is a celebration to help cleanse the spiritual energy in Newburgh, New York, through our arts, through our culture.

There's a large percentage of Newburgh that is living below the poverty line.

In order to break cyclical and generational poverty, folks have to have better job opportunities. Folks have to work. Folks need to make a paycheck.

There's a high crime rate in Newburgh. We won't devalue another person's life when we find value in our own. Quite often finding value in jobs, finding value in community, is a perfect way to displace the violence within the community.

You won't devalue someone's else's life if you find value within yours. This Dear Summer event is a celebration to help cleanse the spiritual energy in Newburgh, New York, through our arts, through our culture. We want to have a spiritual cleanse in this city. 


That way, we can start to grow. We want to see folks working, and we want to see folks who are working, have an opportunity to celebrate, to relax, and to enjoy each other's company.

Young folks deserve opportunities in the entertainment, arts, culture, hospitality industry. This is an opportunity for them to work. 
Local businesses deserve an opportunity to be amplified and supported, and in this opportunity for them as well.

Dear Summer is brought to you by:

• Melanin Unchained, a non-profit organization dedicated to philanthropic community service, literacy development, and recreational opportunities.

• Dear Summer, Inc., a for-profit business focused on educating through entertainment.

Together, our mission is centered on improving the quality of life of our neighbors. “I remember days we was sittin’ on that corner; we was tryin’ to find a way.” Dear Summer is more than a festival—it’s a day party, an urban renaissance.

Presented to you on Labor Day weekend, Dear Summer calls to the spirit of resilience: Give us your tired, your working poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, so we can rise together.

Created as a contribution to the spiritual cleansing of Newburgh, New York, we believe positive energy activates constant elevation, with peace as our compass, and love as our guide, freedom is the goal. Every year, a percentage of Dear Summer’s proceeds will go directly to a City of Newburgh organization dedicated to community services and development.