Due to inclement weather, the press conference has been postponed. New date to be announced soon.
MEDIA ALERT
Press Conference: FRIENDS OF SIXTH STREET COMMUNITY CENTER ADDRESS OUSTER OF FORMER EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR AND CITE BOARD’S OPERATIONAL AND FINANCIAL MISCONDUCT; COMPLAINT TO BE FILED WITH NEW YORK STATE ATTORNEY GENERAL — MONDAY, June 16th
Friends of Sixth Street Community Center on the Lower East Side will hold a press conference on Monday, June 16th at 12 noon to announce the filing of a complaint to the New York State Attorney General alleging serious violations of the nonprofit Sixth Street Community Center’s board, whose decisions have severely impacted the Center’s mission, funding and operational initiatives. In April, the Sixth Street board, without notice, fired the Center’s Executive Director of 35 years, Howard Brandstein, going so far as to call the NYPD to remove him from the premises after a midnight lock out. His possessions were seized and Sixth Street archives were trashed. Earlier in January, Mr. Brandstein filed a complaint against the board with the New York State Division of Human Rights following a year of the board’s ceaseless harassment and threats against him.
Actions by the Center’s current four-member board go against the very history of the building itself — a former synagogue gifted for the development of the new Community Center as a way for keeping progressive politics and programs continuing long into the future — a legacy from one generation to the next. The nonprofit’s current board has acted in a detrimental financial and operational manner impacting children, teen and food-based programs, preventing numerous low-income people from accessing them, and withholding funds earmarked for operational expenses including Mr. Brandstein’s salary. Board members refuse to fundraise for the Center and with the firing of Mr. Brandstein sabotaged a $100,000 community land trust planning grant to develop low-income housing, a project spearheaded by him. Over the past three years, Mr. Brandstein raised $2.25 million for the Center.
Friends of Sixth Street Community Center began organizing in January of this year in response to the threats to the Community Center’s mission and programming by the board. In February, to consolidate its unaccountable power, the board changed the Center’s bylaws to reduce the required number of members from seven to three and eliminated the advisory committee mandated by the earlier bylaws.
Friends of Sixth Street Community Center will also be announcing new community members who will serve on the Board-in-Exile.
Text of the complaint being filed with the New York State Attorney General includes this introduction:
“On behalf of Friends of Sixth Street Community Center (“Friends”), a coalition of over 150 community members, organizations, and longtime supporters, we submit this urgent complaint regarding egregious governance failures, financial malfeasance, retaliatory practices, and operational misconduct at the Sixth Street Community Center, Inc. A cornerstone of the Lower East Side for nearly 50 years, the Center — a lovingly restored former synagogue that was gifted in 1980 for progressive programming in the community — is now at serious risk due to the reckless actions of its current Board of Directors (the “Board”).
The recent unjust termination of Executive Director Howard Brandstein—a co-founder and visionary leader of the Center—has exposed a pattern of gross negligence, ethical violations, and breaches of fiduciary duty by the Board. Without immediate intervention, the Center’s financial stability, physical assets, and community trust will be irreparably harmed.”
The full text of the complaint and any further information can be sent upon request.
Friends of Sixth Street Community Center PRESS CONFERENCE
MONDAY, JUNE 16TH 12 noon
Outside Sixth Street Community Center
638 East 6th Street between Avenues B & C, Manhattan
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