Monday, July 27, 11:00 a.m. – 12:00 noon

Official Unveiling and Naming of the Rockford Community Mural at SecondFirst Church

Join us (virtually) for the official unveiling and naming of the Rockford Community Mural at SecondFirst Church. Speakers to include the artist Tia Richardson, Mayor Tom McNamara, Rev. Rebecca White Newgren and the anonymous donor who matched the Kickstarter donations will be revealed. (Only a handful of people who participated will be invited in person. We will be practicing physical distancing and wearing masks.)
Everyone in the community is invited to watch this event on Facebook Live at 11:00 am, and all are welcome to do a drive-by at noon. Speaking will begin at 11:15 am. Thank you for your continued support of this project. It is exciting to see the final phase of this mural come to life!

Story Behind the Mural

In August 2019, SecondFirst Church along with Jeremiah Development and artist Tia Richardson, successfully raised $30,000 for a Rockford community mural. A Kickstarter fundraiser raised support from 121 donations and a generous soon-to-not-be anonymous donor who matched the contributions.

During October, November and December people from all over Rockford participated in the design and painting of the mural through workshops and public paint days. On one day, 90 students from Haskell Elementary’s STEAM Academy came to paint! The panels were brought to other places around Rockford like The Jubilee Center, Christ the Rock preschool, and Northwest Community Center.

Rockford filmmaker Toni McLaughlin created a short video with highlights of the project from the perspective of a local high schooler who worked on the mural.