Jayne Colino, departing Director of Newton’s Department of Senior Services, began her career in Newton in 1990 as Director of Senior Services in the basement of Newtonville’s branch library at 345 Walnut Street. At that time, Senior Services facilities consisted of the children’s reading room, bathroom and two closets — a familiar setting for Jayne, a graduate of the Newton school system. Out of that modest beginning, with Jayne’s drive and leadership, the Senior Center evolved into a three-story full-time, full-service facility — soon to be a community center.
A Newton Native — her grandfather was Henry Swartz, whose family founded Swartz Hardware in Nonantum — Jayne grew up with her four siblings on Albemarle Road. At fourteen, Jayne fudged her age and went to work at a local nursing home, where she cared for people at the very end of their lives and read their life stories in their charts. Drawn to older people because of her close relationship with her grandfather, Jayne worked for West Suburban Elder Services (WSES) while she attended Framingham State College. When she graduated, WSES hired her first as a case manager then as a Protective Services manager, which expanded from dealing with physical and emotional abuse of elders to financial abuse and self abuse. She has used her broad experience and skill sets developing Newton’s senior services.
Hired by Newton’s Department of Human Services in 1990, Jayne first oversaw the drop-in centers at Newtonville and Newton Corner. Community Development Block Grant funds were allocated to repurpose the Newtonville Library into a senior center. Jayne’s local competition for the CDBG funds was Fat Pellegrini (the unofficial “mayor of Nonantum”), who wanted to use the money for the Nonantum Multi Service Center at the American Legion Post 440, also in Nonantum. “Fat stood on a table and argued for Nonantum, “ Jayne recalled, but she responded and won. The Library at 345 Walnut Street became the Senior Center which opened in 1993.
BC — before Covid — Newton’s Senior Center offered an increasing number of programs as well as lunch to over 40 people a day. Then as now, the Center offered daily exercise classes, art and learning programs, discussion groups, and an ever expanding array of technology classes. Increasingly, Jayne is reconnecting with her former school teachers, who have come to the center for its programs and services. Always welcoming to a diverse population of elders, Jayne encouraged non-English-speaking seniors to come together at lunchtime to socialize with friends and access services. Post-Covid, only about ten people a day eat at the center. Most prefer the “grab and go” lunches.
Bridging what she calls “the digital divide” is an ongoing challenge, met with the help of technology tutor volunteers and the addition of five tablets that expand the Center’s digital universe. Jayne, a former president of the Massachusetts Councils on Aging, applied for a grant for thirty-five tablets to be distributed among seven community councils on aging. Each center received five tablets. Newton’s tablets augment the public access computers currently available at the Center. Tutors worked with people who had been using the public access computers to teach them about maximizing the use of tablets, putting Zoom, brain games, information, and online libraries at people’s fingertips.
At the same time, Jayne underscores the feeling for some “of being isolated on a technical island” without access to cellphones and apps — especially for people relying on the NewMo transportation service in Newton, which requires a phone app.
Covid brought the closing of the Senior Center but opened up the almost limitless online possibilities of Zoom. Jayne is proud of the Zoom programming connecting people with people and activities. Zumba is the most popular of the Center’s online programs, accommodating more than 200 people at a time. With daily Zoom classes, program participation has increased, Jayne says, explaining that Zoom provides “everyone with their own sound control; they can get close to the screen and they don’t have to get dressed. Since Zoom, we haven’t had to cancel a single class due to weather.” Now, people want hybrid programming, but that also brings challenges because “people at home may feel neglected and people in the audience can get distracted.”
With the transition to Mayor Fuller’s NEWCal community and senior center, programming will be available among five locations: Hyde Community Center, 345 Walnut Street; Brigham House; the War Memorial at City Hall for art classes; and the Newton Library for S.H.I.N.E. (Serving the Health Insurance Needs of Everyone) and tax assistance. Jayne is also hoping to accommodate the Senior Center’s ceramic program during construction of NewCAL.
For Jayne, who leaves Senior Services in January, retirement represents an unknown. “It’s my first retirement,” she says. She, her husband, Dan and her son also Dan, have lived in a two-bedroom house on Elder Road in Needham and are moving to Nobleboro, Maine, where Jayne plans to be involved in a project to build affordable end-of-life cottages, “keeping older adults in the center of the village.” Until now, “I “lived” in Newton and “slept” in Needham,” but her move to Maine will give her the opportunity to live and work in the same place.
Susan Albright, Newton City Council President, praised Jayne Colino’s “understanding of seniors and her empathy for seniors in our society. Having served with Jayne on the NewCAL working group, President Albright credited “Jayne’s understanding of the building’s needs, which will result in a fabulous center.“ Of Jayne’s departure, the Council President said ” I don’t know Senior Services without Jayne Colino,” to which Jayne Colino replied, “I’m curious to find out who Jayne Colino is without Senior Services.”
