Grawi had worked at the Center for Independent Living for ten years and was vice president of the nonprofit, which aids and advocates for people with disabilities. But the night she was offered the top job was stressful: the center’s board had just emerged from an executive session in which it abruptly parted ways with longtime CEO Jim Magyar.

Grawi didn’t hesitate. “The mission of the center rings true to my heart,” she says. “I’ve been an advocate for as long as I can remember.”

The social worker first came to the center as a client in 1987, “when my disability decided to pronounce itself a little bit louder. I’d been a person with diabetes for a lot longer than that, but in 1987 I started to lose my eyesight.” Grawi, who is now legally blind, found a “welcoming, inviting environment,” where she learned from other people with disabilities “how they adjust to changes in their life.”

By then, Magyar had already been running CIL for five years. Himself able-bodied, Magyar earned respect early for his “passion” for the job, says disabilities activist and former employee Peg Ball. “He deeply cared about the CIL.” He was also a fearless advocate. A decade ago, when the city refused to negotiate with the center about curb cuts at intersections that didn’t meet the requirements of the Americans with Disabilities Act, CIL sued–and won a settlement that led to replacing hundreds of them.

When Magyar was hired, the agency had a staff of four and a budget of less than $100,000 a year. By 2009, the center’s magazine, Access, listed twenty-nine employees, and its tax return showed an income of $2.5 million. “If he had decided to retire years ago, there would have been a nice party,” says former employee Kevin Hartgerink. But during the Great Recession federal funding cuts slashed CIL’s income by more than one-third. As financial pressures mounted and the staff shrank, employees and board members started to question Magyar’s management.

For many years, CIL had rented offices in the former Georgetown mall. In 2008, with the mall about to be demolished, it bought a building on Research Park Dr., off State south of I-94. It was a risky move, but the mortgage seemed manageable, because most of the space was rented to a massage training school that was paying more than $100,000 a year in rent. But only a few months after the center moved in, the school bolted. “We caught them moving out on the weekend and basically dodging their lease,” says former development VP Tom Hoatlin. Though other nonprofits were found to share the space, they weren’t able to pay as much.

Magyar tried to compensate by starting a program called Michigan Gifts in partnership with Rodnick Co. of St. Clair Shores. The plan was to earn money while employing people with disabilities to put together gift packages of nuts, fruits, and candy. But renovating a warehouse to house the program was costly, and former staffers say that the venture lost money: “Thousands of dollars went down the drain,” says former head accountant Shirley Coombs. Michigan Gifts is now dormant. Another costly remodeling project, a raised garden for people in wheelchairs, is still operational–board member Chris Cooley recalls growing herbs, tomatoes, and peppers there–but most of that expense, too, came from the center’s depleted general fund. From 2009 through September 2013 (the latest date reported in CIL’s tax returns), the center lost a total of $177,000.

Stephanie Stiles, a former development director now living in Minneapolis, grew concerned after she and others raised money to install power-operated bathroom doors but the work was never done. “I didn’t want that to reflect on me,” Stiles says, so she found another job. Other employees also left in frustration.

Magyar emails that “much to my dismay,” money raised for the door openers was instead “used to help maintain the employment of the fund raising and program service staff.” But he’s confident the openers will eventually be installed–and says he believes the center is now “in a good place financially to move forward.”

Grawi and her recently expanded board say they’re encouraged by the center’s progress since September. She notes CIL continues to receive funding for its core services–information and referrals, independent living skills, advocacy, and peer support–and its thirteen employees are pursuing new grants. Though CIL’s recreation program lost funding, its gym continues to operate with volunteer help.

Grawi also organized a fund drive–and new board member Jim Egerdal says he’s been “flabbergasted” at the response. By mid-December, supporters had given or pledged $42,000–triple what CIL raised in the same period a year earlier. “We have been growing with every gift,” Grawi says, “large and small.”

To spread the word about CIL’s services, the center is hosting a community open house on January 27 from 4 to 6 p.m. And starting in January, the “interim” will disappear from Grawi’s title. After seeing her at work, says board chair Dave Reid, the board saw no need to search for a permanent CEO: “We want Carolyn to have the position.”

Former staffer Kevin Hartgerink says Grawi still faces an enormous challenge–“grabbing the controls at this stage of the flight is a tough place to be.” But like many past and present colleagues, he expresses great admiration for CIL’s new leader. “You’ll see her early and quite late working. She’s a woman of action, not afraid to speak her mind. I think she’s a great asset, and I’m hoping she’ll find a way to shine at the CIL.”