Surviving a major health crisis to continue serving New Yorkers in need

Two years ago, after years at various New York City health agencies including several years in his current role as CEO of the 108-year-old Lower East Side institution Grand Street Settlement, Robert Cordero, 54, a native Chicagoan of Puerto Rican descent, nearly died when aneurysms burst in his stomach, leading to nearly three months of hospitalization and a long, slow recovery process. Today, although not fully back to baseline physically before the incident, he's back at the helm of the multiservice, education-oriented Grand Street, leading its expansion not only further into Brooklyn but, soon, the South Bronx. 

Cordero talked to New York Nonprofit Media earlier this month about how Grand Street's work ties back to his own childhood in Chicago, how the experience of severe illness changed him and his ambitions for Grand Street in the years ahead.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

Thanks for talking today Robert. You've already written a detailed account of your health crisis, but can you reiterate it for us?

It was bad and I should've died. I have two boys who are ten and a daughter who is eight. During Covid, I wanted to get into better shape and try to get off my blood pressure meds, so I got really into Crossfit. I felt like I was in my twenties again. I think that if I hadn't been in such good lung and heart health, there was no way I'd have survived the internal bleeding that put me into cardiac arrest. I had a temporary ostomy bag and was hospitalized for three months, looking so skinny and frail. Since then, I've had several surgeries to have stents. So now I'm grateful for the day to day with my family. I try to be honest about this experience and incorporate it into what drives me. People go through these health struggles all the time, but there's a stigma about talking about them. 

And I really have to say that my Grand Street staff and board really rallied around me. I also had family coming to my house to watch the kids because my wife was finishing nursing school. Once I could have visitors in the hospital, that really lifted me up. I've always been the one to help others and this time I had to sit back and let others help me. 

But since I've been back, we've done so much at Grand Street. We're going to be expanding into the Bronx with our Head Start program, we did an $18 million renovation on our community center on the Lower East Side and we're going deeper into Brooklyn. When I came back, I was really motivated to focus on what was next for us, to make sure we went where the need was and that we were sustainable.

How would you describe Grand Street's work to someone at a dinner party?

We've been helping families get out of poverty for 108 years, starting on the LES and into Brookly and now into the Bronx. Our crown jewel is childcare, which we think is the best poverty-fighting tool we have to make sure kids have a great beginning to their education. But we serve the whole family. We have the children's afterschool programs and summer camp but also senior centers for the abuelitos and abuelitas. We have a huge amount of federal funding, so we're not beholden to the city for all our services the way a lot of nonprofits are. And we have other fundraising partnerships.

What might you be offering on any given day?

Childcare for more than 800 preschoolers on the LES, Brooklyn and soon in the Bronx. We're building a third site in Sunset Park. Our Head Start programming accounts for about half of our $63 million budget. We serve about 18,000 people overall. We also work with parents and seniors on housing support, benefits assistance, job training if needed, making sure that they have access to Medicaid and healthcare. We don't silo our services, they're all interwoven. 

And your current work ties into your childhood, yes?

I grew up in a settlement house community in Chicago called the Erie Neighborhood House, which was heavily Puerto Rican, Mexican and Black. I went to Head Start there in the early 1970s. So I'm proud now to be doing that work at Grand Street, which has such a rich history. A Vassar graduate named Rose Gruening started Grand Street in 1916. She would actually broker with farms in Westchester to get fresh milk—I actually have the typewritten letters she wrote negotiating those big barrels of milk.

So what's your professional background?

Being in Heard Start was my launching pad to end up at an elite public high school in Chicago called Lane Tech. After that, I went to college, the first in my family, state college in Illinois, after which I became a teacher for four years. But I wanted to get into social work so I got a scholarship for social work school at the University of Chicago. But I figured out quickly that I didn't want to be a social worker because I wasn't good at writing case notes—and instead was more interested in why things were the way they were and how to fix it, how to get people better housing, nutrition and education. So I got into policy and advocacy. I was a DEI hire to diversify the management ranks at the L.A. Department of Health. I didn't like L.A. but I loved the work. But then I got a call from the Chicago health department to come run the Ryan White CARE Act program (the federal program for people with HIV/AIDS). There, I served 15,000 people living with HIV/AIDS. That's where I learned that government was not equipped to provide innovative care, but all the community based organizations, like AIDS Foundation Chicago and Howard Brown Health, were remarkable. My work involved getting about $15 million in grants out to community groups to save lives.

Then I moved to New York because I'd always wanted to live here and was head of HIV services ast Ryan Community Health Center on the LES, which was great because they integrated HIV care into broader health care. I also worked on the "air bridge" program of HIV services for people using drugs back and forth between NYC and Puerto Rico. Ryan Center was my first direct job as a social worker. After that, I was director of federal advocacy at Housing Works, where I would bring people living with HIV/AIDS to come with me to Washington to lobby before lawmakers for funding. Then I did stints at Citiwide Harm Reduction (which merged with Bronx AIDS Services to become BOOM!Health) and Harlem United. 
So how did Grand Street, which you arrived at in 2015, come up and what was appealing about it to you?

A recruiter for Grand Street contacted me and was very assertive with me. I was hesitant because my background was healthcare, which Grand Street doesn't do. But I was moved by Grand Street's history. My predecessor, Margarita Rosa, had gone from a neighborhood Puerto Rican kid to Harvard Law to being the head of Grand Street for 20 years. But another big draw was the board, which is highly engaged, knows how to fundraise and and govern and is committed to the communities we're in. It's been the best job of my life. Everything I did prior led to this.

What are the highlight things you've accomplished since coming to Grand Street?

I'm proud of our culture here. If I have any superpowers, it's my team—not me. To have so many people who are committed to jobs that are very tough with high potential for burnout. I've celebrated people's 30th, 35th and 40th anniversaries here, including recently the retirement of one of our maintenance guys who was a Grand Street kid. But specifically, I would say the building of the Essex Crossing Community Center and the start of our teen tech center, all of which we did in partnership with L & M Development Partners. Essex Crossing Community Center is a distinct and separate project from the $18 million newly renovated 80 Pitt Street Community Center. It's also our headquarters. It was a $18 million renovation that took us eight years and a lot of sweat. It's honestly one of the nicest community centers in New York City. I have an LGBTQ youth space there, a dance studio, gym space, tech space, arts and crafts, childcare classrooms—it's beautiful. That's the biggest accomplishment. And we don't owe anyone anything on it. We did it full with fundraising sourced from the government and our board.

But also you're expanding in Brooklyn and the Bronx.

Our operating budget when I came on was $15 million and now it's $63 million, which has allowed us to increase our sites from about 22 to 37. We're larger in Brooklyn than on the LES, which has allowed us to be solvent. And then, after 108 years, we got a large grant to expand into the Bronx for the first time. It's going to be transformative. We're going to take Head Start to neighborhoods where it's really needed, from Mott Haven to Pelham Parkway. It's going to take up to 18 months to build them out. So in the meantime we're partnering with the Bronx's New Settlement Community Center and the Bronx Children's Museum. We're now in the process of negotiating a lot of real estate sites in the Bronx. I've been spending about every other day there.

What skills would you say you've amassed in all your other jobs that have empowered you at Grand Street?

In a nutshell, I think tenacity is really important. I attribute it to my Chicago grit. I look in others for my own work ethic, to be tenacious about doing what needs to be done. At nine years now, Grand Street is the longest I've worked anywhere. Yes, in terms of skills, educational background and speaking ability are important. But I think the successful leaders in our sector are the ones who are tenacious. Like Maria Lizardo at Northern Manhattan Improvement Center or David Garza of Henry Street Settlement. I know that I can be an acquired taste for some people, but I can get shit done—and I look for people who commit to working with me on things that are important.

Why do you think you've lasted so long at Grand Street compared to your other jobs?

Because I found my home here, and home for me is being with people who share the same values. It just feels like home. I walked into a high school classroom earlier today and I could see myself. That's a big motivator and driver.

What's a personal trait that is a challenge in your work?

The biggest one for me is related to board governance and navigating an ever-evolving board structure. I've had four board presidents in my nine years here. And with my bosses, I push. I have to hit the reset button every few years. That has not always been easy for me. But at least each president has been the right person for that moment. But adapting every couple years to a new leadership style is a bit of an adjustment.

But I mean more of a personal trait that creates challenges for you in your work.

I can think I have someone who fits our culture but they actually don't, so then I'm pretty quick to make the decision to get rid of them. I'm usually the person who's trying to make it work with them but then I get to that point where I have to accept that they're a nasty personality and are being mean to everyone. 

What's a typical day like?

We live in Eastchester. I'm the cook in the family so I wake up at 6am and start making breakfast. Sometimes my wife is already at the hospital, so I'm flying solo. Before my health crisis, I'd be at CrossFit at 5:30am, but now my blood pressure can't shoot up too high, so no more HIIT [high-intensity interval training] for me, so I'll do an hour on the treadmill with physical therapy bands and my wife's small weights, then some stretches. Then I drop the kids at school by 8am and then I'm off. I usually start at the HQ on the LES. It's generally a lot of Zooms and team meetings, mainly with my executives, people doing the operations and the finance. Lots of phone calls. I call my CFO and potential landlords. It's a lot of hustle, which I excel at. I'm still old-school that way—I like working the phones. I'll try to grab something for lunch and then wind up my meetings by 3pm so I have time to think, write and do more phone calls. I'm not in the office five days a week because, due to my condition, I just can't tolerate it. If my day is all Zooms, I'll work from home. If I'm in person, it's because we're doing something actionable. We're currently at a staff of 505, and once we hire for our new Head Starts, it'll be 650.

That's a big staff. And what's the evening like?

At five, I bring all three kids to ballet training, which is four days a week. So I drop them and then go to the gym, because without heart and lung health, you're not healthy. Then after I work the phones more and focus on finance and fundraising. I'll check in with funders and board members. I'll even do that on the treadmill. Then I cook dinner for the kids. I'm Mr. Mom. Then when my wife gets home after 8pm on days she works, I'll put down our dinner. Tonight I'm going to heat up crab cakes and salad. Then the kids are in bed by 8:30pm and we're in bed by 9:30-10pm. On nights when my wife doesn't have to work the next day, we'll do a little Netflix. 

What do you love the most about your job?

Seeing people progress, from the staff to the senior clients, seeing them be healthy and move forward in their lives. We had a young woman in the shelter system with her child who got connected with us and got her kid into our childcare program and we also helped her get back to school. She wound up becoming a teacher's assistant for us and now she is part of the DC37 union and she's out of the shelter and the child is doing well. What's a better story than that, right? We have a good record of getting kids into good kindergartens, too.

What's the part you don't like?

The contracts with the city. Everything is a debacle. The turnover [among city staff] is crazy. The city should completely redo how it funds nonprofit social services and the arts. I have 80 government contracts and it horrifies me the millions of dollars we are owed because of how the government manages money. There's got to be a better way. If I were offered a job managing government contracts, I would leave tomorrow. 

What would the fix be?

It sounds easy, but it would be to adopt the federal government's system of getting us the money that we can draw down on in real time. On my federal contracts, I draw down directly from the U.S. Treasury. The city's system is draconian, based on the 1980s and 1990s. If a voucher is incorrect, it gets kicked back to you, further delaying payment on something you've already had to pay for. My payroll alone is $1 million every two weeks. So I'm floating the city. We need a trust-based system where if you make a mistake, it can be remediated—and if you deliberately do something wrong, you lose your contract. I just got a federal contract for $18 million that I'm drawing down on. Meanwhile, the city is making me go through hoops for $600,000. What's killing every profit in New York City right now is cash flow. If we all just got what we were owed, we could focus solely on our mission.

Did your health crisis change your relationship to your work in any way?

Yes. I was always grateful for friendships and family, but now the level of gratitude I have for my Grand Street board and colleagues. My COO, Willing Chin-Ma, ran the agency when I was gone and visited me more times than I can count to make sure my family was taken care of. I had to finally accept help from others after years of being the helper. I had tubes coming out of me everywhere and asked myself, "Am I going to make it? This is horrible." But I kept thinking about my family and my kids and how grateful I was to my coworkers. Now, I live each day being grateful. The first two words I say every day are "Thank you"—for being alive.