Jones Urges “Go Farther and Faster” through Collaboration at UMass Boston’s Urban Leadership Symposium

Calling out for a new vision for the City of Boston, community leader Hubie Jones told a UMass Boston audience at a April 25 College of Management symposium on urban leadership that “our challenge is to build a culture of collaboration.”

“Urban leaders need to be connectors,” said Jones, a scholar and activist who has made a lifelong commitment to work for social justice.  Former special assistant to the chancellor for urban affairs at UMass Boston, Jones is now at City Year and is dean emeritus of the Boston University School of Social Work.

Jones outlined requisites for urban leadership that included the effective branding of a city, a concern for public safety for all, support for arts and cultural programs, a global perspective, and a commitment to working together that includes soliciting input from people outside the “inner circle.” 

“What is the glue that holds us together? Opportunity made possible by public amenities and private philanthropy,” said Jones, arguing that a fair distribution of wealth and resources within the city was critical to civic health.

“You can’t know a city until you know a city’s unshakeable civic values,” he said, comparing Boston’s strengths and weaknesses with other cities in the United States and internationally. 

He was joined by a panel of alumni from UMass Boston’s Emerging Leaders Program, an executive training program for young professionals at the College of Management’s Center for Collaborative Leadership.   

Moderated by Sherry Penney, professor of leadership and founding director of the Center for Collaborative Leadership, the panel included:  Eduardo Crespo ’72; R.J. Donofrio, MBA ’98; Joseph Morrissey ’05, and Mary Truong ’92.  They responded with their definitions of urban leadership and their experiences as leaders in greater Boston. 

The event is part of the university’s weeklong series of academic symposia focused on UMass Boston’s role in local and global communities.  Michael F. Collins, MD, will be formally inaugurated as the seventh chancellor of the University of Massachusetts Boston on Friday, April 28. The celebration events will be capped off with the university’s annual Scholarship Gala in support of UMass Boston students.  For more information, see www.umb.edu/inauguration.