The Census Bureau recently projected that the number of seniors in the U.S. over 90 years old will more than quadruple by 2050.  The study also reported a direct correlation between advanced age and poverty.  Just a few years ago, at the beginning of the Deval Patrick Administration, DHCD commissioned a study from the UMASS Donahue Institute which showed that 53.5% of people over 75 experienced a housing cost burden—more than half—and the HIGHEST percentage for any age group.

The trajectory could not be more clear.  We will be overwhelmed by the number of seniors needing support—financial and physical.  What hasn’t followed is a “call to arms” to aggressively plan to handle this demographic tsunami.  JCHE takes seriously our role in combating this apathy.  Stay tuned……….

We were treated to a chorus of men and women, all in formal garb (beautiful red jackets on the women, suits and red ties on the men) singing several songs in Chinese; two dance troupe performances; a solo dance and another solo tai chi demonstration; and an explanation of the significance of the year of the dragon.  One gentlemen impressed everyone by doing his own translations—speaking first in Chinese, next in Russian, then in English—to great applause from an appreciative crowd.

We had fabulous spring rolls, egg drop soup, lo mein noodles, fried rice, chicken stir-fry and fruit and fortune cookies—all prepared exquisitely by JCHE’s talented chefs.  Quite a celebration!

What struck me most was the attentiveness and eagerness of our non-Chinese tenants to learn from their neighbors—unlike other performances, no one whispered anything to their tablemate during showtime, no one just focused on the food (despite its excellence).  And from what I observed, the Chinese residents were so proud of their performing neighbors—showing that by taking photos and strong applause.

At this café, I drank in more than good coffee or tea—I absorbed an even deeper appreciation for what true sharing and mutual respect.

Enjoy lovely images from the Cultural Cafe 2012 here!

Somewhat true with life, of course—but in making decisions about how to spend one’s senior years, it turns out there’s a lot more predictability.  Living in a setting where you have both privacy (your own apartment) and community (such as in a JCHE building) extends life and deeply enhances the quality.  In a JCHE setting, increased frailty does not inhibit your ability to engage in face-to-face conversations or pursue new endeavors (art, music, book clubs, mah jong, etc.).

The Patriots should have won—if only because the team owners are such generous, loving people (I confess to not knowing them personally, but you can’t work in a Jewish organization in Boston and not be aware of their commitment to social justice).  But only one team can win the Super Bowl in any given year.  Fortunately, with 1200 apartments, many seniors can win by living at Ulin, Genesis, Leventhal, Golda, Coleman or Shillman House!

Given the demographic tsunami that is about to hit us, this level of attention should be an every day reality for politicians and community leaders alike:  by 2050, according to the U.S. Census Bureau, the number of Americans over 90 years old will quadruple--from about 1.8 million to over 8 million.  This is going to have a huge impact, and we should be planning now to address the vast needs this age distribution will inevitably create.

Granted, every senior regardless of age is unique.  But it’s fairly easy to predict 2 things: (1) with that many people over 90, the level of frailty on average will be higher than for those in younger age brackets; and (2) the economic challenges will be great--poverty is correlated with advanced age, as people’s retirement savings are eaten up with housing, energy, food and medical costs far in excess of what they predicted in an earlier time.

The JCHE model of supportive housing affordable to all makes sense from so many perspectives.  By having an affordable home, seniors don’t have to choose between filling prescriptions and paying rent (and sadly many do face that dilemma).  The supports allow people to remain in their homes rather than submit to institutional care--preferable when viewed from both a quality-of-life and a cost-of-care lens.  And, significantly, seniors won’t face the loneliness that can so easily ensue when frailty limits mobility.

Those of us who care about the respect our elders are due need to work to keep a focus on seniors at the forefront of the national conversation.

As always, I welcome your comments!

Warmly,

Ken’s response was an efficient 3 words: “Love conquers all”!  I thought that answer was as perfect as the original message. 

Some might say “love” has no place in work.  I disagree.  Working at JCHE, or probably any truly mission-driven organization, is indeed a labor of love—love for the cause, for the people we serve, for the task of tikun olam (repair of the world).

To sustain the necessary effort in the face of the odds (too little money, too little time, too much need) is draining.  The best way we can make it through is to give each other that unconditional support we all crave.  It may seem contradictory to assert (as I do) that there’s nothing inherently incongruous about unconditional support and mutual criticism and sharing thoughtful reflection about how to do better work.  We believe in each other—and that we all can improve from both self-reflection and the insights of our colleagues.

We’re engaged in a major culture change and reorganization process, which has had its share of discomforts for all.  But at the end, we’ll recognize the strength each brings to the table and hopefully feel free to express that love for our shared values and commitment.  Today at one of the concluding reorg meetings, the sentiment was:

“Everyone here [meaning all JCHE staff] is fantastic.  We all want to do our jobs well.  We all make some mistakes along the way; the more we can know about each other’s responsibilities and challenges, the more we can support each other through.  And we all want to do that.”

As always, your comments are welcome!

This is the day when a team of inspectors spends the day in our building checking every door jamb. It’s not a bad concept -- public funded housing should adhere to the highest operational standards. We do.  However, the nature of inspectors is to find problems, so they come intent to do that. We recognize the importance of doing well, so we prepare, worry, prepare and repeat the cycle.

The inspection went very well, thanks to a great deal of teamwork on site and with guidance from central office.  That level of collaboration is not unusual.  What’s worth noting is that Maxine, Golda’s Executive Director, took the time to write a note to Ken, our organizational director of maintenance, to thank him and to copy me.  Here’s what she said:

Ken: On behalf of Richard and the GMH staff I want to  thank you SO MUCH for being at the REAC inspection today, and supporting us through the past few weeks. As you and I acknowledged, we've been through a lot of ups and downs together in the past 12 years, but when push comes to shove we always manage to pull together for the common goal.  Thank you. 

I haven’t spoken to Ken yet, but I’ll bet he shares my view--getting a note like this one is what makes it rewarding to do our very best.  The return on investment--the amount of good feelings generated compared to the low level of difficulty in writing it--is off-the-charts high. 

Ms. Frieze discussed different leadership models, differentiating between “leader as hero” and “leader as host”—which parallels our conversations about managers as coaches and people who inspire and empower everyone to make good judgments and engage fully in work—we’ve been saying “define performance objectives, not prescriptive task assignments”. 

Most significantly for me, she talked about lasting change occurring when “order emerges out of shared meaning, not control.” This underpins precisely why we are engaging in a reorganization and culture change process, rather than simply a leadership determination about a new structure and ways of relating.  It is a lot slower and in some ways more painful—it takes a lot of meetings, a lot of preparing and living with some anxiety created by uncertainty.  However, we have believed from the start that change that follows an inclusive process has sticking power.  As Ms. Frieze articulated, in terms of generating a high performing agency, “measurement can’t replace shared meaning, purpose and values” and that requires time and mining the best ideas of everyone.

I have been generally fortunate in the world of work to have bosses who are impressive and motivating. Of course, a few notable exceptions have certainly helped me understand how disappointing experiences can lead to long-term skepticism about the potential for bosses to be inspirational leaders. 

At graduate school, I had fabulous professors—not bosses, but with similar “power” to effect my success in that place—who used their incredible force of intellect to challenge and inspire deep reflections—learning that lasts.  Lang Keyes, Phil Herr, Tunney Lee and Don Schon all substantially impacted and guided my journey.  Lang is still one of my most respected and trusted advisers.  After school I worked for Tunney in two different jobs—an earlier blog post reported my admiration for him on the occasion of his 80^th birthday.  Wise, in my mind, is synonymous with Tunney.  At the Town of Brookline, Richard Kelliher was an amazing boss—who knew intuitively (or through a great deal of learning before I came on the scene) how to both let me go full-speed ahead and keep me within the parameters of the Town’s culture and expectations.  In a tricky management situation, I often ask myself “what would Rich do?” and take comfort in thinking it through from that vantage point.

I also had one boss who berated me for what he saw as three tragic flaws:  (1) I worked harder than necessary to accomplish my goals; (2) I sounded “smart” even in conversations; and (3) I “made” people like me.  He was aghast at these qualities and made my life miserable if I exhibited them—which seemed to happen, in his mind, nearly every day regardless of my efforts to be responsive to his concerns.   An earlier boss believed employee orientation should include maximum humiliation at staff meetings for a few months to “toughen up” the staff so they could represent the agency aggressively.  I do not seek to emulate these folks.

Those who have demonstrated real leadership in my education and profession have been truly inspirational. They have expanded my achievements by leaps and bounds. Alternatively, the negative situations have created miserable work days—and the only positive is the confidence gained because I was able to ultimately forge ahead.  The opportunities that I have experienced for growth and flowering far exceed the constraining and off-putting situations —and these are at the foundation of my aspiration for the type of management leadership for which JCHE will be known.

They consider various adaptations to make houses more senior-friendly. Their thinking is exciting and, like the generation they are addressing, the authors push the boundaries of possibilities.

I was left however to wonder about loneliness.  Regardless of how many appropriate design elements are included in a private house, isolation is the inevitable result of living out one’s years in a single-family home. We need housing that is well designed with access to the easy social interaction that is unavailable in single-family homes.

At JCHE, we provide affordable independent senior housing in attractive apartment buildings. While many who previously lived in a house face initial uncertainty about loss of privacy and space, our residents almost universally express gratitude and respond with new vitality to the enhanced quality of life we offer.

The co-authors’ thought-provoking insights demand further attention. As we explore innovative senior-appropriate design, we must consider ways to integrate the irreplaceable component of community.

As always, I welcome your comments!

Amy Schectman

The Globe ran an excellent piece on the front page this week, State Falls Short on Affordable Housing.  It bemoaned the slow pace of producing affordable housing in the Commonwealth.  A few months ago, the Globe ran a series of stories on page one, alerting us to the coming demographic tsunami of an aging population.  I’d like to connect the dots:

The gap in affordable senior housing is going to outpace all other gaps, and supportive senior housing offers an enormous chance to spend government dollars cost-effectively.  This Globe story did not distinguish between senior and family housing produced.   And yet:

• Seniors are disproportionately in poverty—16% of seniors live below the poverty line.
• The number of seniors in the population is skyrocketing—between 2000-2025 the number of people over 85 is expected to double—the fastest growing age group in America is those over 100! 
• Health care and housing costs have the greatest impact on low incomes on seniors; the different funding streams make it nearly impossible to capture the value of savings in one or the other.  By adding supportive services to senior housing, we are creating an alternative to assisted living and nursing homes that save substantial dollars AND provide better quality of life.

The only funding source to close this affordable housing gap is government.  The Globe, and other media, do a dis-service in the long run if every story about government is negative.  An “against all odds” and “tenacity wins out” companion piece to this morning’s story is needed (also on page one?).  I think an editorial about what can happen IN that housing—when we can provide relatively low-cost services, we can keep people in housing at a huge savings to the government and to society—would be a fabulous complement to the stories.

Jewish Community Housing for the Elderly is an effective model for addressing the needs identified so ably by the Globe. Because these supportive services are not eligible for government funding, we have to raise an enormous amount of private philanthropic dollars each year.  Very few organizations are willing to do that, so we have a great model but its replicability is limited by the lack of public dollars for the essential supports.

In the end, it’s about people and how seniors deserve to live out their final years with dignity.  When one woman moved into the community we opened in June, she said “today I am no longer a burden on my children.”

Like many readers of the Boston Globe, I have been dismayed all week to read, daily, about the excessively high salary and dishonesty in reporting by the director of the Chelsea Housing Authority.  There's simply nothing positive to be said about the facts.  However, I am equally dismayed by the barrage of coverage that the Globe has given to this one instance of abuse—in contrast to the shocking silence about the numerous accomplishments achieved daily by the overwhelmingly hard-working, underpaid and under-resourced housing authorities in Massachusetts.  The Patrick Administration has been the first since Governor Dukakis to recognize the need to invest in preserving the physical and social assets of our state's aging building stock.  The public housing green energy program alone has allowed millions of dollars to be re-directed from water, gas, oil and electric bills towards repairs of roofs, plumbing systems and equipment. The results have been longer life and more efficiency —and these have served as a model for private sector housing.  This abuse should be exposed and the Globe is to be commended for this effort. However, the relentless pursuit of the negative story on page one, while the positive stories of local housing authorities don't even make page 54 (I check!), contributes to society's belief that government can do no right.  This feeds a defeatist agenda at a time when we need to provide support for and resources to the many efforts that are effectively and efficiently meeting the housing needs of many.

Sincerely,

Amy Schectman
President and CEO

We naturally approached this session thinking we needed to do a “show and tell” for our guests.  After all, this is a significant donor group and we needed to impress them.  What emerged was quite different.  Within minutes of arriving, these women set us at ease and we understood almost immediately that this was not a group who wanted to hear a lot of perfunctory expressions of gratitude.  They wanted to dive into the substance of what we try to accomplish and offer questions, insights and observations to help us succeed.

What followed was a passionate discussion about the ways training and information about addressing complicated mental health issues for seniors could change daily practice to give confidence to line staff.  They were most intrigued by the ways our maintenance staff was able to learn coping behaviors for the most difficult aspects of their jobs--for example, carting away boxes of “treasures” (old newspapers, coupons that expired a decade ago, broken knick-knacks) from a hoarder’s apartment, knowing this was a necessary step in keeping that person safe.  But not content to simply absorb the information, the women were quick to offer ideas to expand the impact and engage in steps we can continue to take to advance our practice.

As we planned this session, we stepped into the funders’ shoes to consider what approach to take. We know that some funding decisions are based on numbers:  x number of people served, X number of dollars saved, etc.  Other funders decide based on mission - they fund what makes THEM feel good. Our goal was to offer both so that BJCWF could see the impact of their grant from both perspectives. We certainly got the sense that regardless of their giving orientation, each of the members of BJCWF left JCHE feeling good about the gift.

So while they came to lunch and learn, and we to “teach” (and lunch!), by the end of the session any observer would have been unable to distinguish the teachers from the pupils, and although the grant money was long since allocated, we certainly walked away the richer.

See more photos here.

His oldest daughter, Thea, captured it when she said that Tunney doesn’t ever direct people any place, but rather opens pathways for people to move themselves.

Then Tunney spoke about how lucky he feels.  He said we are all start with some DNA and whatever culture we are born into.  Then who we become depends upon who we encounter along the way—those human interactions are what shape those primal forces.  And he thanked everyone for the relationships we have offered to him.

Typical of Tunney, he didn’t allow for speeches or testimonials or even toasts—although my guess is that all 100+ people in attendance would have jumped at the chance.  He’s secure in the way we all feel about him and is too humble to hear it declared aloud.

And to top it off, Tunney’s sister lives in one of JCHE’s buildings!  That’s a vote of confidence I treasure.

Happy birthday, Tunney. The world is so much better a place for your part in it.

Warmly,

Photograph: (left to right) Mitchell Rosenberg, Tunney Lee, Amy Schectman, Helen Chin

Having heard her in person this morning, I feel her biography massively understates her power and accomplishments.  She quite simply took my breath away.  At age 83, she is elegant, thoughtful, inspiring and beautiful in every sense of the word.  She magnificently shared elements of her life story (including that she choose not to speak at all between the ages of 5 and 11 due to experiencing a trauma) and when she found her voice she wanted to teach and learn.

Her theme was “rainbow in the clouds” meaning hope in the midst of troubles.  She explained that clouds block the sun, but when you feel that you see only dreariness and can’t see beyond, G-d puts a rainbow in the clouds to offer beauty. People appear in other people’s lives to offer help and hope.  When she walks on a stage, she claims, she feels that all the people who have helped her or shown kindness along the way are coming on with her--from her grandmother who raised her to the person who simply held a doorway open for her to pass with bundles in her hands.  Appreciation.

Whatever bad may be happening to you, she urged us to remember there are many who went to sleep last night and never woke up, who would give anything to have the problem you are now facing rather than non-existance.  To reinforce this attitude, she recommended that everyone avoid kvetching because “complaining lets a brute know that there’s a victim in the neighborhood”! 

Finally, she urged all of us to be the rainbow in other people’s clouds because it is utterly impossible to give without getting.  Remarkable how consistent this theme was with an earlier speaker, Mary Robinson (former United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights) who quoted Article 29 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights:  “Everyone has duties to the community, without performing which you will not reach the full potential of your personality.”

The staff that participated was from different departments and different professional backgrounds.  The conversation revolved around reflections on how cultural misunderstandings can occur so easily and be so frustrating for both parties.  We talked about the legal framework in which doctors must work—and the ways it constrains simply exercising good judgment. The book described this poignantly. The Hmong family did not follow the prescribed drug regimen because it was too complicated and it was not consistent with their more spiritual response to treating illness. The doctors reported the family’s lack of response as neglect and the child was placed in foster care. This resulted in a classic cultural impasse: the actions of a very loving family collided with the doctor’s need to avoid the risk of not reporting a situation that the state deemed as neglect. We all agreed upon the benefits of having group discussion on how to handle cultural impasses—as a way both to give the individual professional (doctor in this case) and the institution some reassurance about all options having been explored, all issues dealt with honestly.

We realized that this story is not just relevant for medical personnel, but rather is emblematic of the ways it is difficult but imperative to truly communicate—not exclusively through the ways you yourself like to give information, but rather after first trying to understand how the recipient best gets information.  Genuine inquiry is the urgent first step—and must be re-engaged at many points along the way.

We concluded with a hope that as professionals, we all embrace the chance for learning about different people—their unique styles and backgrounds and assumptions—and see diversity (cultural or otherwise) as an exciting challenge rather than a source of stress.

A Refreshing Approach to Developing Public Housing
Kudos to the New York Times for the recent front page article “In a Bronx Complex, Doing Good Mixes with Looking Good. ” Michael Kimmelman’s thoughtful architecture review has much to commend it—including a non-knee-jerk response to high quality design and “curb appeal” for public housing.  Those of us in the field of affordable housing have long been limited by the pressures to serve as many as possible AND the opinion of those who believe that the minimalist approach is “good enough for them.”  Mr. Kimmelman correctly points to the long-term value of good design. When buildings contribute to the urban design of the neighborhood, it can mitigate the NIMBY feelings that often accompany change.

The timing of this article was particularly interesting: I had just participated in the Affordable Housing Leadership Design Institute, a forum sponsored by Enterprise Community Partners. For 2 1/2 days, affordable housing developers met with some of the country’s best designers for intensive coaching/brainstorming.  The take-aways echoed Mr. Kimmelman: The learning environment with honest exchange and conservation-advancing design solutions advances excellence.  Putting Mr. Kimmelman’s piece on page one on arguably the best newspaper in the country is another!

I will reflect more comprehensively on the experience in later blog entries, but for now I want to immediately share some things I took away from workshop participants:

From Jim Stockard, Curator of The Loeb Fellowship at the Harvard Graduate School of Design, recalling what urban planner and developer Jim Rouse once told him:
If we want to solve the affordable housing crisis, we have to INTEND to do so.

From Michael Maltzan, architect from Los Angeles:
Design excellence in housing is the context for an optimistic world.

Housing design in the US became all about the houses and there was a lack of conversation about common spaces—this lack of collective is almost the definition of suburbs.

Architecture, when done well, is a strategic discipline.

From Mary Margaret Jones, a landscape architect:
We don’t talk enough about joy in the design process.  We should.

Julie Honekamp, from SNAP (a community action agency in Spokane, Washington), wore a sponge around her neck, reminding herself and signifying to us that her intention was to soak up all the ideas of others, not to insert her own.  She used this technique when attending public meetings, to good effect.

From David Dixon, architect and urban designer:
When one is on the side of the angels, one has a right to do a lot more (referring to density).

Rather than simply present a request for a variance or change from the rules, challenge the neighbors to choose between the rules and other possible outcomes they might prefer—educate and really listen, and use good data to help folks make good choices.

From David Lee, architect, explaining what he learned from Kevin Lynch:
Whatever the size of the problem, go up one size larger to start finding the solution.

If you can, give each person an individual address and try to differentiate each address visually.

From Jared Della Valle, architect and developer from NYC:
Try to bring in new architects, who may never have worked in affordable housing, because the fresh perspective is invaluable.  Combine that with peer review for constructability and implementability to be sure it will work.

From Katie Swenson, Enterprise Community Partners:
Don’t be afraid to use design to advance your vision of what the housing can be.  Try to develop clarity and articulate the single most important objective for the designers and hold them to it.

Holding an open house in a building that is currently home to 144 people is a little awkward. We had nearly 100 guests touring the building throughout the day.  We tromped through the multi-purpose room trying not to disturb the group playing a card game (how likely is it that 15 visitors standing around the card table will not be disruptive?). We showed off the library where people were trying to read the Sunday paper (quietly), the art studio while a painter or two were patiently completing some masterpieces that now adorn the walls, and right on through the dining room while people were trying to eat brunch in peace. 

The response from the visitors was expectedly positive: Shillman offers wonderful opportunities. And the response from the residents was also favorable despite these intrusions.  In fact, several volunteered to be “ambassadors for the day” to help us illustrate the beauty of living in community where privacy is respected but occasions to engage with others are as easy as coming down the hallway. And yet I found myself wincing each time I barged into an occupied space. Just a few months ago, during an open house, we were touring a ‘theoretical’ home. Now, it’s a real one for a community of people and we are intent on being respectful.

We’ll be at it again next Sunday – there is an open house on September 18 from 10 a.m. until 3 p.m. I’ll spend much of my time this week thinking about ways to give prospective residents a glimpse at life at Shillman in an up-close-and-personal way without infringing on the enjoyment of this beautiful community by our Shillman pioneers!  

Any ideas?

Hurricane Irene brought many clouds and even more wind and rain.  It also meant that we lost power at our newest development, Shillman House.  It went out on Sunday morning and didn’t return until late Monday evening.  An inconvenience for anyone -- and certainly seniors --  especially those who rely on medical devices and other electronics.

Shillman House could have been a dreary place in its powerless state, but it was quite the opposite.  The day before the storm (Saturday), Bill O’Day, our IT guru, went around to all our buildings to unhook whatever computer stuff must be unhooked to protect systems from power loss.  He made sure people could charge their devices from an emergency power source.  Eric Rancourt, our Shillman House maintenance supervisor, came in the morning of the storm.  He and his deputy Ryan Tessier spent the night in the building to reassure residents and handle any problems.  Bill was back to pitch in on Sunday, with Anne Essaran, Shillman’s assistant director.  They brought in pizza to be enjoyed by all who live at Shillman and Anne organized a raid on the ice cream freezer! David Seltzer, our director of dining services, along with his manager Thelor Bastien, and Resident Services Coordinator Jennifer Miller made a special lunch and organized an evening barbeque for everyone.  Carl Zack, Shillman’s executive director, provided the leadership and energy to keep everyone on track throughout.

One resident’s daughter, concerned for her mother’s well being, came rushing over to bring her mother to her home for safety until the power was restored.  The daughter was in for quite a surprise. Not only did her mother choose to stay in Shillman rather than leave for a home with lights and electricity, her mother sent her away with regrets that the daughter would not have as enjoyable an adventure!

Which is not to say, however, that there wasn’t a collective sigh of relief when the power did return to 49 Edmands Road in Framingham!  The power loss is over but the sense of community remains.

As always, I welcome your comments!

I was so enthralled with the notion of showcasing aging—here we do tend to want to push the evidence under the rug with the subconscious logic that in that manner age won’t actually catch up to us.  The Census Bureau in the U.S. predicts that the number of people over 85 years old will double in this country in the first quarter of this century—and yet we do very little to prepare much less publicize.  According to the European Union, however:

“Active ageing can give the baby-boom generation and tomorrow's older adults the opportunity to:

• stay in the workforce and share their experience
• keep playing an active role in society
• live as healthy and fulfilling lives as possible.

It is also key to maintaining solidarity between generations in societies with rapidly increasing numbers of older people. The challenge for politicians and stakeholders will be to improve opportunities for active ageing in general and for living independently, acting in areas as diverse as employment, health care, social services, adult learning, volunteering, housing, IT services or transport.

The European Year seeks to raise awareness of the issues and the best ways of dealing with them. But most of all it seeks to encourage all policymakers and stakeholders to set themselves goals and take action to meet them. 2012 should go beyond debating; it should start bringing tangible results.”

Should we join them?

(*Ageing is the correct spelling in British English)

We’ve made some significant changes to further strength that core: we are now a better informed staff with a new internal intranet page so that every JCHE employee can share news, accomplishments, questions and ideas about bettering our work; staff are participating more in agency wide decision making with interactive all-staff meetings and greater transparency; cross-departmental task forces are enabling staff to collaborate across departmental borders and assume more leadership; and a more self-reliant staff with skills obtained and practiced via trainings and seminars.

Most significantly, we opened Shillman House—our first truly mixed-income development (and our first truly new development in many, many years).  One always encounters the unexpected with a new venture, but mostly it is illustrating loudly and clearly the importance of our mission and the role we play in making the lives of our residents appropriately dignified.  Our top-notch on-site team, greatly aided by the expertise and energy of staff throughout the agency, are well on the way of fostering another real JCHE community.   

I am most grateful for the depth of support from the board—both as an entity and as individual board members.  I have found our board meetings to be energizing and insight producing—the level of engagement is enviable. I feel so lucky to have a board with so many talented people who are deeply committed to JCHE’s mission and legacy.

As I begin my second year, my immediate priority is to focus on further solidifying the base we need to simultaneously maintain the high performance for which we are known and meet the challenges we foresee down the road.  I am enthused about what’s ahead!

I would love to think that the reason both were drawn here is because of the depth of expertise we have on successful aging—that our living laboratory of how to support seniors to live independently and with dignity (and the support needed to stay that way) is the draw. After all, we are self-consciously an organization of reflective practitioners and we have a superb track record at providing housing that is desirable and well run.  And we think of ourselves as unique in our ability to provide luxury-level supports for people of all incomes—possible because of the generosity of our donors who recognize the need for helping people where they want to be.

But that would not be an honest analysis of what makes JCHE a popular place for politicians to learn and engage. On election days, the dining room in our Brighton campus becomes the neighborhood polling place. We have a history and practice of extremely high voter turnout.  Many of our residents are immigrants who prize their U.S. citizenship passionately.  They understand the power of the ballot box and generally never miss an opportunity to exercise their hard-earned franchise.

Yet, it all fits together. Our leaders come here to talk with their constituents. Our exceptional volunteer-led ESL and citizenship classes provided the knowledge needed for these residents to become Americans and therefore eligible to vote. Our open forums in every election season help residents become educated about issues and candidates. Our translators literally bridge the communication gap between legislators and citizens who speak Russian, Cantonese and Mandarin. It’s an interconnected process – and the end result of information seeking and gathering is democracy.

As always, your comments are welcome!

Warmly,

So I ran down to the Brookline Booksmith—our local, independent bookstore—and asked the always-helpful staff.  They pointed me to Elizabeth Berg’s collection: The Day I Ate Whatever I Wanted.  My plan: read the stories in order until I found one that was appropriate and quit reading after that.  I read the lead story and to my surprise, I loved every minute of it AND it was satisfying.  The companion story, The Day I Ate Absolutely Nothing That I Wanted was a hoot and also enjoyable.  I had my stories for the reading.  Nonetheless, a few nights later, I had read all of the 15 stories and found that, with the exception of one or two, I had been thoroughly absorbed.

I eagerly went to Golda and read the two first stories—which provoked a wonderful discussion.  Some thought it was ridiculous that someone would eat that much junk food in one day (from the title story, of course) and discussed the obesity epidemic.  Others related to the day of eating things that taste like cardboard and bemoaned how much we push ourselves to achieve some ideal body image.  Everyone had an insightful comment; everyone listened intently to one another.  I came away from the experience with two impressions:

1. It turns out that I do like short stories!  So much for restricting my reading selections without knowing all the options.  Will definitely read more by Elizabeth Berg then branch out to other authors.  Suggestions, anyone?

2. Whenever I spend time with our residents, it’s motivating and inspiring.  We all know that so much time has to be spent on budgets, reviews, letters, meetings and the like.  But what makes the time and occasionally-grind-like existence of management worthwhile is the exceptional moments of connecting with the people in our buildings.

As always, please send me your thoughts.

Warmly,

Since I started at JCHE, I have observed that the mid-level managers are eager to contribute to the overall well being of JCHE—even beyond their area of responsibility. In an effort to support this high level of engagement, we have been exploring a different organizational model in one of our departments – fund development. We devoted last week’s meeting to a discussion about this team’s experience.

When the vice president for this department retired in March, we decided to hold on refilling her position. Instead, the fund development staff became a self-managed team. We were just weeks away from our major fundraising event and it seemed logical for these individuals to be responsible for self-motivation and self-direction to manage this project while doing so in collaboration with each other.

When we invited the 3 members of the fundraising department to reflect on their experience at the management meeting, I worried about two things:

~ Would other staff feel threatened by some aspect of the presentation—either fear that they would get more work “dumped” on them from this model spreading throughout the agency, or feel threatened that their roles as managers undercut?

~ Would the fund development team gloss over the difficulties they experienced in an effort to present their effort in a completely positive light.

Fortunately, neither fear materialized. The team was honest, straight forward and thoughtful in their reflections.They cited some challenges. There was no obvious path for managing disagreements. There were times when it would have been easier to throw these issues at the person “in charge”. They were honest that there were times when stopping to discuss overall plans took away from doing the work itself. Sometimes they felt considerable pressure and uncertainty about time management – they had their own areas of responsibility as well as overall oversight. But they also spoke about what they gained from this experience. They talked about being free to “bring their whole brains” to work. They described the overall experience as tremendously satisfying. Not only did they coordinate a very successful event, but they did so while experiencing tremendous personal and professional growth.

Here are some of salient take-aways from the meeting (thanks to Maxine Bookless for compiling such a great list!):

~ The fund development team understood that in order for the event to succeed, they needed to work well individually and collectively.

~ Communication among team members rose to a new level, They shared mutual respect,enabling them to think and plan strategically.

~ Individuals had ownership of particular aspects of the event but did not feel as if they were standing alone. 

~ In the end the entire team was responsible for the outcome, but because the premise is collaboration, not competition it was an empowering process.

However, the consideration of landscaping plans had ballooned because of a concern about the color of the building exterior.  During the pre-construction permitting process, JCHE had shown a rendering of a two-toned building —white and taupe.  Post-permitting, the architect suggested that adding a third color—yellow—would improve the building’s appearance.  JCHE agreed and yellow was added.  Unfortunately, no one thought to bring this issue back to the ZBA for public approval.  Shillman was built, the yellow just appeared, and some townspeople found it disconcerting.  As our democracy facilitates, they expressed their disapproval by calling selectmen and board of appeals members who were also frustrated when caught off guard by the appearance of the additional color.

So what does this have to do with landscaping?  Despite their frustration, ZBA members recognized that forcing us to repaint would be a wasteful use of resources. Additional tree plantings, however, could increase the screening of the building and add value to the neighborhood.  They ordered us to hold a neighborhood meeting to discuss both re-painting and landscaping options in lieu of re-painting.  The neighbors endorsed the landscaping option.  The meeting generated good input and ideas. Our landscape architect drew up plans to respond to every concern we heard.  We presented these plans and, happily, our neighbors recognized our responsiveness.  We were asked by the ZBA to create a reserve fund for additional trees if it is determined that the site is too bare during the winter months.

We were very pleased with the outcome of this meeting:

• We have finally resolved all the permitting issues.  The additional trees, while expensive, add value to the property and neighborhood.
• Our neighbors (and the town meeting members) expressed appreciation for our willingness to respond to their issues.  We were pleased by their reaction: many of these immediate abutters had opposed the Shillman House project at other junctures.

Last night we handed one another an olive branch. This is something we have long looked forward to doing.  We have an opportunity now to start fresh and be good neighbors to each other.  I look forward to that.

As always, I welcome your comments.

Warmly,