Elaine Gross back to lead Erase Racism in Syosset on temporary basis

Elaine Gross, the founder of ERASE Racism who retired from the Syosset-based civil rights organization three years ago, has returned to temporarily lead the nearly 25-year-old nonprofit while she and the board of directors chart a new course for the organization during challenging times, officials announced Tuesday.

"I see that the big task at hand is as a kind of vision keeper," Gross told Newsday in an interview Tuesday, "and steering the ship, to help the board think about what happens in these times, specifically. They had already scheduled a board retreat coming up in September. I'm grateful for that" and for the opportunity to "do my piece in helping the conversation be a fruitful one."

Gross, 75, who retired from the group in 2022, said it was too soon to say how long she would remain in her role. Gross already had been named president emerita when she retired and said the board of directors voted last week to make her a member. She said she was assuming the presidency on a temporary basis "because I'm not interested in being unretired for some great length of time."

Co-chairs of the board said they were grateful for Gross' return, as well as that of acting president, April Francis Taylor, who was appointed in March and stepped down this month to become deputy superintendent of an international education organization, board co-chair Kalpana Bhandarkar told Newsday in an interview Tuesday.

"She did an excellent job of moving forward the Long Island Housing Coalition [which ERASE Racism founded and chairs] and bringing in funding," Bhandarkar said of Taylor.

Attorney Laura Harding led the organization from 2022 until January 2025.

Bhandarkar, co-board chair Ed Pichardo and Gross, in separate interviews, referenced challenges ahead for the civil rights organization at a time when the Trump administration has sought to outlaw diversity, equity and inclusion efforts in government, educational institutions and private industry, and recast the nation's fraught racial history.

"I would say that it's even more important that organizations like ERASE Racism not only are in existence, but thrive and shine a light on the injustices and racism," Bhandarkar said.

Pichardo added, "It's important ERASE Racism continue its work, especially in this time period where there are a number of forces out there trying to turn back the clock."

Gross said the context of these times may mean the organization has to shift in some way as a response to a "toxic climate" around racial issues.

"We understand the current dilemma, in the context of challenges we've always faced, at some level, being a civil rights organization on Long Island," Gross said. "It's not that suddenly there's something that we've never seen before. We've never seen it at this level."

She continued: "But there's a real movement, if you will, that has taken over the federal government, that has very aggressively pushed a narrative that is totally untruthful and not historically based. And so all of our work has been historically based. And for them to say the conversations around structural racism are completely false, and then to embed that in the federal government, to do everything possible to make sure that there is no room for what we know to be actual, honest history" was a big challenge.

Nevertheless, Gross said she was "encouraged" by conversations she's having with school districts interested in ERASE Racism's programs.

And she was "optimistic" about ERASE Racism's next chapter.

"It is a new day," Gross said. "But it also means we can't assume that what we've always done is what we can continue to do in quite the same way."

Newsday's Nicholas Spangler contributed to this story.

By Olivia Winslow

olivia.winslow@newsday.com@newsollie