Dear Friend,

Thank you for visiting the Washington, DC Martin Luther King, Jr. National Memorial Project Foundation's Web site. This is the year we will finally make history. Because this is the year we finish construction of the first memorial in Washington, DC dedicated to a person of color, as well as the only national memorial dedicated to Dr. King's enduring principles of justice, democracy, hope and love.

We are scheduled to open Dr. King's Memorial to the public on August 28, 2011, and all of us here at the Foundation are working tirelessly to ensure this will be an event to remember. Together, with President Obama as our keynote speaker, we will stand on the new Memorial's beautiful grounds on the National Mall, and we will celebrate this momentous achievement.

The King Memorial is envisioned as a quiet and peaceful space. Yet drawing from Dr. King's speeches and using his own rich language, the King Memorial will almost certainly change the heart of every person who visits. Against the backdrop of the Lincoln Memorial, with stunning views of the Tidal Basin and the Jefferson Memorial, the Memorial will be a public sanctuary where future generations of Americans, regardless of race, religion, gender, ethnicity or sexual orientation, can come to honor Dr. King.

Right now, we are installing the Memorial's final touches. We encourage you to watch this historic event unfold before your eyes on the "Construction Updates" section of our website, and to peruse the rest of our website at your convenience.

It's taken many years for us to reach this point, and I can't tell you how exciting it is for us to be so close to completion. Together, we've raised an incredible $114 million for this magnanimous project - and we have just $6 million more to go to reach our final goal.

I am so appreciative of everything our generous Founding Sponsors have done to help us keep construction of this once-in-a-lifetime project on schedule – and helping us to "Build the Dream."

Sincerely,

Harry E. Johnson, Sr.
President & CEO