Harlem Charity Leader’s Ouster Causes Controversy

The firing of Grace Perez from her post as the longtime executive director of the Violence Intervention Program, a nonprofit domestic-violence organization in New York that serves mostly Hispanic women, has attracted controversy, the Village Voice reports.

Ms. Perez was notified of her firing by the organization’s board of directors in an e-mail message in which the trustees cited her “actions in connection with the possible purchase of the building located at 145 East 117th Street.”

The board has told the newspaper that Ms. Perez committed an insubordinate act when she signed a contract for the building, but she says she was never told to stop pursuing the transaction. The board says that she was fired because she disobeyed a direct order from the board, which trustees say placed the nonprofit organization at risk.

Now, local nonprofit leaders and business owners are rallying around Ms. Perez and say they don’t believe the board’s reason for firing her.

“This community is saying that this board has got to go,” declared Elsa Rios, Violence Intervention Program’s founder.