Monday, April 18, 2005

Grassi Hopes to Help Keep a Friend’s City CLEAN

By Stephanie M. Mangino
The Winchester Star

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Ciro Grassi first heard about Winchester while serving in the Army.

As he attended Arabic language school in California and then spent time at Fort Hood in Texas during Operation Desert Storm, Grassi was fascinated by the tales spun by friend Matt Louzonis.

Ciro Grassi has known about Winchester since his days in the military, but only moved here this month, when he became the executive director of CLEAN Inc.
(Photo by Scott Mason)

“The way he described it made it sound like Mayberry,” Grassi said. “It’s not quite Mayberry, but it’s not New Jersey, either,” he said.

Grassi, 43, made Winchester home this month, when he moved to town to be CLEAN Inc.’s newest executive director.

CLEAN Inc., provides children and families with drug and alcohol awareness information, and it connects them with intervention and counseling services.

He comes to the job with a varied background, a dedication to human services, and a daredevil’s enthusiasm for new ventures.

After graduating from Rutgers University in 1984, Grassi headed into municipal work, becoming a financial analyst for Monmouth County, N.J. There, he helped create $300 million budgets.

He then moved on to spend three years as assistant executive director and finance officer for United Cerebral Palsy in Hudson County, N.J. Then came six years of Army service, in which he was stationed in Kuwait at the end of Desert Storm as a translator liaison between U.S. and Kuwaiti artillery units.

And, for six years, Grassi was finance administrator for a Monmouth County nonprofit organization called Child Care Services. In October 2004, Grassi — uncomfortable with the direction of the organization — decided to quit.

He talked things over with his wife, and they both “decided this is the chance to make a bold move,” he said.

That’s not unusual for Grassi. “I’m open to new things all the time,” he said. “I’m willing to take chances, take risks.”

Grassi then embarked on a nationwide job search that eventually led him to his old friend’s hometown and even his neighborhood.

Grassi said the job appealed to him because it would allow him to help prevent the drug and alcohol addictions that have affected many of his close friends and family members.

With his strong financial background, he said he hopes to raise additional unrestricted money, which can be used for salaries and more varied services.

It’s unfair to think that people who work for nonprofits should make little money, he said.

“These people are working hard to make a difference in the world,” and not toward making a CEO rich, he said.

Grassi said he still needs to get up to speed on all of CLEAN’s programs, and he hopes to learn about everything each employee does so he can understand the organization inside-out.

And then he hopes to make the difference he prizes above everything else in his work.