Leader of Syosset-based ERASE Racism to retire after 20 years of advocacy

Elaine Gross, founder and president of Syosset-based ERASE Racism, announced Monday she plans to retire, prompting admiring assessments of her 20 years leading a civil rights organization that used research and advocacy to expose segregation in Long Island housing and education.

"Elaine was that spark," said Marge Rogatz, a longtime member of ERASE Racism's board of directors, who talked of the nonprofit's beginnings under the aegis of the Long Island Community Foundation, a philanthropic organization. "We started by doing what Elaine suggested and carried out, and that was research, serious research. And she wrote, and we published, very important … large reports on fair housing first … From housing we went into education."

Gross, 71, said in a statement Monday announcing her pending retirement: "We have had landmark accomplishments on numerous fronts through research, policy and advocacy, legal action, and educating and mobilizing the public. We have driven policy change at local, regional, and statewide levels and through national coalitions."

It was time to "hand over the reins" to new leadership, said Gross, who intends to retire once her successor is named. Gross said the board has selected the search firm DCM Associates. Board co-chair Edward Pichardo said that they expect to hire a new president by June or soon thereafter.

In an interview with Newsday, Gross cited among the group's accomplishments, its report on the lack of state action taken on housing discrimination complaints, and advocacy to get Nassau and Suffolk to include "source of income" protections against housing discrimination.

Civil rights attorney Frederick K. Brewington, member of ERASE Racism’s board, said in an email that Gross' "clear minded efforts to move both government and private industry to a more educated and responsive place on the dynamics and harm caused by current and past systems that perpetuate racism cannot be denied."

Suffolk County Executive Steve Bellone said in a statement: “Elaine Gross is an incredible advocate against racial discrimination and a champion for fair housing practices. Her work has benefited all Long Islanders and she has successfully advocated for action here in Suffolk, including the meaningful expansion of human rights laws that protect against discrimination in housing, employment and public spaces, and the advancement of affordable housing developments that allow families to stay on Long Island.”

Gross added in an interview that she initially thought in 2020 of "telling my board" about retiring, noting her husband, Jess Gross, had retired at the end of 2019.

"But then when the pandemic hit, that was not the time to be talking about retiring," she said. "I needed to stay here and steady the ship through difficult times … But I do feel that now would be a good time to find someone who's also interested in making a move."

Gross said when she started talking to a cross-section of Long Island leaders about structural racism, "there were so many people who would say to me, 'We really don't have a problem here.' The problem was here but they didn't recognize it."

Many people back then didn't even know the history of Levittown, she said. The development built in 1947 had initial deeds with racial covenants prohibiting Blacks from living there, an example of structural racism.

"When we started, no one was talking about that, and very few people knew about it," Gross said. "Over that 20 years, that has changed tremendously."

By Olivia Winslow

olivia.winslow@newsday.com@newsollie