When a Former Federal Employee and Social Justice Leader Need a Little Pollinator Pick-me-up

By Assata Schroeter

Living through such a difficult and disheartening social climate as today’s, it’s immensely important to recognize and celebrate each other. The state of the job and housing market can be scary to consider. Add to that federal funding cuts to financial aid, gun violence prevention, environmental protection causes, and changes to our country’s budgeting. Amidst the current social climate, we have seen many federal workers lose their jobs due to widespread layoffs and budget cuts.

Community is key. Raising awareness, educating others, and looking out for ways to help families in need is one way our community can feel supported. Small steps like these are essential to that bigger picture. 

Lifting the Spirits of Mother, Daughter with Pollinators

To give back some positivity to a family who has continuously put so much effort and love into our community at large, despite both losing their livelihoods, DC Natives volunteers gathered on a rainy Saturday morning in June to create a garden for Dr. Helen Jackson and her daughter Zakiya. This was an effort to honor their careers and shared passion for gardening, even though the DC Natives planting season had come to an end.

Helen, a nuclear physicist with a patent under her belt and decades of experience, had a job offer rescinded by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office following the presidential hiring freeze, while Zakiya’s organization, The Expectations Project, a nonprofit dedicated to a better and equal academic future for marginalized Black and Brown communities, was defunded in 2025.

The DC Natives pollinator garden created in Helen’s Capitol View yard honors the essential work the duo have done, paving the way for Black and Brown leaders through impactful education. Federal workers like Helen and social justice leaders like Zakiya daughter are essential to the betterment of communities. We cannot overlook their contributions.

Click here to watch Helen and Zakiya’s garden transform.

Turning Obstacles into Opportunity

In addition to career challenges, we all experience obstacles on the home front, whether it is dealing with repairs, preparing a home or apartment for a storm, or maintaining a healthy city garden. The latter has been Helen’s Achilles’ heel, but she’s always found a way to navigate what’s come her way using her decades of experience and passion.

“I just did whatever I could to increase the yield for whatever amount of space I had,” said the southeast D.C. resident. “We had difficult situations like steep slopes, so I did some terrace gardening. When I first moved to D.C., I was in an apartment, so I just had tons of pot … I used a balcony, I had cinderblocks- 2×12 stacked. And they were all filled with pots where I grew stuff.” 

DC Natives prides itself on creating pathways for pollinators and cultivating community. While we were unable to impact the course of their career, we thought a pollinator garden would be a welcome bright spot for Helen and Zakiya. Research featured in the National Library of Medicine has found increasing evidence that exposure to plants and green space, and particularly to gardening, is beneficial to mental and physical health, so we wanted to help lift the spirits of a deserving family. 

“While so much terrible stuff is happening in our climate,” said Zakiya. “It’s good for building a mutual aid muscle when we’re engaging in community this way. And I think we need mutual aid to survive.”