Merging of ESNA
My name is Nick - I've lived on Waltham Street in Eight Streets for 8 years. I've been working with John McLachlan on restarting the Eight Streets Neighborhood Association, as well as Ruth Dowling, another Eight Streets resident. But together we decided to rethink everything.
The Eight Streets Neighborhood Association is exploring an exciting opportunity — a potential merger with the Ellis Neighborhood Association, to become the Ellis Eight Streets neighborhood.
By joining forces, we believe we can build a stronger, more organized voice for our neighborhood and better serve everyone who calls this community home. Ellis is quite organized for membership, communications, fundraising and events, and we believe we'd be able to better advocate for neighborhood needs with the city if we worked together. We are still working on the fine points, but in general, we would have a combined board to deal with official city issues, while the individual neighborhoods would still be here for social events and connecting with our neighbors at the local level. But a combined board will give us a bigger voice with the city. Our hopes are together, with your help, we can get a model together that will entice other NAs to join us and start to interact with the city with one voice.
Below are some FAQs we have been compiling as we start talking specifics and gain feedback from residents from both NAs
Click on any grey bar below to expand the question and answers…
The Eight Streets Neighborhood Association is exploring an exciting opportunity — a potential merger with the Ellis Neighborhood Association, to become the Ellis Eight Streets neighborhood.
By joining forces, we believe we can build a stronger, more organized voice for our neighborhood and better serve everyone who calls this community home. Ellis is quite organized for membership, communications, fundraising and events, and we believe we'd be able to better advocate for neighborhood needs with the city if we worked together. We are still working on the fine points, but in general, we would have a combined board to deal with official city issues, while the individual neighborhoods would still be here for social events and connecting with our neighbors at the local level. But a combined board will give us a bigger voice with the city. Our hopes are together, with your help, we can get a model together that will entice other NAs to join us and start to interact with the city with one voice.
Below are some FAQs we have been compiling as we start talking specifics and gain feedback from residents from both NAs
Click on any grey bar below to expand the question and answers…
What problem are you trying to solve?
While neighborhood associations (NAs) are important homes of community interaction, here in the South End, having several small NAs poses many challenges.
- We have around 14 NAs in the South End. This makes dealing with the city much more challenging versus other single neighborhoods. It also diminishes the South End’s ability to speak as a chorus.
- NAs tend to be driven by single individuals. This places an unfair burden on individuals, and often results in a directionless NA when they step down. Several NAs go on hiatus for years until a new group comes together to resume the NA.
- The city is currently relying on abutters' meetings more than NA meetings for local feedback on projects.
- Meetings have light attendance. Whether in-person, Zoom, or Hybrid, local NA meetings have experienced declining attendance.
- The residents are changing. With kids and the internet and generally busy lives, finding volunteers is more challenging than ever.
Why are Eight Streets and the Ellis NA considering merging?
Eight Streets is a small, all-volunteer association, and like many neighborhood groups, participation has dropped off in recent years - as such regular business meetings have been placed on hold while the board figures out a sustainable path forward.
Ellis is one of the larger, more active associations in the South End, with established committees, steady membership, and ongoing programming. For this reason, forming a merger with Ellis makes more sense than trying to form an Eight Streets board - where we might fall into the same participation issues as above.
Merging lets Eight Streets residents plug into an organization with capacity, more funding, and consistent leadership, without losing a voice of their own. The result, Ellis Eight Streets, would be a single, stronger association covering a considerable swath of the South End.
Ellis is one of the larger, more active associations in the South End, with established committees, steady membership, and ongoing programming. For this reason, forming a merger with Ellis makes more sense than trying to form an Eight Streets board - where we might fall into the same participation issues as above.
Merging lets Eight Streets residents plug into an organization with capacity, more funding, and consistent leadership, without losing a voice of their own. The result, Ellis Eight Streets, would be a single, stronger association covering a considerable swath of the South End.
Why the name "Ellis Eight Streets" specifically?
The name keeps both neighborhood identities visible rather than having one absorb the other. It signals that this is a partnership, not a takeover — Eight Streets isn't being folded quietly into "Ellis"; it's named as an equal part of the new organization.
However, if more neighborhoods consider joining our fold, transitioning to a more combined name like South End East wouldn’t be out of the question.
However, if more neighborhoods consider joining our fold, transitioning to a more combined name like South End East wouldn’t be out of the question.
Why only Ellis?
ESNA and Ellis have approached several abutters, but they are not yet interested in combining forces. We hope that by merging, and answering many difficult questions as we decide how to merge, more NAs may join us in the future for a more united neighborhood.
Does this mean Eight Streets is disappearing?
Not at all! Not as a community nor a neighborhood - only as a separate legal entity. The Eight Streets name, identity, and history remain as part of our story. What changes is the organizational structure: instead of two small associations each struggling for volunteers and funding, there can be one better-resourced association with dedicated representation for both neighborhoods.
Will Eight Streets lose its voice or control over local issues?
No. Eight Streets will have guaranteed seats on the Ellis Eight Streets board, reserved specifically for Eight Streets residents. That means decisions affecting Eight Streets (e.g.local development review, park issues, abutter notifications, traffic and safety concerns) will continue to have dedicated Eight Streets representation in the room, but now backed by an organization with the staff time, funding, and process to successfully follow through.
And, as stated, the city is relying more than ever on community and abutters meetings for feedback on projects, and those meetings often cross NA boundaries.
And, as stated, the city is relying more than ever on community and abutters meetings for feedback on projects, and those meetings often cross NA boundaries.
What do Eight Streets residents actually gain from this?
- More organizational capacity
- More consistent funding
- More consistent advocacy
- Continued local representation
What happens to dues, membership, and existing members?
One of the benefits of the merger is that the combined entity will share a membership portal which allows folks to register, sign up for newsletters and notifications, and provides detailed information about the association. Eight Street members will be granted one year of free membership to the merged association. Here is a link to the current website for Ellis, which has a membership link. Once merged, this will be updated to reflect the new name and new geographical scope: https://www.ellisneighborhood.org/
What happens to the Eight Streets website, email list, and Facebook?
- The website, as it currently stands, is a challenge for a single member to regularly update. Likely valuable content will eventually merge into a combined website. We can retain the domain name and have it point to either our FB page or the new web pages
- The two (2) email lists will merge. Ellis has a great paid email service for newsletters, announcements, and services. ESNA email list will merge into this list.
- Our Facebook page can remain as is, with members sharing information at the hyper-local level.
Will the boundaries of Eight Streets change?
No, the boundaries will remain as-is. The merger simply combines two associations administratively - it does not change property lines, City Council districts, zoning, or how the City defines the neighborhood boundaries.
How will decisions about board seats and structure be made? Did Eight Streets residents have input?
This is what our community meetings this summer intend to accomplish.
Who can I contact with more questions?
This steering committee will be lead by Nicholas Kelly. Nick should be able to make a new email address and have an email to (for example) merger@eightstreets.org go to several recipients.
Additional questions can be directed to merger@eightstreets.org