A change at IMPACCT Brooklyn: Bernell K. Grier stepping down
Bernell K. Grier will be stepping down from her position as executive director of the community development corporation IMPACCT Brooklyn on March 1.
A press release from the organization said that, “The board will appoint Diana Breen as interim executive director, while it conducts a national search for a permanent CEO.
“Ms. Grier, who has served as executive director for the past seven years, will serve as executive director emeritus until June 30, 2024, to help onboard Ms. Breen in her new role and consult with IMPACCT’s leadership for a seamless transition.”
Once called the Pratt Area Community Council (PACC), the now 60-year-old organization helps small businesses with their operations, owns and operates affordable housing developments, and provides classes and assistance to residents in the rapidly gentrifying neighborhoods of Fort Greene, Clinton Hill, Bed-Stuy, Crown Heights, and Prospect Heights.
Grier has been IMPACCT’s executive director since 2016. She told the AmNews that even though she is retiring, she plans to stay in touch with the organization and wants to continue playing a part in IMPACCT’s mission-driven work. “But there’s so many other things that are happening in our community that…I want to at least be able to spend some time on,” she said.
“We’re in 2024; my work career started in 1974, so it’s been a full 50 years of being in the workforce, working for others, and it’s just time for me to celebrate myself, take a break, and sort of figure out what the next rewiring is…I just want to be more, I guess, present in things that I deeply care about.”
As IMPACCT looks for a permanent successor to Grier, she told the AmNews there are some fine points that any new leader of the community organization should have.
“I would, one, want them to be connected to [the] community, and definitely have a vision for the organization going forward. IMPACCT has always been involved in housing, not so much in terms of transitional housing but permanent housing––for people to have a permanent home, so having someone that cares about that, but also someone who has the business acumen to run a corporation because IMPACCT has had, at any given time, somewhere between $4 to $6 million. Being able to run that [that large a corporation] with all the nuances and having the right complement of people to support them in doing that––a good team to help you to implement the different programs.”
Grier pointed to the importance of hiring a new executive director who has a connection to Brooklyn and lives in the borough. An IMPACCT executive director should be able to communicate with local electeds and help them understand the racial equity and economic mobility issues that remain at play in New York.
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