The reasons behind Greg Cruz’s termination remain untold.
By Johannes Werner
Original Air Date: September 3, 2025
Host: Streets of Paradise has an unusual approach to providing services for people without a home who live in Sarasota. The non-profit recognizes them as full human beings and puts attention to dignity. Streets of Paradise adds color, flavor, poetry, music and—most importantly—community to their lives and encourages them to help others. It’s not a hand-down. The organization encourages volunteers by advertising the healing qualities of community.
The spirit and driving force behind this has been Greg Cruz. But last week, the board of Streets of Paradise fired the founder of the organization. We have the details.
Greg Cruz
Johannes Werner: Greg Cruz is a Brooklyn native. He came to Sarasota in the 2010s, a time when the city had earned the dubious distinction of being the meanest place in the United States for homeless people. In 2017, he began providing meals and mobile showers to unhoused Sarasotans in downtown streets under the umbrella of a grassroots organization called Food Not Bombs. That brought Cruz the wrath of neighbors, store owners and city officials. The city had made it illegal to feed people on the street, and called Cruz’s actions “toxic charity.” But he weathered that storm, created the institution with the ironic and iconic name, and he built Streets of Paradise into a force. They added an art gallery in the Rosemary District. Today, the organization not only serves 150 hot meals every Sunday but has furnished thousands of homes.
“Love, Act, Repeat” is their slogan, and their website says, “Paradise is not a place. It’s a practice.”
Just a couple of weeks ago, Streets of Paradise opened a hub in a warehouse near the Sarasota-Bradenton airport that offers showers, fresh-baked pizza and open-mic poetry readings.
But a week later, Greg Cruz was gone. What happened?
Photo via Streets of Paradise on Facebook
The five-member board sent him a letter of termination telling him that his employment as chief executive officer was terminated—a job he apparently began as recently as April. The letter said the termination was without cause.
In a rather cryptic post on Facebook, it was Greg Cruz who first made his firing public. That post created a groundswell of support. One poster said Cruz had “his baby taken away from him.” Another one described him as a Black man being victimized by “non-profit org politicking.” Kristen Dominique started a “Stand with Greg Cruz” GoFundMe.
WSLR News contacted Greg Cruz repeatedly via his phone number but did not receive a response.
In their communications, the organization has not given a cause for the firing.
Susan Nilon is the chair of the Street of Paradise board, and she has been the target of personal attacks on social media since Cruz’s firing became public. Nilon advised the organization on governmental issues since its early days, but she did not join the board until January this year.
Participants in a Streets of Paradise poetry reading
On Tuesday, she agreed to a phone interview with WSLR News, but on Wednesday said she could not talk about Greg Cruz’s departure.
Nilon is one of two new members on the five-member board, which she described as multi-racial, “not an all-white board like people are saying.”
In a Facebook post Monday, Susan Nilon said Cathy Bryant, who has worked alongside Greg Cruz for many years, was the CEO of Streets of Paradise. Asked about this, she told WSLR News Bryant was the CEO for many years. In the post, Nilon described her as someone who “has worked quietly in the background with her nose to the ground for over 10 years. It’s been too long since she has gotten the recognition she deserves.”
Asked via text, Nilon responded that “Greg has been the face of the organization. But Cathy runs the business end of it. She has as long as I know Streets of Paradise.”
It was an email Monday signed by Cathy Bryant that notified supporters about Greg Cruz’s firing. She wrote that the decision was made “after careful consideration” and that the decision “was not made lightly.”
Bryant wrote that, “out of respect for all involved,” she “will not discuss personnel matters publicly.” She went on to describe the day-to-day work at the start of the organization.
“Greg was part of that beginning, and nothing can erase the love and energy poured into those early years.”
Photographer Allan Mestel was involved in the early days of the organization. In a Facebook post, he urged people not to rush to conclusions quickly. He said the fact that Cathy Bryant is staying on gives him confidence.
“It is my belief that had his removal been capricious or unjust that she may well have resigned in protest. I am confident that Greg will find another path to continue the positive work that he has done, and that Streets of Paradise will survive and continue to thrive also.”
Mural by Swirly Painter of young Greg Cruz
Susan Nilon said the organization received four what she described as “very generous” donations over the last three days.
Even after his firing, Greg Cruz has a permanent place at the new Streets of Paradise digs near the airport. Everyone who enters the building now walks by a mural local artist Swirly Painter unveiled recently. It shows Greg’s 11-year old self reaching out for the heart that is now the logo of the organization he started.
Reporting for WSLR News, Johannes Werner.
Correction: Susan Nilon advised Streets of Paradise on governmental issues before joining its board. The report mischaracterized her involvement with the organization.
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