As we seem to make a slow exit out of the pandemic, collaboration within and across sectors will be required for the world for the future. It will also be required for positive change within our communities. We talked with Rob Shields, founding Executive Director of the ReCity Network, which is working to be Durham’s social impact hub. ReCity works to bring nonprofits, public entities, and businesses together to figure out how to tackle some of Durham's biggest challenges.
As we seem to make a slow exit out of the pandemic, collaboration within and across sectors will be required for the world for the future. It will also be required for positive change within our communities. We talked with Rob Shields, founding Executive Director of the ReCity Network, which is working to be Durham’s social impact hub. ReCity works to bring nonprofits, public entities, and businesses together to figure out how to tackle some of Durham's biggest challenges.
In this episode, we cover…
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Kenneth Brown Jr. [00:00:01] The fight for justice is ingrained in the DNA of our country, but in this fight, we grapple with a complicated, violent and deep story trying to live up to its full definition. The covid-19 pandemic has shown us how much more work there is to do, exposing details in our society where acts of injustice can reign supreme. We have seen citizens of all demographics and generations take to the streets, their phones, their mailboxes, ballot boxes, and zoom to not only demand that injustices seize, but to lift up the voices of those historically marginalized
Rob Shields [00:00:40] People understand justice as the retributive side of it, "when you do something wrong, you need to be punished. Wrongdoers need, that needs to be made right." But then there's this restorative side and that is the kind of uplifting of the marginalized and the oppressed. And really justice is both of those things.
Kenneth Brown Jr. [00:00:59] I'm Kenneth Brown Jr. and this is Pivots, a podcast about navigating transitions, negotiating change, and reimagining our world today. Our guest is Rob Shields, Executive Director of the ReCity Network in Durham. As the Bull City's hub for social impact, they use the power of proximity to connect nonprofits, faith organizations, and businesses as they find solutions to Durham's biggest challenges. Our conversation explores themes of proximity and justice during the global pandemic and the ways a person's preferences and connections can be leveraged to help others be successful.
Music: Curiously and Curiously by “blue dot sessions”
Rob Shields [00:01:45] ReCity is all about justice. I think that's really integral to our mission is building more just communities. And the way we practice we go about that is we have formed a network of nonprofits, businesses and faith communities that all converge and get proximate in a single location of our coworking space, which I think is makes for an interesting conversation on the Pivot's podcast, because there's definitely been a lot of pivoting when you're in the business of convening people and putting a lot of intentionality in our first five years, in really the value of coming together as a community to solve some of the most complex problems facing our most marginalized community members. So it definitely has been a really interesting journey. I think a mission of building more just communities is no less relevant than it was before covid I would argue it's even more relevant than ever before. Just maybe how we go about doing that needs to be a little different.
Kenneth Brown Jr. [00:02:53] Right, and I would argue the same point exactly. And I love that you hit on that because I definitely want to get into that value of justice that you all live into. But I was wondering personally, how do you define a pivot?
Rob Shields [00:03:08] Yeah, it's a great question. I've never been asked to actually define it, although I've used the word a lot. So it's a good exercise to actually say "What do you mean by that?" I think of you know, I played baseball. I played a lot of sports growing up. But baseball was my favorite sport and I was a pitcher. So if people know anything about baseball, you know that when you're a pitcher, you don't really have to be a really good hitter as you kind of work the just the defensive side of the ball. They'll have to be really very good. They'll give you a lot of grace if you're terrible at hitting, which is definitely me. So, I don't know a ton about hitting. But what I was taught and I tried to aspire to as I to get better, there was the importance of kind of keeping one foot on the ground and kind of twisting your foot into the dirt as you swing. And I think that coaches would always tell you that's how you make sure you're using your legs, getting your power to have the right form. And I think honestly as if I define a pivot kind of in working terms, I'm not sure what it says in the dictionary, but I think it really is around making a change. But oftentimes that change is also still being anchored in something that was the same as before. So, you know, when you make that pivot with your foot in the ground, you're turning your whole body, but your position of your toe is digging in, even perhaps more deeply into the same ground that it always was and you kind of need to have that anchoring position that makes it possible to make the change of the rest of the body and I think that's really, it's a really helpful definition for times like this because I think that making a pivot, I ran across an article at the beginning of the pandemic really talking about how as leaders, anyone that's in a position of leadership really needs to pivot in a way where you actually double down on your who and your why. You know, those first couple slides of any pitch deck that you have, whether you're a startup or whether you're a well-established business model, you're who and you're why should it change, that's your anchor. But really everything else, the what and the how you go about doing your business in a pandemic is going to have to fundamentally look different. You might as well throw out the rest of the slides of your deck and rewrite them for a new chapter and new season and plan for that being happening over the long haul. And so I think that's kind of what a pivot means in our present reality is really digging deeper into your who and your why, but really thinking and filling out the playbook and rewriting it for your what and your how.
Kenneth Brown Jr. [00:06:09] Right. That's good and a nice segue to another question that I've had is what has that look like for ReCity? How you all kind of leaned into your who and why, even though you know what and how may have had to change?
Rob Shields [00:06:27] Yeah, I think. We alluded to it earlier, right? I think COVID, you know, the organizations we serve are serving some of the most marginalized and vulnerable populations in our communities. And so I think that for us, we have doubled down on where we're about coming alongside, you know, community leaders, people who have centered justice as a part of their mission, who are serving vulnerable populations, marginalized groups and we want to, we need to be able to pivot what we do for them. But really, I think it kind of revolves around this issue of getting proximate. So one of the biggest changes we've had to make as a network that's housed within a coworking space is what do you do to create proximity when it really isn't safe to get proximate the old fashioned way of hosting events with 50 and 100 plus people even just sharing the same coffee bar or the same office space when there's this concern that that could be a dangerous thing to do. But we know that these organizations are being asked to do more with less resources, serve more people who are even worse off than they were before the pandemic, but do it with less money and time, and people. And I think for us, we've just had to realize that proximity, we didn't need to abandon the concept of getting proximate, we just needed to know that really lean into this idea that you can create proximity in a number of different ways. So we took the opportunity to lean into really deepening our digital infrastructure of how we come alongside organizations. That was always a part of what we've done and we always used email. We communicated to our network, we had software. But we were most of our energy was spent in maintaining a physical space when it was being kind of at its heyday. And I think using this time with our space is being used less. We've used that margin to really redirect our proximity efforts to really be digital conveners and to just kind of optimize the digital infrastructure of what we do to complement the physical infrastructure. You know, knowing that we're not really sure when the physical will return. Lord willing it will come back because I think that it's still a vital piece. We're not, we're not shedding our building and we don't think we just need to go and become just a digital network only because we really think there is power in getting face to face. And I think that we're just right now, we're not able to do that. But I do still think there's going to be this desire and value in coming together. And so I think we're kind of laying the digital tracks, so to speak so that once the physical gets reanimated we will hopefully be even stronger than we were before the pandemic.
Music: Turning to You by “blue dot sessions.”
Kenneth Brown Jr. [00:09:55] When you talk about getting proximate and walking alongside your community, what have you, what has the community kind of been saying? What has there been any challenges that have emerged for Durham? How has the community come together to rally around these challenges? What have you been seeing?
Rob Shields [00:10:19] Yeah, it's almost like describe a hurricane when you're in a hurricane, you know, like in many ways. We're a year in and there's plenty of people who are already kind of reflecting on lessons learned. I think hindsight is going to be 20, 20 on this. I don't have the magic crystal ball to kind of predict all the future of how we work and how things will be changed. But I'll just say one thing that has become really clear as we've really leaned into conversations with our folks because I can't speak outside definitively on even trends across an entire community like Durham because we've got 50 organizations that we've been serving and try to serve them as faithfully as possible, most of them kind of grassroots organizations that are very dialed into what's happening, you know, kind of in the margins in our society that really COVID has not created but COVID has revealed that a lot of the discrepancies and the divisions that I heard, it's that early on in the pandemic that covid is you hear all these things, right? Like COVID is, it is an equal opportunity offender, Right? Like it doesn't care who you are and that is true. A virus doesn't care who you are, but a virus that permeates unjust systems will only perpetuate that injustice and so, yeah, the virus isn't racist, but if you have a racist system, then it's going to really make that worse and that there's a lot of different layers to injustice, racism being one of the big ones, not the only one, but I think one of the trends and lessons that we've learned is that I think are the leaders that we serve we have seen them kind of double down on and leaning into the people that were already in their corner to weather this storm, and I think the trust that our network has had built, pre-pandemic really has been carrying us through, these relationships. And I think that's true of just anybody. I think listening in, you kind of realize, "Oh, it's really hard to meet new people. It's really hard to build new bridges right now." And I think that as our networks have kind of shrunk down to, "Hey, who can I really lock arms with?" You know, that has been kind of a shortlist of people, and I think that's OK. And I think in many ways that's just kind of our network leaning into relationships that they had already established pre-pandemic to kind of build it to be a bridge to get them across to the other side when this thing starts to get a little better. I do know that our organizations are being stretched thinner than ever. You know, they're being I said this earlier. They're being asked to do so much more and with so much less and I really think the mental health of the people who serve our community is really taking a toll. I think that that's not, it's not sustainable. And I think that means when we come alongside nonprofit leaders, faith leaders, social entrepreneurs, and by default, they're very, they're motivated to serve and they get up in the morning as very unselfish people who are putting others' needs above their own. But we also know that we have to find a way for these folks to care for themselves if they're that oxygen mask analogy of on the airplane when they tell you to. The first thing you do is, is to put it all that oxygen over your own face before you put it on someone next to you, could be a loved one, could be a child, could be your child. right. And that seems at first to someone who kind of would wake up every day running a nonprofit: "Oh, that feels selfish." But I think that we're realizing that we've got to prioritize these folks not burning out. And I think they also realize that that's a privilege that a lot of folks, you know, self-care is a buzzword that goes around a lot. But if you're in survival mode and the waterline is up to your eyeballs, you know, you're not going to, you're not going to feel like you have the capacity to hop on a Zoom call to do a yoga session at lunch. You know.
[00:14:55] Like that's just not... Sorry, I'm trying to keep a roof over the head of my organization and pay my team, provide for my clients. And so I think there is definitely this level of luxury and privilege to self-care. So how do we solve for that? You know, I don't have easy answers, but I do think that's a question that we're trying to ask so that we can come alongside our network and position them to be healthy and sustainable in the long term.
Kenneth Brown Jr. [00:15:24] Speaking of things that you may have been realizing or learning, what other things have you just overall, have you been learning and what do you hope sticks around when the pandemic is over?
Rob Shields [00:15:41] Yeah. Man, so, so many things, right, because I do think that desperation breeds innovation, and so that's one of the things that I've seen and when people are backed into a corner, sometimes the best ideas come from that type of situation. And I think that one thing that I'm learning, at least in my own role as I kind of I think I'm kind of a bridge. I see myself as we're coming alongside organizations that really.....I see myself as an advocate for them, you know, to the community and kind of trying to help translate and be a bridge between community members that want to help, helping them get plugged into some amazing organizations and help them understand what type of effort actually is helpful. So, you know, for me on a personal level I've really leaned into this idea that in my role, I really need to I need to spend time on the ground, really connecting to who I'm serving. But I also need to pull back and spend some time; kind of this juxtaposition of working in your organization and working on it. And I think that those are two things that, you know, when you're working in it in desperation mode, it can be really hard to pull back and work on it cause that does that feels like a luxury but I really think it's something even if it's a small amount of time every day or every week or every month trying to fight to do that. And I think an analogy that comes to mind is like this idea of being on the dance floor versus being on the balcony and I think those different perspectives are both vitally important. As you wade into this work, you've got to be able to have the perspective from the ground, the ground level, if you're a sports person being on the field versus being kind of up in the booth like football coaches often are and there are those two folks are talking to each other and they're communicating things because they have different perspectives that are valuable to each other. Each of them are seeing something the other person can't see because of their vantage point. So one of the things I'm realizing is there's so much value in people who have different perspectives coming together with the objective to learn from each other but that really only works with a deep sense of humility because, yeah, you can come together and you can argue your point, I mean, Twitter exists and you can find different perspective left and right. Nobody changes people's minds on Twitter, though, because people don't show up to Twitter with an openness to have their minds changed. They end up just kind of getting double down on what they already, already thought. And so I think what I'm learning is that we all really could use a little bit more of a dose of humility in how we approach, especially justice work. I think that when you think you have nothing to learn and you've got all the answers and, I think that that's deeply problematic and I think the kind of leader that needs is emerging to carry us through to the next chapter post-covid is going to be a deeply humble leader that recognizes their own blind spots and then works to address those because they're a constant learner. And that sounds OK and people might be nodding along, "Oh, yeah, of course, I'm a constant learner." But then, OK, let's talk about how you engage with social media, and like, do you actually ever surround yourself with someone who thinks differently and challenges your belief on something? Or have you created silos for yourself where you only surround people yourself with people that think exactly like you? And I think if we're all honest, we all naturally build these echo chambers for ourselves because it just feels better to be told that you're doing it right than to be challenged. But you really don't grow as much in an echo chamber as you do when you intentionally surround yourself with people that are going to push to help you find your own blind spots.
Kenneth Brown Jr. [00:20:02] Right now, I'm thinking about what you're saying about humility and thinking about proximity, which you have mentioned a lot in our conversation, and it seems to be a really big value for ReCity. Are those two things connected? Can we be or gain more humility by being more proximate to the people that are hurting to the issues?
Rob Shields [00:20:31] I think it depends on who you are, right? So I think, yes, if you are in a position of privilege, and privilege looks a lot of different ways, I mean, I think a lot of people here privilege. They think white privilege right off the bat and that that one hundred percent is something that is very real. For me as a white man, I need to humbly lean into, recognizing, and naming my privileges, but not stopping there. I need to name them and then work to leverage that power and the access that comes with those and help to redirect those, you know so that it's not just benefiting myself. I can't shed my whiteness, but I can help to create opportunities for others that I have been given through no real skill of my own and use that to not just advance myself, but to help advance others. And that is but that has to be a conscious choice. And so for me, I think when you're coming from, if you have any type of privilege and you kind of audit your own journey and you recognize that, you know, whether you're white or other people can have different levels of privilege as well. You know, there could be privilege around class, right, in your socioeconomic status. You know, so many different layers to it. I think that, yeah, if you're coming from a position of privilege, one hundred percent, it requires humility to recognize that you need to get proximate when really you don't have to. That's something that you could opt into, that's what privilege is: The privilege to opt out whenever you want in many cases. So, as a white guy in the last year, I can opt out of any conversations around racial justice that make me uncomfortable because I have the ability to navigate my life without ever having to intersect with those types of uncomfortable conversations. It takes humility to say no, but even though society may be set up in a way where I could choose a path where I never have to get uncomfortable and I never have to get proximate. It takes a deep sense of humility to say I'm not going to be everything I was made to be unless I get proximate because I need people who are less privileged in society and maybe doesn't value as much as myself. But I know that they have the same amount of value that I have and I need to learn from them and position myself as a learner. So I think there's different levels of proximity. So someone it's definitely a good first step to recognize. You need to get proximate. I think, though, how do you show up and show up in that proximity? Are you showing up thinking you're there to save the day and you only have answers and solutions or are you showing up to learn and to listen? And I think that requires a deeper sense of humility.
Music: “Base Camp” by blue dot sessions
Kenneth Brown Jr. [00:23:55] We've been in a big change the past several months or so, are there any experiences from your life that have kind of helped guide you as you have made a pivot or a shift or begin to kind of change your mindset around certain things?
Rob Shields [00:24:13] The only thing that is constant about life is how it is change right. And I think that you know, this is while this is unprecedented in my lifetime, there've definitely been times where I have been just personally in the midst of having to experience a great amount of change. But when I look back on those changes have given me a new perspective that has kind of changed the entire trajectory of my life. So I think for me personally. I think one of those changes was I think the one hundred percent you're right that in a pandemic we all get a little self-reflective, but I really think that shouldn't stop. I mean, I think I think we always need to be going back to this idea of on the ground versus the balcony or on the playing field. I think that for me, one of the things that kind of gave me a huge amount of perspective to things is when I changed, I actually changed my physical location. So growing up in a kind of suburban, affluent white neighborhood, you know, I was kind of just kind of conditioned to see the world a certain way and I carried kind of that blindness to some of the systemic realities of injustice that surrounded me all through college. But it wasn't until I kind of had a drastic change of location that led me to kind of see the world in a new way. And that happened in layers. One was spending time literally outside of our country. And I was working a job overseas. And it just gave me a whole new perspective on America and how America worked from a distance, like zooming out to kind of observe it from the balcony instead of being on the ground. It just gave me a whole different perspective and for me, that kind of shatters this illusion of kind of the American dream and this lie that I think I have been conditioned to believe that money makes you happy and kind of solves all your problems. And I don't want to downplay the fact that, like, money is vital to some basic things in life and that if you don't have that, don't worry, I wouldn't preach that truth to a homeless person; "Oh, yeah. No, you're fine. You just kind of need to have a different perspective." No, like there’s a hierarchy of needs that I think every human has when you need to fight to make sure that's true but also think in the economic empowerment conversation. The flip side of that coin is that and, what taught me being overseas, especially in a country that had much less wealth than America, is that money is not happiness. by itself, right, and I know that because some of it took me going to another country and meeting people who are much poorer than anyone I had ever known, but finding that they had much more joy than anyone I had ever known in America. So that'll mess with your worldview real quick, like, "OK, if the American dream is real and more money, more things buy happiness, why is everyone I know that gets more is actually end up being pretty miserable in some situations," but people who have a lot less actually have a joy about them." Well, clearly, it can't just be money and it can't just be about economic empowerment. And I think that's for me, deeply rooted in and in faith and knowing that this life is about so much more that it's not less than economic empowerment, but it's also I think it's also more than that.
Kenneth Brown Jr. [00:27:51] I want to talk about justice. I know that's one of ReCity focuses and you launched a podcast, the just podcast in March of 2020 and I was wondering what was the story behind it and what things have you learned? Was the podcast a pivot? But then also what does justice look like when you think about justice? What does that look like for you at this time?
Rob Shields [00:28:25] Yeah, I'll start, I'll work backward, I'll start with your second question: what does justice look like? It looks like a lot of things, right? And I think that you know, for us, I think we also have to need to have a working definition for how we define justice because I think it's a word that means a lot of different things to a lot of different people. And so, you know, ReCity, we, our DNA kind of is birthed out of a local church, like we had seed money from a local church to start this and so for us, that that how we define justice definitely kind of is birthed out of kind of how the Christian church defines justice and I think that, you know, people we serve people across the spectrum of faith and non-faith, nonprofit business, we embrace the diversity of our network. But I think the way we have defined justice kind of gets us rooted in the Christian teaching around justice, which is both, retributive and restorative, and so there's this duality there, of people understand justice as the retributive side of it. "When you do something wrong, you need to be punished. Wrongdoers need to, that need to be made right." But then there's this restorative side, and that is the kind of uplifting of the marginalized and the oppressed. And really, justice is both of those things. And so for me, running ReCity, trying to be true to that value of “what does it look like to do justice in our communities?” Well, it's about both of those things. But I think we're more so in the space...the criminal justice system is set up, really, at least on paper, to do that justly. We know there's a lot of problems with that. ReCity is really not as positioned to kind of in the criminal justice reform space as it is the restorative side of justice, you know, to be able to ensure that people who are being pushed to the margins of our society, the poor, the vulnerable, the marginalized, the oppressed, they are, we are working so that they can flourish the same way that people who experience access to resources and wealth can flourish and we really believe that should be across the board and that's what it means to build a more just community. Can you remind me what your first question was? Sorry, that was I mean, you tacked on “define justice” as part two so I can maybe completely forget about what part one was because that's definitely a doozy.
Kenneth Brown Jr. [00:31:01] No worries. No, that's good. And I like that definition. And I think I think a lot of people. Sometimes focus on one or the other more heavily, and so I think it's nice that you went into both sides of justice and that working definition. But the first question was around the JUST Podcast and kind of what was the story behind it? Was that a pivot in and of itself?
Rob Shields [00:31:29] Yeah. Well, I think that that came to be, one hundred percent It was a pivot, and it really came into being by I had been doing in the justice space for four, five years and when you had been in this place for that long, you realize, you know, there's so many different events that happen in so many different things around Thought Leadership. ReCity as an organization really named the importance of advocacy as one of our buckets. So coworking kind of that shared space component of getting physically proximate meant was that first vertical for us. The second one was how do we be intentional with that shared space? And so that goes around like the sharing of resources and service. Know what can organizations do to not just share space, but move into sharing vendors to be able to maximize output? And minimize cost? To be able to serve and be the best version of themselves. And then the third bucket is advocacy, which really revolves around having hard conversations of how we even got here as a society and because we're rooted here in Durham, it's telling the story of justice in Durham and in communities like Durham, which means having hard conversations about why are our communities the way they are and why are certain people marginalized and vulnerable today? Because with Durham having 20 new people coming a day moving to the city, if you don't know the story of how we got here, you're going to draw an incomplete conclusion as to why things are the way they are. And when you look at it all across the board and name that demographically, a disproportionate amount of people of color are poor and suffer from poverty in Durham. If you don't know the history of how things got to be the way they are, you're going to walk away with incomplete conclusions and oftentimes just incorrect conclusions about why those things are current realities. And so for us, the podcast really was birthed out of this desire to say we need to have these hard conversations. And I was always so sad when I was at an event that was amazing, but really was kind of like trying to capture lightning in a bottle because 20 people were there. And all the richness of that conversation died with the event. Because it was limited to how many people could physically get into a single place at a single time with so much happening in our world and so we actually started to pivot toward the podcast pre-pandemic just because we wanted to amplify the thought leadership of our partners.We thought that there was, we needed to have these hard conversations and we wanted to mic up our partner organizations to put a spotlight on them because they're the ones getting proximate to some of the toughest issues of our day in our community and so we needed to be this bridge. We want to create a bridge between our partners and their thought leadership and the community and we thought a podcast was really kind of a way to bust out of the four walls of a traditional event and reach more people because we would have this digital archive of storytelling that could transcend time and place and I think that has been totally the case in that the fact that we now have a listenership going into our third season that spans four continents. That's way more people and way more reach than who can make an event in downtown Durham on a specific date and so really, really glad we did that. And then when the pandemic struck and no one was doing events, period, that digital storytelling really became this pivot that I'm so thankful we kind of had the foresight to make that change because we didn't even skip a beat, we had already had those systems in place and we could just double down on them to be able to lean more fully into that medium to tell the stories that needed to be told.
Kenneth Brown Jr. [00:35:23] Right. When you wake up 10 years from now, look outside your window, what do you hope to see for your community, for Durham?
Rob Shields [00:35:41] I hope to see a radically different version of ownership. To me, if I had to pinpoint the lesson that I've learned in the last five years about how what is really at the center of true transformation and justice when it comes to flourishing in our communities for everybody, I think it really hinges on re-imagining how we view who gets to own stuff (laughs). And I think, honestly, this comes from our own lessons in the physical building we occupy as an organization and seeing what gentrification over the last five years has done to our neighborhood and how it looks dramatically different than how it looked when we first moved in. Gentrification sweeping through downtown Durham, sweeping through downtown Raleigh. And I think people have. It's really it's a lot easier to name and point out injustice than it is to name how to solve it, right? And so, yeah, gentrification is bad. Yes. But I actually believe there is a form of gentrification that can be good. The only reason gentrification is bad is that it is concentrated to generate wealth and power in a limited number of hands. The only reason generation is bad if you're a resident in a poor neighborhood is that if you don't own your house, because if you owned your house or you owned your business and property values are shooting through the roof, that's actually great news for you. Gentrification actually becomes a way for you to build wealth. It's only when that is limited or we're disenfranchising people from being a part of that ownership story. That is when injustice is perpetuated. That is when you are prevented from building generational wealth and that has been the story of our country in our communities for hundreds of years. And so when you ask me what is 10 years from now, what I hope to see, I hope to see us people who are in positions of, that have access to resources and capital, being able to truly be transformative with making big bets around democratizing ownership in really bold ways that help redistribute that ownership. And really invite everyone to be at that table and I would go further to actually own the table because I think that's the next that's where I think we have to go. It's not enough to say, "Oh, yeah, I want a seat at that table." OK, well, who extends the invitations? People who own the table and I think I ultimately want everybody in our communities to be able to be in the position to actually not just be invited to the table, to be able to own the table and be the person that gets to extend the invitation.
Kenneth Brown Jr. [00:38:57] And so thinking back to the present time, what gives you hope, what has been giving you hope?
Rob Shields [00:39:06] Oh, man, you start talking hope, man, you start activating my church upbringing there right there. I've had to start channeling my inner preacher. I'll try the best I can. But, you know, I mean, what if I'm answering for myself just as a person? You know, this work of justice is yet again deeply rooted back into my faith, which people who follow the legacy of the civil rights movement and that thing was incubated in the local church, right, I mean, Martin Luther King. You may want, if you're not a person of faith, you may want to separate King's faith from his justice work. But he did not do that. You are kind of editing out the parts you don't like of his story and if you're doing that, it's just an incomplete story. And so for me, I really think when I hear King's words echo today about the beloved community, to me, what gives me hope I have to lean into my faith to believe that redemption is possible. Redemption is possible for our communities. Redemption is possible/for all of us and I really believe that King carried with him a deep sense of not, never canceling anybody. But really believing any even his worst enemy. There was...redemption was possible for that person. You know, even the most ardent racist, right, and I really believe that for me, that hope, that redemption is possible is what carries me through. And, you know, knowing I think that's kind of where I get a vision, a personal just vision of what the Christian Bible teaches, about how communities and how humans are meant and created to operate and to know that if we have a creator that is behind all this, then we're created with purpose and that there is this shared sense of humanity that we all, you know, all have all need to be invited into that story and that really it is a shared story. And if we really kind of tap into that shared purpose, then we will then be able to pursue a shared flourishing for our communities. I don't know if that is, I don't know if I'm going to see that in my lifetime and I'm not even sure that it is even possible. It might be a mission that is destined to fail. But I really believe that ultimately redemption will happen and that that kind of my faith is what undergirds that hope.
Kenneth Brown Jr. [00:41:45] Final question for you. What message or word would you share with someone going through a major pivot and they may be looking for some advice or just something to help them? What would you tell them?
Rob Shields [00:42:03] Yeah, man, I well, first, I think really name and spend time reflecting on your purpose. Why do you believe you're on this earth, right? Why do you exist? Kind of this audit of your passions, your skills in the midst of crazy circumstances? The one thing that you have agency in is kind of knowing thyself, right? and knowing how you can't, you can't control your circumstance, but you can control how you carry yourself in those circumstances. You know, we all don't have the same level of agency in our lives, but all of us have some degree of agency and really leaning into whatever level of agency you do have to know and really rediscover your purpose and maybe how that purpose has changed over time. And so, you know, one thing I've done with our leadership team here recently is walking through how to hone a personal mission statement for everyone on our team that really is should. Yeah, you can live out that through your organization, but it's not meant to be limited to your vocation. This is something that you get fired tomorrow or your organization goes under tomorrow, you can still be true to that purpose. Like really doing that self-audit to understand why are you on this earth and really trying to line up your decision-making to try to position yourself to live out that purpose for as long as you have. And then I heard an example of this recently of really kind of doing an assessment, not just internally but externally of and if you feel like you're in the water right now, kind of doing an audit of who's in the water with you. Naming those people, naming who's further ahead on the journey of where you want to go and then also who's behind you, like on land. And I think it will be a really good exercise for all of us in times of pivoting to like name who's in your corner and, you know, people on land, they may not be anywhere close or they may just be all talk. But like on the water are like not they're swimming. They've taken the leap with you and surrounding yourself also with people who are further down the journey that you can learn from. And I think just really realizing that we're at our core is meant to be deeply, we're wired and created for a community. And so this is not meant to be a solo journey, even though you may have a unique purpose, I don't believe you were meant to live that unique purpose out in isolation. And so let's do an audit of...why you feel like, what gifts and abilities and passions you have to have and what to hone a purpose statement but then also naming just your community around you, who's in the water with you, who's further down on the journey that you aspire to be on and who's behind you on the land and making sure you just kind of let those folks speak into your life, I think at varying degrees, depending on their role.
Music: “Home Home at Last” by blue dot sessions.
Kenneth Brown Jr. [00:45:28] How can people learn more about the ReCity network or listen to the podcast?
Rob Shields [00:45:34] People can hop online at our website ReCity Network dot org. You can find out more about ReCity. We have a podcast page on the website but if you want to dove straight to the podcast, you can also just find the JUST podcast j-u-s-t really wherever you subscribe to the podcast. To learn more about ReCity, you can shoot me an email; rob at recity network dot org if you're just want to continue this conversation around, what does it look like to get proximate, to do justice where you are? I mean, that's really what ReCity is all about and so anyone that wants to continue that conversation offline, I'd be more than welcome to do that.
Kenneth Brown Jr. [00:46:20] Rob Shields is the Executive Director of the ReCity Network, Durham's Social Impact Hub, leveraging the power of proximity and collaboration of their partners to rewrite the story of Durham.
Kenneth Brown Jr: You've been listening to Pivots, a podcast about navigating transitions, negotiating change and reimagining our world. Pivots is a project at the A.J. Fletcher Foundation, produced and hosted by me, Kenneth Brown Jr. Our music is composed by Blue Dot Sessions. You can hear this episode more any time. Wherever you listen to podcasts or go to our show page at w w w dot pivots dot A-J-F dot simple cast dot com.
[00:47:01] See you next time.