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In May 2025, Nakita was the emcee for a livestream celebration of the 10th Anniversary of the National Trust for Historic Preservation's HOPE Crew program. HOPE Crew, which stands for Hands-On Preservation Experience, was one of the first and largest efforts to expand the preservation industry in the country. Since 2014, it has trained more than 802 young people and veterans, engaged over 3,000 volunteers in historic preservation trades, and completed nearly 200 projects in cities, parks, and communities across America. These projects include sites such as Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument in Montana to Nina Simone's Childhood Home in Tryon, N.C., and Estate Little Princess in St. Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands.
The livestream back in May featured a moderated conversation between Monica Rhodes, founding Director of HOPE Crew and the President & Founder of Rhodes Heritage Group, and Milan Jordan, current Director of HOPE Crew; a reflection discussion with Molly Baker, one of the most senior tenured employees with the program, and ended with three panels - one panel featuring Foundation and Organizational Partners, one panel featuring past participants, and another featuring Trade professionals who've spent time providing the training.
This episode is a condensed, audio only version of the livestream and features snippets from each panel. The panelists that are included in the podcast episode include:
- Marie Walker, COO of the Corps Network
- Mike Muckle, Exec. Director of NJYC of Phillipsburg
- Shonto Greyeyes Program Director at the Conservation Legacy
- Alicia Spence, Founder of Spence Timber works
Links:
- HOPE Crew | National Trust for Historic Preservation
- Preservation Trades Network - About
- Rhodes Heritage Group
- Tangible Remnants on Instagram
- Tangible Remnants Website
- LinkedTr.ee for resources
- Earn CEUs for listening to this podcast
- Signup for Ask Me Anything w/ Nakita Reed
- Gabl Media Network
- Sarah Gilberg's Music
Bios: Milan Jordan - With a background in architecture and a passion for nonprofit management, Milan’s career is the intersection of mission-driven work for built and cultural environments. Milan is currently the Director of the HOPE Crew at the National Trust for Historic Preservation. HOPE Crew is bringing Hands-On Preservation Experience to the next wave of preservation tradespeople. Under Milan’s leadership, the program has developed partnerships with all seven Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) with colleges of architecture. Expanding from traditional trades training, the program now also engages architecture students on documentation methods and technology that builds on architecture education and supports the preservation movement. Milan looks forward to continuing Katherine Malone-France’s bridge of preservation and architecture on the Architect’s Foundation board of directors.
Prior to joining the National Trust, Milan was Director of Workforce and Emerging Professionals at the American Institute of Architects where she developed programming and resources for early-career professionals as well as women architects. She served on the inaugural advisory committee for the 2023 AIA Women’s Leadership Summit and enjoys other civic leadership including the Traditional Trades Training Task Force and Preservation Priorities Task Force. Milan holds a Master of Architecture degree from Georgia Institute of Technology and a Bachelors of Arts in American Studies from University of Maryland, College Park. In her spare time she is a Pilates instructor and enjoys tending to a large collection of indoor plants and exploring natural wonders.
Monica Rhodes - Monica Rhodes is an international award winning, accomplished cultural preservationist with over 15 years of experience leveraging preservation as a strategic tool for advancing socially and economically inclusive heritage and preservation practices. This year, Rhodes was appointed to the ACHP by President Joseph Biden as an Expert Member of the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation (ACHP). The ACHP is an independent federal agency that promotes the educational, economic, and cultural values of historic preservation and advises the President and Congress on national historic preservation policy. It also influences federal activities, programs and policies that affect historic and cultural properties.
As a 2023 Rome Prize Fellow in Historic Preservation and Conservation at the American Academy in Rome and a 2022 Loeb Fellow at Harvard University, Rhodes is recognized for establishing groundbreaking programs at two of the largest national organizations focused on preservation and national parks. At the National Trust for Historic Preservation, Rhodes developed the first and largest nationwide program centered on diversifying the preservation industry. While at the National Park Foundation, Rhodes led the effort to reestablish legacy programs to fund a more honest and comprehensive story of the country’s history. She currently serves as an advisor to the Center for the Preservation of Civil Rights Sites at the Weitzman School of Design at University of Pennsylvania and is a board member on the International Council on Monuments and Sites.
Over the course of Rhodes’ career, she has spearheaded the development of hundreds of partnerships, engaged thousands of community members and impacted millions of visitors to national parks through preservation efforts at some of our nation’s most iconic sites. Rhodes continues to push communities and practitioners to leverage the past to think 50 years ahead.
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Mentioned in this episode:
