It Takes a Village to Build an Island

Sarah Hughes is what those on Martha’s Vineyard call a “wash-ashore.”

“I came for the weekend about 23 years ago,” recalls Hughes, a vice president for Marsh McLennan Agency’s (MMA) Northeast Business Insurance team. “About two weeks after that, I called my parents and said, ‘Send my stuff here. I’m never coming home.’”

You may be thinking Hughes was drawn to the idyllic island town for its “summer playground” reputation, but you couldn’t be more wrong. Summer is her least favorite season on the island—something that’s true, she says, for many of its year-round residents. Of course, there’s lots to love about Martha’s Vineyard in the summer, which is why its population swells from around 23,000 people during the offseason to as many as 200,000 residents and visitors during those warm summer months. But when the days get cooler and the vacationers thin out, that, Hughes says, is when the best part about Martha’s Vineyard comes to light: “The people who live here have always been what makes this place so special,” she says. “There’s something about living on an island that just binds each one of us together—we all take care of each other.”

For the last 11 years, Hughes has helped steward her community and find solutions to the significant economic issues it faces: affordability, accessibility, and labor shortages. She is a founding member of the Martha’s Vineyard Builders’ Association (MVBA), an organization that provides resources, training, and networking opportunities for the local construction industry, one of the island’s largest employment sectors.

“I find there is a great deal of overlap in the core principles of the MVBA and MMA.  Both are built on integrity, commitment, and accountability, and as we are an all-volunteer organization, you’ve got to have a lot of passion—that is something I have in spades,” she says.
 

While being on an island might help bind the community, there’s an obvious practical issue when it comes to housing: There’s a limited amount of space. Building supplies for housing—or, really, anything—need to be shipped or flown in, causing “hyper-inflation” in prices, Hughes says. Martha’s Vineyard also has a land bank fee that adds 2% to every home purchase. The funds are used to buy land that’s preserved as public space, an important mission. But it also increases the cost of a home and reduces the amount of land available for housing.

These factors have pushed the median home price on Martha’s Vineyard to upwards of $1.5 million. “That really puts it out of reach for your everyday, working-class person,” Hughes says. “Where will your firemen live? Where will your police officers live? Where will the nurses and doctors and teachers live?”

The MVBA works to tackle this problem and make the island a more affordable place to live by providing training and resources, scholarships, and career pathways that lead to homeownership. “There are people from all walks of life, all different nationalities, all different backgrounds here,” Hughes says. “And the people who are here, in my opinion, we’re all meant to be here.” They also work with a variety of mission-aligned groups on the island, such as the Island Housing Trust, Habitat for Humanity, Healthy Aging MV, and others.
 

As part of its work, the MVBA hosts a variety of educational events. Anyone with a construction supervisor’s license is required to do continuing education, just like an insurance agent would, and by offering such programs on the island, people can get their training without wasting time, energy, or money by having to leave the island, Hughes says. Recently, the group even began offering training in multiple languages. 

The association also hosts networking events. Hughes fondly remembers one man who was just starting his career as a carpenter. “That night, I saw this young man talking to one of the most elite builders on the island,” she says. He wrapped up the conversation by giving the elite builder a business card his wife had created that afternoon. “That really solidified for me how important it is to get everyone in one room,” she says.
 

Hughes and her fellow association members are also working to inspire the next generation of builders. They’re planning their second annual Spark M.V., an event that aims to inspire the island’s young people to consider a career in construction, which is facing a workforce shortage. The first Spark M.V. took place last year as part of the association’s 10th anniversary celebration. It allowed kids to (safely) work with tools and learn more about construction. “That was such a cool thing that now many schools are asking us to do Spark Days, and we are expanding our event to include a day at the local high school,” Hughes says. “Being able to see those kids get excited in that way was like nothing I’ve ever experienced before. MMA colleague Sarah Hughes and the Martha’s Vineyard Builders’ Association work to bolster home building on the island. But it also reminded me: This is exactly what the Builders’ Association is all about.” 

“Doing this work is one of the greatest honors of my life,” she says. “The mission and opportunity to serve my community is one I am quite passionate about and very proud of. Over the years, we have developed into a strong group of professionals with a commitment to the island, and our membership structure ensures fair and open access to all.”