Chanting "Sixth Street Board, Unlock the Doors Let the Community In!" a group of Friends Sixth Street Community Center rallied in support of Howard Brandstein, co-founder and executive director, who was fired and ousted in an early morning coup.
"They emailed me a notice at 1 am in the morning and then changed the locks. They've been harassing me for a year, they've been making threats, this four person board, they've been calling me names. Just trying to push me out for a whole year," Howard Brandstein, executive director, Sixth Street Community Board.
Brandstein is the co-founder of the center, he's been there for 50 years, and been executive director for 35 years. A group homesteaded the former Synagogue when the Lower East Side was full of abandoned buildings.
"The building is worth $6 million and now they want it, and we are fighting back. They changed the by-laws so they don't have to have seven members, they did away with the advisory board, and they've excluded the community from participating in the governance of the ...center, so it a word it is a hostile take over," added Brandstein.
Brandstein said none of the new board members do fundraising and that he has raised $2 million in the last two years, plus adding some of his own money, he refinanced the mortgage after the pandemic because they fell into arrears like many other nonprofits that own buildings.
Brandstein said the friends were trying to change the center into a membership organization that elects the board and this way the board is accountable. He was also working with the Cooper Square and NYCHA to create a land trust and build housing.
We reached out to the board of directors of SSCC for comment.
In an email without names the board wrote "The Sixth Street Community Center confirms that Howard Brandstein is no longer with the organization. As a matter of policy, we do not comment on personnel matters.
"Our focus remains on advancing the mission of the Sixth Street Community Center: fostering community empowerment, providing vital programs and services, and promoting the well-being of our neighborhood..."
We will continue to report on this story as it develops.
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