Marge Rogatz, president of Community Advocates, Inc., announced a $25,000 grant given to Syosset-based ERASE Racism in support of its 2015 Annual Benefit, to be held June 3 at the Garden City Hotel.
This grant fulfills the pledge made by Community Advocates, a Long Island not-for-profit with a 40-year history as a catalyst for social justice and racial equity, to contribute a total of $150,000 over a three-year period to support ERASE Racism’s work to eliminate inequities in housing, public school education and healthcare on Long Island.
“Many people would like to believe that racial prejudice and discrimination are no longer problemsm but when we look at the highly segregated communities and public schools on Long Island, it is clear that race still affects the opportunities and life choices of people of color, especially African Americans and Hispanics,” said Rogatz. “ERASE Racism is the outstanding organization in the region seeking solutions to these critical structural barriers.”
Rogatz has been president and full-time unpaid CEO of Community Advocates since 1986. She was a founder and officer of the Nassau-Suffolk Coalition for the Homeless and of Sustainable Long Island and the Long Island Campaign for Affordable Rental Housing. She is a founder and officer of ERASE Racism, an Emerita member of the Board of Advisors of the Long Island Community Foundation, and a member of the Board of Directors of the State of New York Mortgage Agency (SONYMA) and New York State Homes & Community Renewal.
Elaine Gross, the president of ERASE Racism, expressed deep gratitude for the grant.
“Three years of significant grants from Community Advocates, a widely respected organization with a history of activism carried out on a very modest budget, have been an enormous help to ERASE Racism,” she said. “They also present a challenge to more affluent funders to recognize the devastating ways in which racism continues to perpetuate segregation and deny African Americans and Latinos access to those areas that offer opportunity and advancement.”
Gross also noted that Rogatz has personally provided invaluable expertise and support since the founding of ERASE Racism, including her participation in planning and organizing the annual benefit which, this year, will honor Peter B. Edelman, a nationally renowned attorney, public policy expert and law professor, for his lifetime commitment to creating racial justice and fighting poverty. ERASE Racism will also be presenting its first Labor Leadership Awards to 1199SEIU UHE and Teamsters Local 237 for their commitment to civil rights and economic equality.
For more information and to buy tickets, visit www.eraseracismny.org.
