Elaine Gross is Founder and President of ERASE Racism, a regional civil rights organization based on Long Island that exposes and addresses the devastating impact of historical and ongoing structural racism, particularly in housing and public school education. It does so through research, policy advocacy, legal action, and educating and mobilizing the public – driving policy change at local, regional and statewide levels and through national coalitions. Under her leadership, ERASE Racism has been recognized locally and nationally for its cutting-edge work.
Ms. Gross has led ERASE Racism to prominence as a champion of fair housing, publishing research reports, undertaking litigation, advocating policy changes and heightening public understanding of the context of structural racism as it relates to housing discrimination and segregation. She has led efforts that have amended and strengthened local fair housing laws. She has overseen ERASE Racism's successful litigation in Nassau and Suffolk counties against property owners and management companies that discriminated in showing rental apartments, based on race. In 2016, she started the statewide campaign that led in 2019 to New York's enactment of a ban on housing discrimination against people who depend on legal non-wage sources of income for their rent. That campaign, later co-led by ERASE Racism and three other organizations, grew to include more than 100 organizations.
Ms. Gross has similarly provided the vision and programmatic leadership for ERASE Racism's Education Equity Initiative, which works collaboratively with educators, students and parents to take strategic actions to support the promotion of racially integrated schools and classrooms. Those actions center around the researched evidence of the benefits of diverse learning environments.
She has led educational and policy advocacy campaigns to promote culturally responsive-sustaining education, educator diversity, and restorative justice practices. She has created such ERASE Racism services as Education Equity Seminars and Leadership Development Programs for educators, students and parents. She has supervised the creation of the award-winning documentary "A Tale of Two Schools: Race and Education on Long Island." She has also brought to public attention ERASE Racism's authoritative research on school segregation, including creating an infographic revealing that segregation in Long Island's public schools is still growing.
To enhance public awareness and the context in which policymaking takes place, Ms. Gross has elevated public engagement on the crucial topic of racial equity in the region. She launched in 2018 the ongoing, region-wide, public initiative "How Do We Build a Just Long Island?" The initiative began with five public forums across Long Island and continues to involve Long Islanders in exploring issues related to structural racism and implicit bias and in participating in legislative and policy actions.
Ms. Gross has frequently delivered speeches to government, nonprofit, and business groups, colleges and universities. She has published opinion articles and appears regularly in influential media. She is a member of the Long Island Regional Economic Development Council, appointed by Governor Andrew Cuomo, as well as other boards. She has received the Lifetime Achievement Award of Long Island Business News, among other honors.
Ms. Gross has extensive experience in research, program development and evaluation at public and private agencies. She was hired in 2001 by the Long Island Community Foundation, where she conceived and launched the ERASE Racism Initiative, which became an independent not-for-profit corporation in 2004. Her previous experience includes serving as Founding Executive Director of Sustainable America, Program Officer at the Unitarian Universalist Veatch Program at Shelter Rock, Deputy Director of the Boston Housing Partnership, and Human Services Director at the Boston Housing Authority.
She graduated from Boston University, where she earned her MSW with a focus on community organizing, policy, planning and non-profit management.
