Elaine Gross is Founder and President of ERASE Racism, the 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.
Ms. Gross has led ERASE Racism to prominence as a champion of fair housing. In 2016, for instance, she started the statewide campaign that, with joint leadership of partner organizations, 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. As a result, it is now generally illegal for landlords to turn away tenants because they receive any form of legal non-wage income such as alimony, Section 8 housing support, and other public benefits for veterans and people with disabilities.
She also initiated research on racial discrimination in the rental housing market on Long Island that led to successful legal action against discriminatory apartment owners and managers in both Nassau and Suffolk Counties. That research provided a model for Newsday’s landmark 2019 study “Long Island Divided,” which used the same techniques to investigate racial discrimination in the home buying market, which in turn prompted two public hearings held jointly by three New York State Senate Committees in 2021. Ms. Gross was invited to testify and offer recommendation for improved enforcement at both joint hearings, and those hearings led to enactment in 2021 of nine State fair housing laws.
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 evidenced-based strategic actions. Such actions include educational campaigns on the benefits of diverse learning environments, comprised of diverse students and teachers, policy advocacy and promotion of culturally responsive education that can sustain all students, professional development for teachers, and leadership development for students.
Ms. Gross has created such ERASE Racism services as Education Equity Seminars and Leadership Development Programs for educators, students and parents. She 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 topic of racial equity in the region through public forums and curated anti-racism workshops, exploring issues related to structural racism and implicit bias.
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 and the Board of Directors of the State of New York Mortgage Agency, as well as other boards.
Ms. Gross 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.