Our Story

The Lit City Foundation began with a friendship that started in a high school trigonometry class. What began as a simple connection between Paulette and Doly grew into two decades of creativity, shared dreams, and community centered projects. After working together on multiple ventures, they launched Lit City, the project that felt most aligned with their purpose.

As their work expanded, Tyler joined as the third co founder. His background in law, mentorship, and community organizing helped strengthen the foundation’s vision and reach. Together, Paulette, Doly, and Tyler built the Lit City Foundation to serve as a literary home for readers, artists, and neighbors.

Our focus centers Black literature, the African Diaspora, and creative spaces that hold joy, rest, imagination, and community care. Lit City continues to grow through each conversation, open mic, retreat, and book club gathering. Every person who steps into our space becomes part of the story.

Vision

Our vision is to create spaces where creativity inspires action, stories build bridges, and community grows stronger. Through our mission of providing a platform to empower and inspire creatives we aim to effectuate our core values of community connection, cultural celebration, lifelong learning, and artistic empowerment.

Since launching in 2025 Lit City: 

  • Has engaged over 500+ community members through our events literacy workshops.

  • Hosted over a dozen events and collaborated with other community groups, such as Good Vibes in the Park, Strauss Haus and The Blerd Spot to amplify local impact.

  • Increased our social media engagement to thousands of interactions.

  • Provided a platform to dozens of authors, musicians and other creatives.

In the next three years, we plan to continue to enhance our existing programming through larger-scale events, such as annual festivals and mentorship programs. Lit City Foundation aspires to open a dedicated creative space and become a recognized leader in programming for global Black Culture. Funding to support program delivery, staff, and operations will come from grants, donations, sponsorships, event revenue, and memberships.

Mission

  • Amplify creativity. Build community. Catalyze change. 

Core Values

  • Community Connection: Celebrating collaboration by strengthening connections across our local and global networks.

  • Cultural Celebration: Honoring traditions, histories, and innovations of the African diaspora through the arts.

  • Lifelong Learning: Supporting and encouraging curiosity, growth, and creative exploration.