Finding Fellowship w/ Jason Green

Nakita Reed (00:01.506)
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Nakita Reed (00:48.96)
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Nakita Reed (02:29.198)
Fast forward now to me, you know, serving in an Obama White House, it just became abundantly clear that I was supposed to go and sit with my grandmother and hold her hand the same way that I watched her hold all those other people's hands. And so I took leave from the White House and went to her hospital room to hear the stories, not knowing what that might unfold into. But one of the stories that she shared with me in particular really, really animated me and moved me and

Ultimately, I realized that that's where I was supposed to be.

Nakita Reed (03:05.432)
Welcome to Tangible Remnants. I'm Nakita Reed, and this is my show where I explore the interconnectedness of architecture, preservation, sustainability, race, and gender. I'm excited that you're here, so let's get into it.

Welcome back. In this week's episode, I invited my friend Jason Green to share his journey from working at the White House to creating the documentary, Finding Fellowship. His documentary explores the history of the Pleasant View Historic Site, which is a three acre piece of land that his great, great grandfather helped purchase in 1868. The site includes a schoolhouse, a church, and a social hall that were all central to the Black community of Quince Orchard.

Jason emphasizes the importance of preserving and restoring these buildings as a way to connect with history, build community, and pass a legacy on to future generations. There were some fun takeaways from this one, including how taking time to connect with our ancestors and learn their stories can really have a profound impact on our own lives, as well as how giving back to your community can lead to unexpected outcomes and how starting a project before you're ready, or even before you have a camera in his case,

can really lead to meaningful outcomes. Before we jump into the episode, let me share Jason's bio with you to give you a little bit more context on him. Jason Green is a Maryland-based business executive, board advisor, and early stage investor in future of work, economic opportunity, and mobility companies. In 2013, he co-founded SkillSmart, an award-winning enterprise that empowers communities by providing a skills-based ecosystem to match employers, job seekers, and education providers.

and has ensured that local communities and diverse resources equitably participated in more than $100 billion in economic development. He also serves as the executive in residence for Zeal Capital Partners, a DC-based inclusive investing venture firm focused on eliminating the health, skills, and wealth gap. Before founding Skill Smart, Jason worked in local and federal government. He served as the associate counsel to President Barack Obama.

Nakita Reed (05:14.454)
and advised the president and senior staff on legal, economic, and domestic policy matters. His work at the White House was largely in response to the Great Recession and included strategies to retrain the American workforce, enhance place-based economic stimuli, and track the economic impact of economic development initiatives. Further, exposure to local and national unemployment, policy responses, and their economic effects inspired the SkillSpark platform. As the son of a preacher and public school teacher,

Jason learned the importance of community at an early age. He serves on a number of corporate and nonprofit boards and commissions, including chairing the Montgomery County Remembrance and Reconciliation Commission. Recently, Jason also directed and co-produced Finding Fellowship, an award-winning PBS documentary that explores the hopeful story of an unlikely merger of three racially segregated churches in the divided 1960s in the DC region.

He is a TEDx speaker, a frequent contributor who has been featured on Bloomberg News, MSNBC, and NPR, discussing workforce trends, politics, and the economy. He's a graduate of Washington University in St. Louis and earned a law degree from Yale Law School. I am so excited that he took some time to join me on the show. He is a fantastic storyteller, and I'm excited for you to hear more about the journey that he went on. And as great of a storyteller as he is,

It's always fun to see images of the places being discussed. So be sure to check out our Instagram page at Tangible Remnants so you can follow along with the conversation. This is another fun one. It may have you wanting to hug your loved ones and or pass down some more of your own personal family history to your child, niece or nephew. So without further ado, please enjoy this conversation between me and Jason Green.

All right. Well, Jason, so I'm glad that you are on the show because you have a very fascinating journey into the project that you're working on right now. But why don't we start with your time at the White House and take us back to what prompted you on this journey? Sure. Thank you for having me and congratulations on your success with the show. I beautiful. Really is beautiful. And I love the name, Tangible Remnants. And that in so many ways encapsulates different points on my journey.

Nakita Reed (07:37.166)
that I know we'll get into a little bit. You mentioned the White House. Sometimes I joke that if I write a memoir, it might be called Peak Too Soon, because I got to start working at the White House when I was 27 years old, which was a tremendous experience. And I got to serve under President Obama. I was there from 2009 till 2013 as associate White House counsel and had a wonderful

sort of assortment of different things that I covered in the legal arena. But to your question as to how I got from working in the White House to spending time with my grandmother and really initiating the project that became Finding Fellowship, well, that's pure serendipity. I was a lawyer, I was not a filmmaker. But in many respects, I had been a bad grandson. If I'm gonna be real with you, Nikita, I had been very busy.

I had been busy chasing these things. I had been busy chasing the law school. I had been busy chasing the Obama campaign. I'd been busy chasing the white house. And in that busyness, I had not made time to sort of sit with the ancestors, sit with the tangible remnants, if you will. And I juxtaposed that against my sister who had done just that. When we were in high school, my sister literally

would go and sit and have breakfast with my grandmother every morning. And by the time when I came along, there was a thousand other things that I'd rather be doing than sitting and having breakfast with my grandmother, right? I was too busy in many respects. Well, I got a wake up call when I worked at the White House. In 2013, I got a call from my mother that my then 95 year old grandmother had gone into the hospital. I mean, that's a wake up call in and of itself.

But what was so ironic, Nikita, is that when I was five years old, because both my parents worked, and my grandmother and my grandfather lived at the top of our street, after school, I got dropped off at their house. And so I made it to grandma's house right in time to watch her, watching her shows, the price is right, you know? Of course. And we'd finish up, price is right, then we'd in the car.

Nakita Reed (09:59.892)
And I'd go volunteer with her, you know? And it just so happened that my grandmother volunteered at the local hospital. And so I would watch her go into these rooms with people that were late in life, and sometimes their own families had stopped visiting. They were rooms I didn't want to go into. They were rooms that smelled funny. They were rooms that were dark, where I knew my cheeks were going to get pinched.

But I went in there because I knew my grandmother was there and she was there holding a hand or reading a daily devotional, making someone's life better just by being present. As you alluded, she was what I would call giving these gifts of dignity. And it showed me that you can make somebody's life better just by being present. And so in many respects, I chose a life pursuant of service because of the example that I saw her present in the hospital room.

And if you fast forward now to me, you know, serving in an Obama White House, it just became abundantly clear that I was supposed to go and sit with my grandmother and hold her hand the same way that I watched her hold all those other people's hands. And so I took leave from the White House and went to her hospital room to hear the stories, not knowing what that might unfold into.

But one of the stories that she shared with me in particular really animated me and moved me. And ultimately I realized that that's where I was supposed to be, was sitting beside her, hearing our stories and learning my story. Wow. And I love that. it's also like hitting very close to home. like, I need to call my grandma. But it's like the idea of being busy and needing to really take that moment and make that time.

and being mindful that we're not just being busy for sake of being busy, but that they're actually focusing on the important things. And so I'm, I'm curious then. then how, how was it when you made that decision? Okay, yes, this is where I need to be. And then being like, okay, well then maybe the white house is not where I'm going to stay and kind of what was that journey like? Yeah. Well, I think I just have to pay homage to forcing events. I like I was really blessed.

Nakita Reed (12:18.062)
who have a forcing event. I thought that my grandmother was going to pass away. I thought that these were the last moments on her deathbed. She had faked all of us. All the doctors said she would not leave that hospital room. She was 95 years old then. My grandmother lives at home today at 105. So she knew something that we didn't know. yeah. No, grandma came out of the hospital That's amazing. She's still giving gifts of dignity, for sure.

So it truly was a force in the end, I didn't know how it was going to go. If I knew that my grandmother was going to live in at least another 10 years, I don't think I leave the White House. I don't think I, right? I still am on this path to be busy for busy's sake because that was what I was really accustomed to and that really was the measure of success. So I really appreciate that I, unlike other people, literally had a wake up call.

You know, much, much more often the situation and scenario is that that loved one passes away without the opportunity. I was, I was fortunate to get a call where I could literally go and spend time. And so that's my public service announcement. Let me take a moment for all of you listening. You don't have to make a documentary. don't have to write a book, but don't wait for the time, make the time to interview the ones that you love. It is a significant gift that you get to give them.

But perhaps even more importantly, it's a significant gift that you get to give yourself. I'm a better member of my family. I'm a better member of my community. I'm a better me because I got to sit with someone and hear their story and walk in someone else's shoes and build empathy. And, you know, it just also happened to teach me who I am. So I just hope.

Too often, Nikita, I hear from folks that, I was supposed to talk to my uncle or a parent or a grandparent. They had all the stories and I missed my chance. And so with your iPhone, with pen and paper, with whatever technology and resources you have, when you get a moment, I encourage your listeners to make sure they do that.

Nakita Reed (14:37.732)
I love that. I love that. All right. So let's dig into then what story you started to tell as you started hearing more and learning more. Tell the listeners more about Finding Fellowship and what started and kind of how that project came to be. Sure. So I am now slightly more comfortable saying I'm a documentarian. I am a film director. I directed the film Finding Fellowship. I encourage everyone. Please watch it.

Finding fellowship is itself a double entendre. We'll put links to the show notes. Don't worry. There it is. Check it out. Look in the notes, y'all. The finding fellowship is both in, it's encouraging the active seeking out of fellowship, right? That we need to be in this active pursuit of finding fellowship amongst each other. It's really trying to answer the question, where do we go from here? So that's one definition of the title. But the other title is about our history.

So fellowship is the name of the street that I grew up on, the name of the street that my family named. And so I walked up and down the street seeing the street name, right? The street sign. And I wanted to know the history. I wanted to know why it was called fellowship. And so it's also about the importance of exploring actively our history and what that can uncover, how that...

can breed a deeper sense of connection and rootedness and belonging and give us a sense of our identity. All these things that we feel like we're lacking right now, this idea of isolation and people have apathy and lack of agency. Well, being more connected to where we are and better understanding who we are is a great way to push against it. So that's kind of the title of Finding Fellowship. To your other question of what's the story my grandmother told, well,

One day when I was going in to sit with her, I was going in on these regular sessions and sit with grandma and walking in, I had just heard on the radio, I think it was NPR, where Kojone Nandi had said that we were more divided now than we had ever been since 1968, politically, socially, racially, economically. And so I go and I sit with my grandmother and she tells me a story about how in 1968,

Nakita Reed (17:00.93)
the black church that she was a part of that my great great grandfather helped found a couple of years after emancipation, how in 1968 that black church ended up merging with two white congregations in the wake of Dr. King's assassination. And it just struck me how in one moment, Kojo was telling me how we're so politically divided and haven't been this divided since the divisive 1968.

And yet here's a story from my grandmother from that exact same year that talks about people, the descendants of former enslaved people, the descendants of former owners of enslaved people, deciding to come together and choose a new and different future. And so it really moved me to better understand how that could be. Is this unique? Is this rare? Is this commonplace? And what are the lessons and stories that we can extract from that decision to figure out?

help us determine how we move forward today as a people. I love that. So then how did the documentary come to be? Like, I know, you know, going from lawyer to filmmaker and you're just now getting comfortable calling yourself a documentarian. So how did the film actually come about? It's a great question. And I think you're spot on to say that there are just layers. There's just layers that we've uncovered and going back in time from the research components of this to the preservation components of this to the storytelling.

And one of the elements here that was really fascinating to me is that there was a black community where I grew up in what would be called a predominantly white community on an all black street. Like I grew up on a street. Fellowship Lane was all my family. But I came to learn that the community that had existed generations before me was predominantly black or had a large black contingent to it.

And it was just really surprising to me that, that I could not know that, that I could grow up in the shadows and really be a beneficiary of that, but not know that history. And so that really started, you know, that was the thread that I started to pull that then I uncovered more of the story. The community that I'm talking about is called Quince Orchard. And so I grew up and went to Quince Orchard High School, which is situated on Quince Orchard Road.

Nakita Reed (19:27.32)
But I never knew that there was a community of Quince Orchard that had existed for generations, that there were black folk, that there was a Quince Orchard colored school. I didn't know any of that history. And as soon as I found out a nugget of history, I started telling everybody. And so I got asked at my alma mater, Quince Orchard High School, and they wanted me to talk about, same thing you wanted me to talk about, Barack Obama. They wanted me to talk about service, going into government. And I didn't want to talk about that. I wanted to talk about Quince Orchard, about its history. I wanted to tell them that

Quincy Orchard High School wasn't named after the road. I want to tell them that it was named after the Quincy Orchard College School that was founded in 1868 and that there was a generation of people that fought for the name Quincy Orchard to still be alive today. And a couple of students came up to me after that and they said, that's cool. I'm like, what's cool? They're like, we thought our high school was named after a road too. Like we didn't know that there was a community and that there was history. We didn't know any of that.

and we want to preserve that, how can we help you preserve that? Nikita, I was not ready for that question. I was prepared to like drop these nuggets of knowledge, right? And high tail it out of there. They said, how do we help you preserve that history? And I said, well, you know, and I'm a lawyer, I've written a couple of things. I felt like maybe I could string together a couple of sentences. And I said, I have a great idea. Like let's write a book. Together we'll write a book. write the history of Queen Sorcerer.

Are you guys excited to help me write a book? And they looked at me, they were like, that is the last thing we wanna do. They're like, absolutely not. We don't wanna help you write a book. That sounds terrible. But they said, about a film? And honestly, I just didn't wanna dim the light of excited young people. So I said, sure, we'll figure out a way to do a film. And this was...

the end of their spring semester, I just knew that they'd forget about this over the summer and that I'd never hear from them again in the fall. But lo and behold, the fall came around and they organized themselves. They found like 40 students to become part of this Quince Orchard Project Club. And so I became their sponsor. together learned how to...

Nakita Reed (21:47.498)
engage in documentary film, how do we hold cameras, how do you edit content, how do you do documentary and historic document preservation. And so we, I became their sponsor and through years of very, very hard, hard but wonderful work, we ended up producing a documentary that is now called Finding Fellowship.

Nakita Reed (22:13.208)
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Nakita Reed (23:53.646)
Hey, hey, hey, it's Jessica. Lizzie. And Nourjit E. From She Builds Podcast, here to announce that our Season 11 premiere is Tuesday, July 9th. This season, we have exciting stories to share about ladies that you may have heard of and others that may be new to you. Plus, surprises along the way. Be sure to tune in on July 9th everywhere where you listen to podcasts. And now, back to the show. I love it. Well, I'm so glad that those young s-

Students asked you a question and offered to help with the documentary and not the book. Exactly. It's wild how sometimes things just come together. Forcing events, right? It's just, it is so much of this is serendipity and you look back and you can put the pieces together, but going forward, you know, you just have to keep pulling the thread and following where it goes. Right. It's like keep doing the next right thing and only, you know, as far as you can see.

So then how long did it take to pull the documentary together as you're kind of learning as you're, you know, kind of learning as you're building the plane kind of thing? Yeah, I think in total, it took about seven years to do the documentary, to do all the research. And for some of those years, I didn't know I was making a documentary. For some of those years, you know, I was working quarter time, not even part time on it. And it really required just so much.

faith in action. And I was so moved by just the community that that made itself apparent to lift this project up. That being the students from Quinsor Church, I ended up having students at Georgetown, students at UMBC all at the same time. So I'm managing students in high school and in these college classes were incredibly supportive. I didn't own a camera. So I

A friend loaned their HBA. Yes. I didn't own a camera. And so a friend loaned me their camera so I could film. And so it just really was this beautiful communal effort. Ultimately, we were able to film enough content to put together a trailer. then did a Kickstarter campaign. It raised enough content to interview more folks. And again, this started.

Nakita Reed (26:18.432)
not knowing that we were making a documentary, it started with us collecting, these were forcing events. There was a generation of people of the community that I was worried that we were gonna lose. And so I wanted to get their stories on film. So we couldn't wait. Perfect would have been absolutely the enemy of the good. And so we shot what we could with what we could. And as more resources came in, we refilmed, we upgraded our quality of content.

But honestly, we lost members of the community in that time period. And so I'm so grateful that even though the camera might be a little shaky or it's not as well lit, we have their stories and we have them on film. Otherwise it would be, you know, I wish what it could have sure is and I wish that I had. I love that origin story and kind of the idea of starting before you're ready and kind of figuring it out as you're going along. Because I think oftentimes

You're right. Perfect is the enemy of good because people think it has to be perfect and all that. And it's like, no, it doesn't. And I mean, even listen, if people, you could go back and listen to my first podcast episode. It's not, it's not great, but it's out there. It's the thing, you know, it's just kind of starting to start documenting and kind of building momentum as you're going. So I love that you shared that story with how you didn't own a camera. That's still blows my mind, but making a documentary. love it.

It's so true. we, we, we do ourselves this disservice, right? Where we, because I think so often we live in a, in a world that is, you know, fixed in post, right? No, people don't get to see the process of what goes into production. Right. People don't see the imperfections. They see the finished product and they just assume. And so they say, who am I to learn to fail to air, right? When that's all we are to fail.

air and to went into this process. Yeah, there's still, can't watch my documentary. Part because it's personal and it's emotional, but part because there are things, there's still things in there. I hear the little grain in the audio, you know, there's a flash of edit that I still want to fix, you know, even still same as you, right? But ultimately, of my mentors said like,

Nakita Reed (28:42.06)
The best documentary is a finished one. You have to put it out into the world at some point. Yes. Yeah, that's real. And so then of the, so from the documentary, I know there were a couple actual buildings and some historic buildings and things. Talk a little bit about a work of what's the potential of what might be happening with some of the buildings from the neighborhood. Absolutely. So the site is called the Pleasant View Historic Site.

This is the three acre piece of land that my great, great, great grandfather helped purchase for $54 in 1868. they purchased, mean, amazing, right? That that's, if you think about post emancipation, pooling your resources together to buy a piece of land, to build what? To build a schoolhouse, to build a church. Right.

and to place a cemetery, right? So this became the cornerstone of the black community of Quinsulcher. And so we've inherited that legacy that initiated in 1868. So we're 155 years in. And so that responsibility has passed through the bloodline, right? And it is a generational one. And so we're now in the process of restoring that schoolhouse, that church, the social hall.

the grounds to again be a community center and to be a place of sanctuary, to be a place of education, to be a place of social activity, to be a place of intergenerational connection. And I say that that community made an investment so that those assets could be here 155 years later. And now it's our responsibility to make an investment so that they can be here for the next 155 years to benefit those generations.

I love that. I love the stewardship of, you know, being a steward of this time and place to be able to transmit it to the future as well. That's powerful and so exciting. One of the things that excites me the most about preservation is this ability to be able to be a steward of time and being able to pass things forward. That's so cool. my goodness. Yes. It's one of those sites where you're able to walk in and immediately be transported back in time. You know.

Nakita Reed (31:08.844)
both to understand the immense power of this generation of these people. A one-room schoolhouse that taught generations of people at one point housed 120 students in one room. And these are the folks that broke down the barriers that integrated everything, that march. And then at the same time, you appreciate the depths from which they came. Yeah, that's fantastic.

So knowing that you're working on these buildings, it sounds fascinating and I'm sure that there plenty of listeners who will want to learn more. Working people learn more about the project and find out ways to get involved. I appreciate that so much. And what's been so wild about this is how these components of the product are really generative. So we made the documentary, right, to tell this beautiful story and that kind of reinvigorated the community.

about these places and spaces and injected new life and energy. So now there's this whole another cycle to the project that's all about trying to restore these, these really beautiful, tangible remnants of our community and the next phase. we've been raising a lot of capital to make sure that these places are physically safe, right? They had fallen into elements of disrepair. And so now the buildings are

our sound, the walls are up, the foundation is secure. But the next phase is about, you know, breathing new life into these buildings. And I just, invite the community to help us think about how we can use these spaces, not to be just a museum, but more as a living cultural center that can be responsive to changing demographics, that can be responsive to the needs and the demands of growing and changing community.

And we're always, mean, of course, programmatically, we're always looking for resources and funds. So anybody who wants to bring their talent, their treasure, we would welcome their expertise, their passion. you know, maybe we could just drop a link in the notes to about Pleasant View, how people can get involved. But we really are excited about how 150 year old historic site can be thought of anew.

Nakita Reed (33:27.214)
in a new and diverse community and we welcome folks to join us on that journey. Awesome. Yes, I will absolutely put all the links in the show notes because it's going to be beautiful. like the story is amazing. The work that you're doing and the way that you are doing the research, having the facts, being able to show the receipts of, this is what it was. Here's what it is. Here's what we need to make it move forward. I'm just really excited to see what comes next for this. I appreciate you so much.

Thank you so much for listening. Links to amazing resources can be found in the episode's show notes. Special thanks to Sarah Gilberg for allowing me to use snippets of her song Fireflies from her debut album, Other People's Secrets, which by the way is available wherever music is sold. If you haven't already, be sure to subscribe to the show. And now that Tangible Remnants is part of the Gable Media Network, you can listen and subscribe to all network partner content at gablemedia.com.

That's G-A-B-L, media.com. Until next time. Remember that historic preservation is a present conversation with our past about our future. We don't inherit the earth from our parents, but we borrow it from our children. So let's make sure we're telling our inclusive history.

Nakita Reed (34:50.946)
right then i thought of you

Nakita Reed (34:57.166)
Just catching them and setting them free Honey that's what you do

Nakita Reed (35:08.558)
That's what you do to me.

Nakita Reed (35:13.902)
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