INTRODUCING THE ECG LEADERSHIP TEAM
Ask leaders of the ECG Community Group how much time they devote to organizing the pot-luck gatherings, the ListServ or the newsletter for our building… the response is likely to be, “oh, a few hours here or there…” True? Maybe. But low key as they may sound, the ECG Steering Committee foursome bring a powerhouse of talents and professional expertise to their mission for creating a neighborly environment for Esplanade residents. Add their light touch… and you have the picture.
Here they are, l to r Jessie von Hippel, Jane Hilburt-Davis, Mary Jo Bane and Susan Barron, shown at their monthly meeting to plan the next Newsletter, talk about scheduling an event, review activity on the ListServ. In conversations with them, it became clear that they are in for the long haul…and that they are enjoying their community building and the gentle pace of their effort.
“We’re a cohesive foursome,” says Susan Barron. Each member of the team has specific responsibilities. Susan works on planning the Newsletter, does some of the writing and organizes community get togethers. Jane plans the agenda for their team meetings and keeps careful minutes, writes many of the neighbor profiles and stories about nature for the Newsletter… Mary Jo organizes, lays out and produces the ECG Newsletter, and Jessie coordinates the ListServ that offers residents a way to communicate with others in the building.
A self-described “can do” devotee, Susan is a pediatric neuropsychologist who was Director of the Learning and Development Center at Mount Sinai School of Medicine for many years. In 2008, she moved to Cambridge and to the Esplanade, to be closer to family. She continued her work in pediatric neuropsychology part time at Tufts Medical Center and has recently retired.
A key element of her professional life has always been to help people believe they can do things. People would come to Susan with problems, and she would ask them, “…what are we going to do about solving it?” She knew from the time she moved to the Esplanade that she’d like to help create a friendly atmosphere. With a couple of friends in the building she soon put together an informal potluck gathering with sign-up sheets placed around the room, asking for ideas to help get activities started. Susan’s husband Bob Kagan started an Environmental Study Group, other people signed up to begin several Book Groups.
At that first gathering, Jessie von Hippel took the sign-up opportunity to create an Aging in Place Group. For a first meeting, members with medical and other expertise volunteered to talk about resources and personal experiences. The group met a few times in person, and then held a few meetings on Zoom during the Covid years, and continues to share relevant articles and information.
Gradually the Steering Committee came together, holding their first meeting in January 2018. They started a modest newsletter at first sent online as a pdf to any resident who had been adding contact information to those early sign-up sheets. During the isolating Covid years, the need for creative ways for people to be in touch grew exponentially. Mary Jo and Jessie, with a penchant for scouting out ways to solve problems, found Square Space, an excellent program for creating a modern website and producing newsletters. Also feeling the importance of hearing what neighbors were asking for, the Steering Committee welcomed the suggestions of new resident Michael Altman to start a ListServ for our community. Working with Michael, Jessie searched around for the right digital program, found and learned to use emaildodo.com to create the ECG Community ListServ that now has over seventy residents offering ideas and resources, asking questions, sharing photos, and airing concerns and comments. The growing online connection shows that many neighbors want to be in touch, team members say.
The ListServ adds a new component to Jessie von Hippel’s life. She worked for many years as editor of scholarly articles and books at MIT’s Center for International Studies. Earlier she had worked as editor for the World Peace Foundation’s journal International Organization. Now she works as a part-time editor, mainly for her husband Eric, a Professor at MIT’s Sloan School of Management, and his innovation research. A nationally ranked tennis player, Jessie competes “seriously and competitively” as a member of the USTA’s New England team. This past month she was on a winning team at a national women’s tournament in Florida.
Jessie likes to reflect on why she enjoys playing in tournaments. ‘’I really do this for the challenge and for the exercise,” she says, adding that she learns a lot in the process: “It's a way to understand what works or not under pressure, and this carries over to life.”
Mary Jo Bane, a retired Professor of Public Policy and Management at the Harvard Kennedy School, taught herself SquareSpace, learned a whole new serious set of skills, and became producer of the new twenty-first century style ECG newsletter. Full of profiles of interesting residents, reviews of books read in the building’s Book Groups, reports of local news of happenings on the river, reviews of restaurants and other topics, the modern ECG Newsletter is now read by about 160 residents living here.
Not that Mary Jo lacked plenty of other work to continue in retirement. Today she serves on the boards of Project Hope, a multi-service organization in Nubian Square, and MDRC, a social science research organization. Her commitment to work in social policy began in the Peace Corps in Liberia in the 1960’s. In addition to her long tenure at Harvard, she worked in several government roles, as Commissioner in the New York State Department of Social Services and in the federal government as Assistant Secretary in the Department of Health and Human Services in the Clinton Administration. She is the author of several books and articles on poverty, welfare, and families. She and her husband Ken Winston love to walk all over town, to the North End, Charlestown, to the Public Garden. Often their walking adventures lead to exploring a new restaurant, and neighbors get their recommendations on the ListServ.
As producer of the ECG Newsletter and contributor to the ListServ, Mary Jo defined the difference between the two programs. The ListServ is a great way for neighbors to communicate with each other, seek input and suggestions on everything from a local dentist to the latest restaurant discovery, and air issues such as the new signage with others in the building The Newsletter is planned and put together by the leadership team and contains several featured articles each time, such as what is happening at Triangle Park, a “Meet Your Neighbors” segment, thoughtful musings on the river and nature around us, and reviews of books the various Book Groups have read, with other residents always invited to submit articles.
Mary Jo and Ken moved here in 2014 after many years of caring for their 125-year-old Dorchester house. They love their new home, especially looking out at the snow rather than contending with it as homeowners. It is a source of pleasure for her that “…after the weird pandemic years, our building is becoming more of a neighborhood.”
Jane Hilburt-Davis serves as the organizer and leader of team meetings. She writes profiles of accomplished neighbors, considered by many the highlight of each Newsletter, and she organizes the agenda and writes minutes for the Steering Committee meetings. Her career as a clinical social worker led her to really create a new field of study and work with family businesses. With a colleague, she established a non-profit training institute and became a leader in this new professional field of study. Jane has trained, coached, and mentored hundreds of family business consultants worldwide, and she has co-authored CONSULTING TO FAMILY BUSINESS, now considered a standard textbook in the field of working with family businesses.
Jane calls herself an amateur naturalist and humor junkie, among many other interests. She kept tabs on the 2021 story of cygnets by the Charles River, posting on the ECG Newsletter her touching stories of the family of swans living near the Esplanade. Jane added her own beautiful photographs of the swan and cygnet family along with the photographs of others.
Older editions of the ECG Newsletter are still available at esplanadecommunity.com
Jane and Susan stay in shape with almost daily long walks, Mary Jo by exploring the neighborhood and downtown on foot, and Jessie by playing her tennis. Three of the ECG team leaders give courses at HILR, an adult learning center, Mary Jo leading courses on topics in social science, Jane leading courses on humor and topics in nature, and Susan leading courses on gender studies and psychology.
These four dynamic women have found a way to keep doing what they always did, each in her own way working towards making life better for others. Now, as a collegial team they forged by doing what came naturally when they moved into the Esplanade, they are giving time they don’t really keep track of that is offering other neighbors an environment growing ever more friendly and collaborative. The four leaders convinced this writer that they are taking steps toward these community goals carefully, slowly, and with respect for neighbors’ needs for privacy. What a pleasure for me to spend some time with each of them.
Jane Weingarten