Transcripts For CSPAN3 African American Historical Sites 20221024

I am mcghee and i have the pleasure of introducing our keynote conversationalist for this afternoon and i would like to introduce you all to these two Brilliant Minds that we will be hearing from this afternoon. First, we will hear from dr. Noelle trent, who is director of interpretation and collections and an education at the National Civil Rights Museum in memphis, tennessee. Dr. Trent earned her in public history and a ph. D. In United States history from howard university, a proud hbcu in washington, d. C. So im sure. Theres some asuu alarms in the house, of course. Dr. Trent is also an accomplished public and shes worked with several noted organizations and projects including the National Park service, the Frederick Douglass National Historic site and the Smithsonian Institution National Museum of African American history and culture. Before she took those brilliant talents to memphis, she has been a contributor. The African American intellectual history societys blog and was featured in free and an underground special for the wgn america drama underground. One of our favorites, personal favorites. And dr. Trent has also travel internationally presenting lectures at the European Solidarity center in poland and has been a part of the memphis in poland festival. Dr. Trent has served on several triplea film boards and im sorry, Conference Planning committees that remember many, many, many meetings with her. And now she has ascended to the. 22 confer program chair. So we have her to thank for this awesome experience that were to enjoy this week. So please welcome dr. Trent. And nex. I have the pleasure of introduce saying what ill just say is one of the best ever. Do it when it comes to the the business of preservation in our keynote conversation list for this afternoon is mr. Brant legs brant is the executive director of the African American Cultural Heritage action fund and Senior Vice President for the National Trust for Historic Preservation. He envisioned as a social movement for justice, equity and reconciliation. This action Fund Promotes the of cultural preservation in telling the nations full history while also empowering activists entrepreneurs, artists and Civic Leaders to advocate on behalf africanamerican Historic Places. Brant is a Harvard University fellow and author of preserving African American history in places, which is considered seminal publication on preserving African American Historic Sites by the smithsonian. Brant is also a National Leader in the u. S. Preservation movement, and in 2018 received the robert g. Stanton National Preservation award. His passion for elevating the significance of black culture in American History is visible through his work, which elevates the remark stories and places that evoked centuries of black activism, achievement and community. And over the past decade, hes developed the northeast african Historic Places Outreach Program and its theme the business of preservation to build a regional movement. Preservation leaders saving landmarks in, africanAmerican History. Brant has taught at Harvard University, Boston Architectural College and the university of maryland. He is a Senior Advisor and adjunct associate professor at the university of pennsylvanias center for the preservation of civil rights sites and an adjunct at columbia universitys graduate program in Historic Preservation. And if that werent enough, ive also had the pleasure of traveling the country with brant for the last five years where hes developed a board Building Preservation leadership training that empowers africanamerican Historic Sites and museum board of directors. He is one of the most humble and down to earth people you will ever meet who has first name basis with people like phylicia rashod and everybody i can think of in the preservation space. It was like just just a number, great contacts, but also down to earth, enough to do cha cha slide at triplea conference with the and always just a delight to have. So please welcome brant legs. Well, good afternoon to you guys. Hear me . We all hear me. Oh, now you do. Lets just test this. Is anyone a graduate . The real h you out here . You know. Okay, so the mike is working. Yeah. He. Its so great to be here. I am in miami and brant, were just so happy to have this conversation. So one of my favorite things to do, its like my hobby is when people call me up and i get a lot of calls about preserving Historic Sites and what do they need to do . How do they get started . My favorite way to open up that conversation is have met brant and people like know who is here. And i was like, i always mess your title, but im like he does stuff with black Historic Sites and preservation and you should talk him. So now today everyone here is going to get to meet brant. Understand . He does. And were going to have a little chat about where we are in our preservation space. So exactly how did you get involved in Historic Preservation . So many of you probably have my story, some of my keynote talks, but i would for my professional identity. I had gotten undergrad degree in marketing. I went straight into graduate school and got a masters in business. And then i realized that Corporate America wasnt a right fit for me. And so i started that process of searching for what was next. And i thought i discovered it when i learned about a furniture making program in the school of architecture at the university of kentucky and then when i walked inside those doors, i had this random, unintentional conversation with dr. Dennis delmar. He was the chair of the graduate Program Historic preservation, and literally in 15 minutes he convinced me to take a chance. I said i would be the first africanamerican to go into the preservation program, first person with an mba and words. I can make a shitload of money using tax credits and Real Estate Development and and that i would receive the Lyman T Johnson scholarship, which was named after the first africanamerican to integrate that institution. And so i took this random chance. Couple of months later, im studying architectural history and kind of questioning that decision. But thankfully they invited to conduct the statewide inventory of historic roads and wall schools. In my home state of kentucky. Everybody heard a row of them, all schools. This is one of the most powerful social movements in american education. The fact that Booker T Washington born and his brilliant mind wanted to take to scale a movement where black children in the south had the highest quality educational facility that robert taylor, the first black professional architect in america, would design the original school plan. The George Washington carver was the de facto landscape designer, and that communities would organize and consolidate their resources to cover the building materials, to construct the schools, to donate the land. And when i learned that my mom and dad and my aunts, uncles and our family was connected to a social movement created by Booker T Washington, and that little really the physical preservation of this history, it inspired to look and question what is my own social responsibility to his legacy work of uplifting black america. So that was the moment and that year and a half project that i knew that there was a quiet power to this work and that it could help to shift our National Consciousness and understanding about the black experience. Well, were so glad you took that chance and that quiet that you speak of has done fairly well. I mean, youve just raised nearly 80 million to support black institution and Historic Preservation. Yes. And that includes 20 million gift. And let me get this right from philanthropist Mackenzie Scott danu. It and the Lilly Endowment for the preserved nation of africanamerican Historic Assets and black churches nationwide. I thank you so. Would i be correct in saying that you got money for some of us here . Yes, i do. Yes. Yes. See, brant afterwards for some money, yall need to preserve. Something out there. I know you do. Hell be at the reception. Go ahead. See him for some money. He got money for you and you keep raising money, right . Yeah, thats the. Thats the dream. So when we think of business of preservation, black museums, that historic site, were philanthropic dependent, an essence that is a challenge. We are constantly chasing philanthropic dollars from foundation funds, federal sources of funding and and we dont have enough earn and income general data to support our operations. So part of the vision creating the action fund is to advance that resource abundant vision for black preservation. So not only have we raised more than 85 million invested in more than 200 preservation projects nationwide. But weve also established a 14 million endowment for action fund to ensure the National Trust is living up to social responsibility and the resources and is creating space for black leadership to drive social innovation. And i feel excellent. So exactly what does the action fund cover . Can you give us a better sense of of what your role is at the trust . Yeah. So ive been with the National Trust for 17 years. Okay. Yeah. And i remember literally when i, you know, i started working for the trust in 2005 and our boss in office and i remember with my director wendy necklace and she had this vision that the Regional Office needed to make inroads with black preservationists in the northeast. So ten states from maine to delaware and at time i thought i would be at the National Trust for five years. I started as a grants Program Assistant and i started providing Technical Assistance to people in the field that would call for assistance. In 2009, i developed the first regional program. And it was the largest Diversity Program at the National Trust, the northeast africanamerican Historic Places Outreach Program and through that, as marian said, we developed the board building and fundraising workshop in partnership with fundraising consultants, kind of National Leader robert bull. And the idea was to be able to grow the organization on capacity and leadership capacity of Cultural Institutions stewarding and interpreting black history. Today the action fund we are investing in preservation of future through a National Grant program. You probably saw the good news on july 19 where we just invested. 3 million and 33 preservation projects across the country. To date, we funded hundred and 60 projects and invested almost 13 million. So yeah, yes, that is worthy of clapping. Absolutely. And im sure there are some beneficiaries in this room, but as we. Celebrate our fifth anniversary in november, we are focused on ensuring that black churches are at the highest at the same level as new york citys trinity or even d. C. National cathedral. What do think about the legacy and role of black churches and civil rights that they Center Culture and have amazing social Justice Program . But they are facing so many threats with aging congregation and limited resources and are not prioritizing the physical preservation of history. And so we want to correct that imbalance. We have just established a partnership with the getty foundation, where we will help to preserve Historic Places designed by black architects, the modernist style to ensure that these places are celebrate it, but most importantly, that the design contribution of black architects is known and and value in american society. And i think thats so important because dont realize how few black there are in the. My cousin is an architect and i think just recently there are 500 license black women architects in the country, just 500 black women. Right. The numbers for black africanamerican architects is not that much bigger. So were talking about small number of people. But the imprint design wise is huge. Its. Yeah. And we we we Pay Attention to some of the more noted architects, but we tend to ignore because some of them did some great. You know office buildings. But then they are also doing, you know, houses developments, communities and so these areas that are getting gentrified are being, you know, raised for other properties. Youre losing that design esthetic, that history. So thats absolutely incredible. Yeah, thats why i love birmingham and if anyone gets a chance to tour, yes, birmingham will. So you all know the birmingham is beloved in my heart and it has one of the most amazing rights legacies. But many people will walk that National Monument and not realize that the masonic temple was by architect robert taylor. They wont realize. That 16th Street Baptist Church in, the parsonage building, was designed by wallace rayfield. They dont realize that the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute was, designed by six Second Generation black architect. Its name is slipping my mind now. But the fact that there are three black architects to design historic thats part of this National Monument. I mean, were passing architecturally significant every single day. And they seem these buildings to stand without that kind of significance and meaning. And thats why documentation, research and scholarship and having organizations like triple j, m and a scholar helping us to mine and discover the multiple layers of history imbued in these Historic Places is critical to understanding the full history of the black experience. Yeah, and one of the things i enjoy about your work and having observed your career is when youre an innovator and so youre always thinking about the architects, the the built environment and and unique ways for black districts, historic districts to be preserved. You talk about some of these ideas and as your thinking futuristic. Lee along the long term preservation of our communities and our institutions kind of some of the ideas that youve been throwing out there and experimenting with right now. Im currently thinking about this idea around collect to power and so we can use memphis, for example. Yeah, lets do that. I mean, you have the lorraine motel, youve got Clayborn Temple, youve got the insurance. Yeah yeah, yeah, yeah. All within close proximity of one another. What does collective power look like when institutions are coming together to develop and bishops bold vision around collective power . What does a share endowment look like for these institutions to sustain the preservation and maintenance of Cultural Assets, but also supporting of the operation and and staffing needs of these . In my mind, some of the future work is bringing together. A triplea, a sala noma and partnership with the action fund, other black led organizing nations to start thinking about a 25 year vision and defining what those equity driven impacts will look like. But it starts at least within Historic Preservation, with understanding that we must empower local black communities and our allies in helping to preserve the physical of our past as a preservation as it all starts with preserving the Historic Building and the cultural lands, scapes and the stories and understanding the perpetual resources to do that long term. I do want to take the moment because you said noma, some people may not know what that is. Thats the National Organization of minority architects. And i think whats great about memphis is not just that we have some phenomenal buildings that were designed, but the ongoing preservation involves as one of the few black owned architecture firms. So i just want to shout self tucker architects. Yeah, juans great one. So. I think hes here somewhere. There he is in back one. He has done an excellent job in helping the black community in memphis preserve and making sure that he involves the community. And i think those more opportunities across the for us as institutions, as were looking for people to help us. Who are we bringing in . Who are we making sure that were doing black owned construction firms . That even if, you know, someone subcontract acting out, that we are going to them, that we are bringing in our black architects to do this work because they understand the story and they have a stake in preserving that built environment. Thats exactly it. So we need to start creating the next generation of black Real Estate Developers that are driven by social impact and that understand strategies for. The revitalization of historic black neighborhoods, how to have compatible and architecturally appropriate infill that sets scale. But where the uses are in a with the existing Cultural Assets and institutions have long served these communities. And we need to be the ones benefiting financially from the redevelopment and revival ization. So in essence, that gets back to this idea around collective power and control and. We need to be driving and defining exactly our historic neighborhood and our Cultural Assets evolve over time. So give us an example of what that could look like. I know that youve worked with so many different projects over the country. Is there any community thats beginning to kind of turn those ideas in this more futuristic context . I think pittsburgh is has a lot of potential and the hill district, so we have three action fund grantees. And in pittsburgh, one is the National Opera company. I hope you all get to check out this history because mary dawson, first africanamerican to create a black owned Opera Company building it is strong link to survive at the moment. And thankfully janay solomon, 20 years ago walked down the street and saw a historic marker that told the history of this site. She used her own personal money to acquire it and today shes building enough support and momentum to fully restore and their vision activating and programing that space is really fantastic. But in the Historic Hill district. Theres the August Wilson house. The Ribbon Cutting ceremony is this saturday. Denzel washington will be there. He helped to secure 5 million of support, several organizations have invested in. They have restored the home where the legendary playwright would use his creative and develop plays about. The black experience and their vision. That space is really. And then theres the new granada theater. Marimba millions who leads the cds. They have a multimillion redevelopment strategy for that historic theater with mixed development and. One of the challenges that they face is a lot of their isnt traditional financing where they go to a bank have a traditional ol pro forma and securing private capital and they are raising dollars to phased implementation and they struggle to have their debt guarantee. So in my mind, we need to come together to start about what are more creative and new financing strategies that fast tracks accelerates the work of of of heritage Space Developers like marimba. We need new tools to be able to ensure that they have those the Financial Resources to realize those dreams. And it seems like theres a role for everyone to play in this like its not just us as cultural workers. Its partnering with people who in the corporate world, people understand finance. People understand real estate. So theres an opportunity to at your boards to look at long term members and support to create something new and different, or even just to renew something. And i am i on the right track there . Of course. And i love the work that you just said. Boards boards. Most of us are nonprofit organizations. Our board, not only do they have the stewardship responsibility around governance, they have a stewardship responsible to provide access to help secure funding and to extend relationships. So being able to diversify boards with professional expertise in strategic areas will help that organization, again, kind of find new forms of philanthropy or nontraditional forms of investment to create new whether its with corporations and fully understanding what motivates a corporation to partner and digging into the science and mechanics of Corporate Philanthropy and social Impact Investment is is key. So you are spot on we needed to diversify our work with really smart folks that care about our mission what we do and we do such cool stuff. I have to say theres some really great things that have happened. Well, i want to switch gears and focus on how can i say this . Can you spell a little tea for me. Im trying to behave. So a few months ago, some of you may have heard there was a little drama and theres been some ongoing drama regarding historic plantations that have chosen to present an inclusive history, which means opening the discussion around enslaved people, their lives how they were shaped positively, negatively, whatever on the plantation. And not everybody likes this and we saw this play out in a very, very tangible way starting in late march into april with montpelier and in 2018, mt. Hillyer had a summit which you and i were a part of creating a rubric for interpreting slavery and doing Descendant Community engagement and theyve been doing this for almost 20 years. We had a great time. We put out this technical leaflet was this is what you do and now pull your was making all this progress and even achieved board parity with moving making a commitment to what moved 5050 yeah 50 of their Descendant Community 50 of their board their descendant could appoint people to pillars board so they had Real Authority and influence and then some kind of happened. Can you can you kind of walk us through what exactly happened and why montpelier is such an important case study for us as we enter as were in this moment of Historic Preservation and sort of the controversies and ethical challenges that face as we take tackle on this new challenge. Yeah. So im sure you all have on twitter or in the news the controversy around james madisons. So that property is owned by the National Trust for Historic Preservation. We have a portfolio of 28 National Trusts Historic Sites, and i am delighted omaha is the new senior president of National Historic sites. Its a big deal. Hes first africanamerican to lead that leadership position and i am delighted to have him on the team to lead important work. But as you describe montpelier over 20 years because of the dedication of their amazing staff started making inroads and they first started through their work which helped them to begin to document and interpret the enslaved workers story, experience their fast track a decade plus. And we had the convening and this was under kathy emhoff, who was the president and ceo of montpelier at the time. We convened 50 Museum Professionals and practice partners, and it was the most amazing event. It really was. I just never felt that much energy in the room. You had noted scholars. You have professionals like myself, and they had descended and descendants who had worked on the property for 5 to 10 years. And i think the moment that gave both of us chills was when one woman was talking about. She was on the dig and she found a brick and the brick had a childs thumbprint in it. And because shes a descent dent from mount peltier, she said, that could have been my ancestor. I am here discovering something that they literally made. They left their imprint here. And it just it just changed frame of reference of what these plantations do and how they can influence and get people greater, buy in and support, but. But im sorry. Go ahead. No, that was a beautiful example. Another moment that was powerful. You remember when we sat around the reconstructed cabins . Yeah, right. Firepit. And we honoring the ancestor daughters memory. Let lets give everybody a little bit more understanding. Montpelier is in orange, virginia, which is in the middle of nowhere, there are no streetlights. All the lights on the property are off. Were all 50 of us sitting around the fire. Thats the only light we have. And we start sharing stories and this energy kind of comes in as we start. Each of us start calling in our. Yeah. Yeah. They just need to know how dark and scary what . Im from a city i was. I dont know whats out here. What is going on . How somebody, the ancestor, better not come out of them leads to. Im leaving you. Im leaving you. Im sorry. Not only was it dark, but it was deeply moving. Yeah. And thanks to mcgill for organizing that. I bring that up. Say that this is the work of president ial sites, especially those that are associated to sites of enslavement. It is the work of sites more broadly to balance memory. Part of the cultural reckoning in Historic Preservation today is to address the historical imbalance because. Our profession has uplifted and honored the full contribution as a white man to our nation, just like the country abuse of our president. James madison. Well, we can acknowledge that he has contributed significantly to the building shaping of our democracy. We will never deny that. And is a critical part of the interpretive portion. But the balance is that he would have never been an intellect, have had the privilege to do that work if it was not for the unimaginable of black and our ancestors who were enslaved on that site and across nation, like through their unimaginable sacrifice, enslaved american help to birth our democracy as well. And so we. So montpelier the previous staff knew. Yes. The previous staff knew that that was their social responsibility. There was a leadership change at the chair and at ceo level, an unfortunate lead. They were going against their own leadership in the field. And after that rubric in 2018, it a best practice for helping organizations become accountable to. Equitable interpretation and the beauty. What was exciting is the board at montpelier amended their bylaws to advance parity, which meant that there would be 50 representation. Descendant represents position on the board of trustees and then all chaos broke out. Yeah, there was a lot of fragility fear chaos in that process, but for us in the shadows, we that it might happen in 2022. It could be 23. But we knew that it was important for structural parity, coequal stewardship for that to happen at a president ial site to set the blueprint for innovation in our field. And i am so glad that because of the leadership of dr. Shue and dr. Matt reeves, james french, dr. Michael blakey, dr. Ford, and so many, including my colleagues at National Trust, that the new model has been established. Map hill has a black person as the chair of the board trustees. Yes. And there is 50 represent station on the board by descendants. So when you look at the four president ial sites in the state of virginia, you also have it monitor flow whos doing amazing descending engagement work. Their board of trustees is led by black woman because we too have a responsibility to lead and to move these organizations, equity and justice and accountable and measurable ways. But the unfortunate piece is this crt movement thats crt movement, Critical Race Theory movement. They are now starting to attack Historic Sites like james madisons. And monitor yellow has been attacked in the press calling them woke Cultural Institutions because we are interpreting the black experience that these Historic Sites equally to other traditional narratives. My concern is that as we move towards the midterm elections, that you will see more this race baiting and and literally using Historic Sites as a way to rally conservative base. This takes me back to my earlier point about collective power. How can we organize ourselves following the blueprint of the black Civil Rights Movement to ensure we have a shared message. We are organized in social and media and other ways so that we can have the most strategic avoca, ac and response for these because our work and commitment to telling the full and sites of enslavement will not end. We are just Getting Started and and these these folks will not will not stop this movement. Absolutely. You can class to that and. I think what i walked away with from the mount pilger incident was the power of our Friends Groups and support community. When things got chaotic, the mount pilliod Community Stood up and had the backs of the staff. Yes, they did, and made a bold statement and continued to make bold statements. I think many of us are at institutions, so we feel like our hands are tied that you cant. There are things that you can say in the office that you really say in public, because we got bills and sallie mae wants her payment. Regardless of whats going on in your right. So sometimes difficult because you want to say it, you want to address it, but thats when your Friends Groups step in and. You have to give credit. The chair of mount your board is james french absolutely phenomenal he stepped up and leadership and so i think as we look at these networks that were building our Friends Groups are supporters is those organizations thats where they step in because in the moments that we cannot speak or say anything theyll say it for us and that was i think how a lot of the was applied to that situation. I agree. So what you just brought up, not many of us have the bravery, as you say, because we got bills. Yes. Yes is when matt reeves, elizabeth chew literally put their careers the line were term. Eighth because they were going to stand on the side of fairness equality the justice that is a shining example leadership and why its beautiful to dr. Chu currently being the interim president and ceo of montpelier, also the descendants committee, the Friends Group these are descendant that organized over time and about four years ago. They formalize their ad hoc group into, a nonprofit called the montpelier descendants committee, during this negotiation and debate under the leadership of james french. Im proud to say that the action fund wanting to empower the mdc that we invested 75,000 so that they can develop a collaborative programing strategy for of enslavement in the state of virginia. But in january of last year or january of this year, we invested 151,000 so that they could hire their first paid staff person to help build that capacity, because descendant led groups are critical to the future of Historic Preservation and friends. Groups associated to Historic Sites like, a president ial site, are to informing how they reimagine interpretation Public Education and really activate the broader, you know, kind of society and the history and meanings of these places. So what i heard you say, you just dont have money to help people preserve buildings. You got money for some capacity . Yes, we do. He got money for you guys. Grant got the money dont come to me asking for my i got bills to pay but hes got money. So the Capacity Building piece was intentional so we set up our Grant Program where we do not require a 1 to 1 cash match because we have always that black and Cultural Institutions are catching up and it would be an undue financial burden to require that financial match. But we also wanted to create a Capacity Building funding category so that we can new staff at the mid or senior level to be able to help professionalize these organizations. If you read triple ams assessment from a couple of years ago, youll notice that the 200 and something organizations that completed that survey, the majority have paid staff in the range of like three or three or less. We need to increase the number of paid staff and professionals that are contributing to the work. So thats part of the intention and im excited that in the next several years we will invest. Around 16 million in grants and anyone who knows a black church, an active church that a Historic Building or Cultural Institution that is stewarding a Historic Black Church building, repair areas for community programing, that our deadline for proposals is september second and the average will be 200,000 per grant. Oh oh, right, yeah, i got like five. Ill give them to you later. So closing out this conversation as we look at this concept of renewal right theres a lot of opportunities and challenges for us particularly as were coming out of this covid space and you know when you get into this Historic Preservation or reviving an institution. Sometimes it doesnt feel like the goal. You can see it, but it doesnt attainable. Shout out to Americas Black Holocaust Museum that came back online online. Were going to call them the lazarus museum because they thought they were dead, but they came. Were excited to have back. We cannot come to milwaukee next right. So what are the opportune cities and challenges for us as we do work so we dont get discouraged so that can see more people following . Dr. Burt daviss example, reviving these Community Institutions and museums and keeping us as of the physical environment, the United States. So, noelle, you have been one of beautiful moderator. Lets hear from noelle. And before answer this question. Im to interview you. Oh, goodness. He said he was going to design and believe though. So what do you think are the opportunities. You should have told these questions beforehand. I gave you the courtesy of emailing you your questions. This is unfair. Well, you know what i think the operative cities are plentiful having gone to pass for the National Trust Conference Many years ago. One of the opportunities that i saw, and i think you and i had talked about this was, that there arent enough black Construction Companies specializing in Historic Preservation right. Everybody thinks about the architecture, but thats a very, if not lucrative field. And theyre just not enough of us there. And so i feel like that is a really great kind of base level. And thats one of those levels that we can bring in formerly incarcerated individuals who, you know, dont to go to school, but they can get training and they can learn, like if a plumber, guess what . We can teach you to do historic hasnt changed that much. You just need to know the materiality. Same thing with plastering or being a brick mason. They already know the. They just need to understand how the material are used. Carpentry the same way. So i think providing those opportunities for folks is a great, great thing. And then think the other thing you i have talked about this before is looking at bringing in businesses, black businesses know its great like in memphis between Clayborn Temple and the National Civil Rights Museum. Theres a lot of buildings there. Theres opportunities for black businesses to come in there. So can we preserve buildings and bring in, you know black businesses, black start up space is for that. And i think the third opportunity is for us. Just lift each other up. Right . I know that there are a group of sites right now working to become a World Heritage site for the Civil Rights Movement. World heritage is the highest historic protection you can get. It comes from the united nations. And there is about, what, 14 sites right now who in the process of applying our application is going to go in in the year where national Rights Museum is one interNational Civil Rights Museum, birmingham. I think the king site and National Parks service, brown v board, farmville, virginia were all over the country. If we can get that and model how that be done. We should see unescos heritage from more of our sites and then that will offer more protection for us long term. So i know. Yeah, you do. And starting with the preservation trades, we have so many professional deficits and thats why we created program called hope crew that stands for hands preservation experience, where we with diverse youth and we entered use them to preservation and short term paid positions for the purpose of being able to attract them the field and just as you said i mean they can make really great money and at the same time to the work of places important in american. We also are doing that same work in partnership with a with hbcus. So we just partnered informally with 13 seven where we funded campus wide preservation, the others supporting individual preservation plans. Each of those partnership tips includes a paid position for an hbcu to join the Consulting Team to have professional development opportunities. We also have partners in preservation where students over the summer in pay positions mainly from of design, are learning all of the aspects of preservation because we need to train and develop the next generation of preservation that have the Technical Training in Historic Preservation, but that technical design expertise which is critical and we could just go and continue to yeah yeah. Build out that list. And then with world designation, theres some innovation that also needs to happen in their criteria for, selecting sites like africanamerican Historic Sites, the civil rights sites that have had changes over time and some impacts their architectural integrity and historic fabric and not have so of the wait for considering nation solely on architectural but fully understand cultural significance of these places so that we can have not just a small number but what is 25 or 50 civil rights, sightseeing states look like as a collective with a World Heritage designation. And because that history so impactful and expands massive and has influenced other social Justice Movements internationally. And so partly i want to see our serial nomination expand beyond the current list to be more inclusive and. Then lastly, i will just say that i will encourage all of you to develop strategic plans that center your work in a broader cultural strategy. And what i mean by that is start to fully define and understand what are your Economic Impacts in your community . What are the social and cultural impacts that you are to the local economy . A lot of times we are armed and equipped with a powerful story and, a historic resource, but were leveraging the other components to secure public and investment and support. And lastly, harness the power of your media to begin to embed your stories and, your work, and the local press, and that we can build local movements that collectively grow the thats how we begin to advance collective power. So i think when we look at the future of the renewal of black and Historic Sites theres power in this room. Right that is so thank you so much, grant, we could probably be here all day just having a conversation and but unfortunately the debt will not let us do that thanks thanks