Surprise Firing Of UES Nonprofit Leader Spurs Outcry From Neighbors

UPPER EAST SIDE, NY — The beloved leader of a prominent Upper East Side nonprofit was abruptly fired from his position late last month, prompting confusion, grief and anger among neighbors and local officials — and an apology from those who apparently ordered it.

Gregory Morris had served for over eight years as executive director of the Stanley M. Isaacs Neighborhood Center, a settlement house-style organization that provides food deliveries and hosts events for thousands of senior citizens, runs youth job programs, and works closely with tenants of the surrounding Isaacs Houses/Holmes Towers public housing complex.

Morris was on the front lines of the nonprofit's work, helping it triple meal deliveries during the pandemic, organize a vaccine clinic, and defeat a developer's plan to build a private apartment tower on the Holmes Towers campus. His work won him a seat on the Upper East Side's community board, where he co-chairs the housing committee.

Then, last September, the Isaacs Center merged with Goddard Riverside, a West Side-based nonprofit that does similar work. Morris spoke enthusiastically about the new "partnership" at the time, along with Roderick Jones, Goddard's executive director — who became leader of both organizations as Isaacs was absorbed within Goddard's umbrella.

But on March 25, Morris was fired from his most recent role as chief program officer at Goddard Riverside. His last day was the following Monday.

Goddard's leaders have given no explanation for Morris's firing. One source familiar with the decision said it was made by Jones, adding that Goddard's own board of directors was largely unaware of the firing before it was announced.

"It's like losing a family member"

"I was in shock," said La Keesha Taylor, a Holmes Towers tenant who had been working closely with Morris to set up an afterschool tutoring program. "People are lost, I’m lost."

Goddard Riverside did not respond to questions about why Morris had been fired. Morris and his attorney both declined to comment.

In an emotional meeting Wednesday hosted by the Isaacs Center, senior citizens who had come to know Morris sounded exasperated as they pressed for answers, though staff had little information to share.

"It’s like losing a family member, and I’m tired of losing family members," said one woman. Saundrea Coleman, a tenant leader at the Isaacs Houses, said that "people are grieving."

On Wednesday, City Councilmembers Julie Menin and Gale Brewer wrote a letter to Jones, saying they were "deeply troubled" that no notice had been given about Morris's firing. They asked for assurances that the Isaacs Center's community work would continue in the absence of its longtime leader.

Jones responded in his own letter on Thursday, saying the lawmakers could "rest assured that Mr. Morris's departure will not have an impact" on meal deliveries, educational programs or constituent case management.

"I sincerely apologize for failing to give advance notice to your offices and the related communities about Greg Morris' departure," Jones wrote. An existing job opening for site director at the Isaacs Center will be upgraded with new responsibilities now that Morris is gone, with candidates to be screened by Jones before meeting with community members, according to the letter.

With little information to go on, neighbors remain in the dark. At Wednesday's meeting, some asked whether it was possible to undo the merger between the Isaacs Center and Goddard Riverside, while others said Morris's firing had severed trust between the community and the organizations supposed to serve them.

"I believed that this was a community center, where we had a voice," one woman said. "Now it looks like we don’t have nothing to say."