SYRACUSE -- There will be a luncheon at the Dunbar Center in Syracuse Friday, but the mood may not be very celebratory.
The purpose of the gathering is to say goodbye to Executive Director Sharon Jack-Williams who is resigning from the financially troubled community service agency. Jack-Williams said in a news release, "as the Board and I explored the fiscal situation of the organization, I saw that it was going to be very difficult to maintain the Executive Director position at its current pay scale. Saving staff positions and maintaining client programming was extremely important."
Jack-Williams said her decision was "in the best interest of the agency."
The Dunbar Association has run into difficult financial times in recent years. In 2011, the United Way announced that it was cutting its funding to the agency citing management problems. The Dunbar Association was to have received $200,000 from the United Way on July 1st.
The Dunbar Association traces its roots back 92 years when it began as a settlement house for African-Americans in Syracuse. It has since grown into a community service agency that provides a number of programs for youth, families and senior citizens.
