diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index d948a996bc075..84bae78cc7fbe 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -22,3 +22,24 @@ Initial implementations include:
  - [Arrow Structures and APIs in Java](https://github.com/apache/arrow/tree/master/java)
 
 Arrow is an [Apache Software Foundation](www.apache.org) project. More info can be found at [arrow.apache.org](http://arrow.apache.org).
+
+#### Getting involved
+
+Right now the primary audience for Apache Arrow are the designers and
+developers of data systems; most people will use Apache Arrow indirectly
+through systems that use it for internal data handling and interoperating with
+other Arrow-enabled systems.
+
+Even if you do not plan to contribute to Apache Arrow itself or Arrow
+integrations in other projects, we'd be happy to have you involved:
+
+- Join the mailing list: send an email to
+  [dev-subscribe@arrow.apache.org][1]. Share your ideas and use cases for the
+  project.
+- [Follow our activity on JIRA][3]
+- [Learn the format][2]
+- Contribute code to one of the reference implementations
+
+[1]: mailto:dev-subscribe@arrow.apache.org
+[2]: https://github.com/apache/arrow/tree/master/format
+[3]: https://issues.apache.org/jira/browse/ARROW
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