What is "The Alphabet that Changed the World"?
The Alphabet that Changed the World is a not for profit project that was 18 months in the making. It came together through the collaboration of 26 inspiring artists from all around the globe.
Each artist was given a letter and asked to select someone they believed has had a positive impact on the world and would provide a great cultural learning experience for kids and parents alike. They had free choice to complete the artwork in a way that best represented them and their unique artistic style, whilst also showcasing a quote from their person that inspired them.
Our goal with this alphabet book is to create more awareness and understanding of each other’s cultures and encourage conversations at home with your children that will allow them to grow with a more in-depth understanding of the world and its many complexities. 100% of the profits from this project will be donated to a children's charity, which we want YOU to help us choose! More details on this below.
Please grab a copy and help get the work of these amazing artists into the hands of as many kids as possible.
"Read more, learn more, change the globe" - NAS
Jessica Chiha
Meet the Artists
Click on the artist profile images below to learn more about them and who they have chosen for their letter!
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Where are you donating the funds to?
We are looking to partner with organizations that provide kids from around the world with the tools and education to better their lives, and their communities.
We will be splitting profits for the first 3 months between three charities we feel align perfectly with this cause but we know there are hundreds of incredible local and international charities helping young people everywhere, so we need your help! Please send through charity recommendations via email (hello@thelittlehomie.com) and we will check them out and get in touch! We won't be able to work will every recommendation, but we'd sure like to try! Eventually, we will set up a voting page so on checkout customers can choose where their donation goes.
- Pencils of Promise - Who to date have completed nearly 500 school builds that provide education to almost 100,000 students. Currently, more than 250m students around the world lack basic education and they want to change that.
- The Lebron James Family Foundation - The LeBron James Family Foundation’s mission is to positively affect the lives of children and young adults through education and co-curricular educational initiatives.
- Ambisie - A movement of successful, talented and inspirational people that want to #giveonehour to share their story to support young people to find their passions and achieve their dreams.
What do we need from you?
Get behind "The Alphabet that Changed the World" project in the following ways:
- Buy a book when they are released to support children around the world. Remember 100% of the profits from these books will be going to charity.
- Read this book to your kids and use it to start conversations about culture, diversity, change, and awareness.
- Learn and change. We all make mistakes sometimes, it is important that we can acknowledge that, learn and take actions to be better.
- Share this book with your friends and family. It is a great tool for young and old. We have learned so much pulling it together and hope others can be inspired by it also.
- Follow and support the artists that have contributed to this book. Each of them donated their artwork to this project selflessly. Follow them on insta and check out their work, they really are an amazing group of people.
- Sign-up below so we can let you know as soon as the book is available to purchase.
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Why are we launching this project?
Since launching The Little Homie we have learned a lot about business and ourselves. The many lessons around running a business were expected but not in a million years did we realize how much we would learn about culture, diversity and the bubble we were living in. The release of our first book, A B to Jay-Z, was quickly followed by the realisation that we had made some significant mistakes in our past. Our book, as are all the things created by the Little Homie, was inspired by our love for the music and the culture that it grew from. What we learned is that it is possible to love the product of culture and still hold some damaging beliefs and behaviors, at the same time.
We can comfortably sit here and say, we love everyone no matter the race. But we can also say we are not perfect and we were certainly not prepared and lacked the experience for a business that overnight got a global following. The response that followed our launch was very confronting for us. Once we had a moment to catch our breath, we realized we wanted to learn more, do better, and use our brand and the captive audience we had as a way to celebrate the culture we love so much and share what we have learned.
This is our story; but it is also the story of how our experience connects to the larger changes happening around the world. The global conversation around racism is moving at lightning speed, and like a lot of people, we are doing our best to keep up - but we don’t just want to keep up, we want to create change. Just as the Little Homie is creating a new way to learn for children and their families, we want to be a part of advancing the discussion around race, culture and how music and art can change the world.
That is the reason for this book. This story develops when an amazing woman from the United States reached out to us and offered to help us learn and be better. She provided many resources for us to read and provided the inspiration behind the project. We wanted to use our platform to create an opportunity for parents and kids to learn. To try and avoid the same mistakes we made and to hopefully have an impact on the lives of as many people as possible around the globe.
We also wanted to give back. We realize how fortunate we are, and we have always done what we can to contribute to others who are not afforded the same opportunities. As well as creating awareness and understanding we wanted to create a perpetual way to provide ongoing support to children in need. To that end, we will be donating 100% of the profits from this book to charities or programs that provide education to youths.
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THE LESSONS WE HAVE LEARNED AND WOULD LOVE TO PASS ON:
Lesson 1 - Shut up and listen
This was a tough lesson, but it is a really important one. We had to relearn what it meant to listen while knowing that our feelings really weren’t the concern.
The other part of this lesson is that it’s possible to grow even though you feel guilty or defensive, just like it’s possible to really love and celebrate a culture while still holding some damaging views about that culture. In fact, most, if not all growth takes place in that in-between space.
Lesson 2 - Racism, discrimination and bias have different forms
Matters such as cultural appropriation, precarious language and making jokes at the expense of another culture can be destructive to entire communities, meaning we are all on the losing end. It’s easy to hide behind the excuse of “it was just a joke” or “it is not a racial issue”, but, the truth is, only certain people get to opt out of the conversation this way. We wanted to do better.
There is a fine line between celebration and appropriation. There is an important difference between celebrating a culture, the ways that we love hip-hop, and appropriating a culture which, in the most basic terms, means taking aspects from a culture. This is worse when the people who created the art you love have ever been insulted or hurt by the ones who love it. Many communities must let go of their culture to survive in their circumstances.
We’ve learnt a lot about this in the last year, and it has made us love and appreciate hip-hop and the messages behind the music even more. We want to move toward a model of exchange, which means giving as much as you take. We are doing what we can to give back to the world that has inspired so much for us.
Lesson 3 - What is a real apology?
The most important lesson of all. The only real apology is determined by the actions taken after, and this is why we are committed to learn, give back and share with The Little Homie community.
