Questions unanswered about Blair’s removal Concordance mum on reasons for ending tenure of exec. director BY CHRISTINE VARNO Staff Writer FILE PHOTO Terri Blair (center) speaks to Monmouth County Prosecutor Luis Valentin at a recent conference sponsored by the Long Branch Concordance. As the Long Branch Concordance (LBC) plans for an infusion of state grant funds, questions remained unanswered last week on the sudden removal of the group’s executive director. Terri S. Blair was removed from her post as LBC executive director on Nov. 4, with no “meaningful explanation,” she said last week. “It came as an astonishing surprise to me and a great disappointment,” said Blair, founder of the concordance. Several of those who attended the LBC’s monthly meeting on Dec. 6 agreed. “Since we are very concerned about the removal of Terri Blair,” Kathleen Celli, of the Long Branch School Board Youth Services, said at the meeting, “will there be a discussion on it? “You are asking us to buy into something that we don’t know what directly we are getting into,” Celli added. Another concerned resident, Bill Nordahl, added, “The biggest thing on everyone’s mind is what is happening to Terri Blair.” LBC interim Executive Director Kim Praitano told the crowded room at the Brookdale Community College Learning Center on Broadway that the monthly meeting was an “inappropriate” time to address Blair’s removal. Praitano said, “People are here to move forward.” The LBC is a nonprofit agency that assists Monmouth County residents in obtaining referrals and resources for health care, housing needs, at-risk youths, rent and utilities, job development, language skills and domestic violence. The LBC meets on a monthly basis to address gaps in services, overlaps in services, and to identify how to meet the needs of the community, according to Blair. Although she is no longer directing the meetings, Blair said in an interview after the meeting that she is confused about being displaced, but she can appreciate the need to move forward. “I have a profound appreciation of what the [LBC] has accomplished,” Blair said, referring to the recent $175,000 Family Supportive Center Initiative grant from the state Department of Children and Families. The LBC is expected to receive the money sometime in January, according to Praitano, who explained at the meeting the requirements of the grant money. When a group receives grant money, Praitano said, it then identifies what it would like to see accomplished with the funds. “This is not so in this case,” she said. “The state has objectives and it is giving us a certain amount of money to accomplish it.” The LBC received a list of target goals the collaborative must meet as a requirement of the grant. The LBC must address seven areas: housing, employment, physical health, mental health, parenting education, substance abuse and domestic violence. For housing, the LBC must provide financial training to parents to help maintain 10 families in their homes and move them forward to home ownership. Ten families must also be referred to and supplied with employment training by the LBC each month. Other targets include referring 10 children per month for physical health needs, referring 10 families a month for mental health needs, and linking 25 parents a month to parenting education programs. The LBC must also refer 10 parents a month to substance abuse programs and refer residents to programs on domestic violence. “They are talking about specific areas,” Praitano said. “The grant is paying us to do this. We need to find out what is available in the community and find out how we can get information out and bring resources to people.” Several attendees at the meeting were on board with Praitano, and one LBC member proposed an idea to help the group meet these needs. “Part of the understanding that I have is that there are so many issues that need to be addressed,” Sue Mamchak, of New Creations in Christ, said. “We have a box and we did not make the box. We have to make a move. I have a proposal for a task force,” she said. Mamchak explained that the task force would be made up of people interested in moving the grant forward and the group would then act as the spokesman for the LBC members. “We have not lost a voice,” Mamchak said, referring to Blair. “If we argue, we will not get to the client. We got the grant. We now have the chance. These are the people we wanted to help for three years.” Another LBC member who has been with the group since its inception, Colleen Meyer, of Monmouth/Ocean Independent Living Center, commended the LBC for its accomplishments thus far. “We shouldn’t lose the moment,” Meyer said, adding, “We should appreciate where we are. We should all be very proud. “Hats off to Terri for pulling it all together. This grant represents more than just the [LBC] or one individual. We should follow through with meeting these needs we identified three years ago,” Meyer said. Following the meeting, Blair said that meeting the needs of the community was her vision in starting the LBC. “For an extended period of time there had been no specific resource and referral agency [in Long Branch],” Blair said. “I started looking around and I was seeing my community changing,” she said. “And I got an idea.” With an extensive background in human services, Blair gathered a group of some 80 people from agencies and nonprofits across the county in March 2004. The agencies in turn formed the LBC and appointed Blair as executive director. “There was a consensus [at the initial meeting],” Blair said, “that three things should be addressed. “There needed to be a place for people to go for help. Agencies needed an opportunity to meet on a consistent basis to identify needs and strengths. And these organizations would identify and respond to gaps in services,” Blair said. And that has been what the LBC has been all about for three years, she said. The LBC earned its status as a 501 (c) 3 nonprofit in July 2005 and in addition to the most recent grant, the group has received two $25,000 grants from the state. The agency established a board of trustees, a provision of being a nonprofit, to oversee business and the operation of the concordance. The LBC board members include Golam Mathbor, board president and associate dean of the School of Humanities and Social Services at Monmouth University; the Rev. Julius Adekunle, board secretary and associate pastor at the First Baptist Church in Long Branch; Robert Scott, associate professor at Monmouth University; Joann Abraham, local business owner; Jerome Scriptunas, of Monmouth Cares, and Joseph Garipoli, Long Branch Rotary Club. The board made the decision earlier last month to terminate Blair’s role as executive director. “I have always tried to make sure everyone had the opportunity to share their uniqueness and strengths, either as an individual or as a group,” Blair said. “That way, everyone knows they matter and they are all coming together for a common purpose. “I do not know why this [her removal] happened,” Blair said.