Our Flagship Event
The JEPF Food & Wine Festival
Caribbean food, wine, and live music, cooked and played by the people whose culture it is. Come and eat well.
This is our biggest fundraiser. It is a genuinely good day out, and it is one of the main ways we pay for everything else. Both things are true.
What it Is
Caribbean food, wine, live music, and culture, run for the community that built it.
Where
The Washington metropolitan area. JEPF has run family events here for more than fifteen years.
Why it Exists
Ticket revenue funds education, mentoring, and the leadership training center in Jamaica.
What to Expect
Caribbean food, cooked properly, by people with a reason to get it right.
Wine, and a crowd that takes it more seriously than the word festival usually suggests.
Live music and entertainment.
Caribbean culture presented by the community it belongs to rather than performed for an audience outside it.
A family crowd. JEPF's events have always been built that way.
Where the Money Goes
Straight into the mission: books and school supplies, scholarships, youth mentoring, leadership development, and the permanent leadership training center JEPF is raising funds to build in Jamaica.
JEPF's officers serve as volunteers and take no compensation, so ticket revenue is not paying anyone's salary here.
Dates and Tickets
Upcoming festival dates are published on the events page as soon as they are confirmed. If you want to be told directly rather than checking back, leave your details below and we will email you when tickets open.
Sponsoring the Festival
Event sponsorship puts your business in front of a large local Caribbean and Washington-area audience and funds the programs at the same time. Businesses can also become JEPF supporters year-round through the supporter directory.
For festival sponsorship, call (240) 330-5127 or use the form on this page and say which event you have in mind.
Volunteering at the Festival
Events this size run on volunteers. Setup, guest services, vendor support, and breakdown are all genuinely useful jobs, and they are a good first step for anyone who wants to be involved with JEPF without committing to a program.
Tickets, Sponsorship, or Volunteering
Leave your details and tell us which one. We will email you when dates are confirmed, or follow up about sponsoring.
Common Questions
What is the JEPF Food & Wine Festival?
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A Caribbean food, wine, music, and culture festival in the Washington metropolitan area, run by the Jamaica Education for the Poor Foundation as its flagship fundraiser.
When is the next festival?
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Upcoming dates are published on the events page once confirmed. Leave your details on this page and we will email you when tickets open.
Where do proceeds from JEPF events go?
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To JEPF's programs for at-risk youth: school supplies, scholarships, mentoring, and leadership development, and to the leadership training center the foundation is raising funds to build in Jamaica.
Can my business sponsor the festival?
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Yes. Event sponsorship is arranged directly. Call (240) 330-5127 or use the form on this page.
Come, or Send Someone in Your Place
Every ticket, sponsorship, and donation gets the training center closer to being a building instead of a plan.