Hi, I’m Jane Green! I am excited to join Greater Greater Washington as Development Director. I will be building and executing a variety of fundraising strategies to ensure the organization's financial sustainability into the future.

Discovering GGWash shortly after I moved to Washington, DC, in 2015 was a revelation. What was first my favorite source for news became my entry point into the online community of urbanists. After working for three years as the marketing manager for a scholarly association, I am excited to combine my experience in fundraising, sponsorship, and membership with my new passion for urbanism.

If my name sounds familiar, it’s because I’ve been a contributor for the past nine months and I’ve been involved in some of GGWash’s advocacy. I’m a trained historian who has become passionate about urbanism, particularly our nation-wide housing shortage, since moving to Arlington and settling my family (my husband is a community college professor and my son is a toddler) in one of the country’s most expensive, but most vibrant, communities.

How did I get here?

I’m a born-and-raised Midwestern suburbanite (Roseville, MN — best known for its mall). I’ve lived exclusively in multi-family buildings since I left the dorm at Drake University in Des Moines, Iowa. I pursued my PhD in history at Washington University in St. Louis, which is a great place to be a graduate student because the rent is relatively cheap. After completing a dissertation on coming of age in early nineteenth-century New England, I worked for a continued legal education provider in a small Wisconsin city with a surprising amount of missing middle housing.

I moved to the greater Washington, DC, area in 2015 to take the role of Marketing Manager for the American Historical Association, where I worked to promote our activities on behalf of historians and recruit members, donors, and sponsors.

I live in Arlington, VA, specifically Pentagon City. I love my neighborhood for its great access to my basic needs: library, grocery store, and Metro station. But I quickly learned that as a newcomer and a renter, I am viewed as an interloper by many of my neighbors. Reading Greater Greater Washington opened my eyes to the politics of urban development.

I got involved in local advocacy after the 2016 election, and after attending a County Board candidate forum, I realized the depth of Arlington’s fear of density. I wrote a letter to the editor in our local news website about my dismay at feeling like a burden on Arlington rather than an opportunity. I was thrilled to when Greater Greater Washington republished this letter on their site.

Yes, I will be asking you for money

But I would never ask someone else to support something I don’t personally find valuable. In fact, I was a donor to GGWash before I ever applied for this job!.

Greater Greater Washington is an incredible asset to our community. As an influential local news and advocacy organization for urbanism in the region, our staff and contributors work to educate the public about ways to improve our cities and create opportunities for residents to bring about change.

We need to develop a sustainable business model to keep this work going. My job at GGWash will include developing renewable revenue streams such as individual donations, events, advertising, sponsorship, and grants. I hope that everyone who finds value in Greater Greater Washington’s news and advocacy will make a financial investment in keeping the site and the community strong.

Continue the conversation about urbanism in the Washington region and support GGWash’s news and advocacy when you join the GGWash Neighborhood!

Tagged: about ggwash

Jane Fiegen Green was the Development Director at Greater Greater Washington from 2018 to 2020. With a PhD in history and a background in association management for a scholarly society of historians, she worked to bring sustainable revenue streams to support GGWash’s news and advocacy. She lives in the Pentagon City neighborhood of Arlington with her husband and son.