PUSH mural to brighten Grant St. offices

Brittney McClain outside PUSH and MAP offices

By Sara O'Brien and James Wright
BengalNews Reporters

PUSH Buffalo’s plain, sterile exterior at the Grant Street location will soon be given a fresh and new artistic look.

            The dark brick and intimidating façade is not the best impression placed upon people within the community.

            This building which PUSH and the Massachusetts Avenue Project currently call home, was originally built in the 1960s as a library. After decades of use in the community, the library was forced to close due to budget cuts around the area.

Many people in the community were upset about the closings, but it was a blessing in disguise for both PUSH and MAP  Since both organizations were looking for a building to call their own, they looked to the closing as an opportunity.  

In 2005 shortly after the closing, the two organizations moved in and discovered that the building was not in good condition.

When she started in 2009, community center Director  Janice Li, recalls an atmosphere of broken windows, peeling paint, and lack of work being completed toward renovations.  With hard work and funding from Councilman David Rivera, Li and others from the Grant Street location, were able to make enough improvements to the building which generated positive attention and lead to the rise of the community center. 

Janice Li discusses the steps taken to get a mural to grace PUSH and MAP offices:

During the first few months, Li explained how the community center was not getting more than five visitors a day. Slowly as improvements were being made, more funding lead to the addition of computers, board games and organization of book shelves that were left behind.

Britney McClain, development director, agrees on the issue of the building’s appearance.

“Personally when I was first interviewed and hired, I sort of passed it myself,” she said.

With some of the funds left over from the “Street Scape” program which allocated $60,000 to improve streets along Grant Street, a professional mural has been decided to replace the cold brick façade of the PUSH building.

The housing director presented the mural idea to three local artists who were all given a chance to make their proposal for the project. Max Collins, who is known for his invigorating and wall based murals, was the chosen artist to take on the task.

 According to Li, “The money is all there, the artist is there, and the approval has been made. We are just waiting for the final consent.”

Overall the goal for this new project is to generate more uplifting attention to the area.

 On a busy day according to Li and McClain, there can be a range of 30 to 50 visitors coming to the center. By adding this mural, they hope this will increase the awareness and bring a more positive outlook toward the Grant Street community.

An expert on advertising and professor of Journalism and Media Studies at Buffalo State College, Dr. Michael I. Niman focuses on the way propaganda impacts consumer culture.

“The mural will help the business stand out visually. Also, something like that will raise community spirit,” he said. Edited by Chanice Johnson

West Side takes action to prevent violence

By Chanice Johnson and Jennine Taberski
BengalNews Reporters

According to Sean Mulligan, legislative aide to Councilman David Rivera, the Niagara District has been working with the Buffalo Police Department to ensure that arrests are being made and the affects of gangs on the West Side are decreasing.

“We work directly with residents who will call about high levels of violence in the area and this information is then passed on to the police department in order for them to start conducting investigations,” said Mulligan.

The Niagara District also works with the Department of Citizen Services through a program called Save Our Streets. Within that program, Operation Clean-Sweeps holds day projects where people are involved to clean up particular streets where violence, poverty  and housing code violations are prevalent.

“So far we have done three clean sweeps in the Niagara District this year to make the West Side a safer and more appealing area to live,” said Mulligan.

“We sponsor the Grant Street Neighborhood Center and other programs that provide safe places for children with an effort to keep them off of the streets and away from the violence,” said Mulligan.

Six organizations including Stop the Violence Coalition collaborated to form the Peacemakers Gang Intervention Program. This program is aimed to uplift the city and put a halt to the chaos and violence that has placed Buffalo in the rankings for being one of the most dangerous cities in the nation.

  

Pastor James Giles of Back to Basics Outreach Ministries Inc. on changing the attitudes about violence on the West Side:

 

According to Murray Holman, executive director of Stop the Violence Coalition, out of the 41 homicides reported this year, half of them occurred on the West Side.

The diverse backgrounds and mixed cultures within the West Side bring a very different and complex form of violence. As a result, certain gang members who come to America are bringing more hateful tactics and ways to commit violent crimes from their cultures back home.

“Unlike other gangs throughout the city, different crimes and homicides committed in the area are not being reported,” said Holman. “People within these communities remain introvert and only speak out against violence during times of desperation.”

At a VOICE-Buffalo Inc., meeting held on Oct. 28. Pastor James Giles, president and CEO of Back to Basics Outreach Ministries, a program also in collaboration for the Peacemakers Gang Intervention Program, expanded upon ways to prevent the eruption of violence within the city.

“We came up with an initiative to come together and expand ourselves throughout the community because violence is always a step ahead of us,” said Giles.

Mayor Byron Brown also expressed his support of the Peacemakers Gang Intervention Program that creates awareness about violent acts and provides preventative measures within the city by allocating $78,000 towards it.

“We will follow the examples of successful programs in Providence and Boston and will come up with a program tailored towards specific needs for the City of Buffalo,”  Brown said. Edited by Jessica Chetney

Community works to dispel negative image

By Brian Alexander and Jennifer Waters
BengalNews Reporters

Forbes Magazine recently rated Buffalo as the 10th  most dangerous city in the nation.
Michele Graves, the community program associate for the Center for Health and Social Research at Buffalo State College, said several public and community organizations are working with certain neighborhoods that tend to be viewed as crime-ridden areas, such as the West Side, to improve the community’s well-being.

According to crimereports.com, there were 24 assaults, 46 thefts, 27 burglaries, one multiple case involving assault and 14 multiple cases involving theft on the West Side from Oct. 1 to Oct. 30.

Murals, like this one by the West Side Youth Development Coalition, help stop graffiti

Sean Mulligan, legislative aid to Buffalo Common Councilmember David Rivera, said the Niagara district is working with the Buffalo Police Department and the Commission of Citizen Services to implement a block-by-block approach to addressing criminal behavior in the neighborhood.

Beginning in 2008, Mulligan said the groups have been focusing on different sections of the West Side, starting with Richmond Avenue and working west street-by-street.

“We’re trying to focus in on problem areas and putting in a number of resources to see that those areas improve,” he said.

Mulligan said the number one criminal issue on the West Side is drug dealing.

Some of the strategies Mulligan said they are looking at to combat this problem include more strictly enforcing property code and cleaning up run-down neighborhoods to improve community morale.

In addition to the city’s efforts, many community groups are involved in preventing crime by promoting constructive social behaviors. The West Side Youth Development Coalition is one such group.

Graves, who is involved with the coalition, said the coalition has been working on a social norms piece by distributing posters with four messages about parenting, which have been developed over the past year, stating that social norms need to be enforced for their children.

“This is all to remind parents that you have responsibilities that start at home,” Graves said.

She said most parents feel they can rely entirely on the schools to provide these tools for kids, along with messages about guns and drugs.

National Night Out, which is always held the first Tuesday in August, was a daytime event held at the West Side Community Center where roughly 100 kids spend their summer days.

“We’re trying to give kids healthy alternatives to hanging out on corners. Simple things like relay races, balloon races, jump rope, and eating healthy foods, all interspersed with crime prevention and safety tips,” Graves said.

Graves said she credits part of the negative thoughts toward the West Side to the media.

“I think that when things happen and it’s reported in the media, all of a sudden people say ‘That’s not a safe area,’” Graves said.

When talking about the geographic area of the West Side, Graves said there are too many different neighborhoods to take into consideration, including transitional and wealthy neighborhoods.

She said she feels that if all people hear and see reported in the media is the West Side in reference to a crime, people ignore the fact that the same crimes are happening in areas like Amherst and Orchard Park.

“You just don’t see it because they don’t report it the way we do,” she said. “Also, municipal police departments, suburban ones, tend to be a little more insular about what happens.”

She also said she feels that crime stories are more widely reported in the city, particularly on the West Side, drawing more negative attention.

Graves said supervised activities like sidewalk chalk drawings and other art projects for kids will provide outlets for any potential negative activities.

“Sort of the other end of it, the positive end of that, would be alternatives. Making beautiful murals like they’ve put along the walkway on Scajaquada Creek and one planned on the West Side on the side of a business,” she said.

Mulligan said getting people involved would instill a sense of pride and responsibility, which will help residents look out for one another.

“The more people are out, watching things, the less likely criminal activity will occur because there are more eyes out acting as a neighborhood watch. I think that’s really the best way to decrease criminal activity and increase the perceptions of the community,” he said.   Edited by Crissie Russo

Cooking program helps refugees assimilate

By Lakisha Forde and Narmeen Karzoun
BengalNews Reporters

            Julia Child may not have envisioned these students when it came time to teach a cooking class, but then again, she wasn’t teaching refugees.

            Journey’sEnd sponsors a six-week cooking program that teaches refugees simple kitchen tasks such as using a knife and measuring ingredients. The vocational training class was created for members to learn essential job skills.

             “Learning is as sweet as American cookies,” said Ismail Altaim, a refugee from Iraq that participates in the program.

Ahmad Ismail, a refugee from Iraq

              Centered on equipping immigrants with skills specific to the food industry, the class was funded by a state grant and began in January. The program is free for participants.

              “The class gives refugees big benefits including giving them an insight into what work in the United States is like, especially since many of our refugees have never had a job,” said Jeff Ogilvie, Employment Services Coordinator of Journey’s End.

             Not only does the class teach refugees skills to apply in the labor force, Ogilvie said that it also teaches the work ethic within an established kitchen.

             “It is a really good program because not only do they learn how to cook in the class, but the instructor also adds an ESL component by teaching them vocabulary words,” Ogilvie said.

            The students learn basic equipment procedures and the names of kitchenware they can identify in the work force. They also learn work procedures such as calling in sick or punching in and out of a time clock.

            “We also encourage the participants to share their country’s customs and cook their own food so I could learn about it and we could also come together as a class,” said class instructor Steve Doherty.

            The program sees participants from various countries such as Iraq, Nepal and Burma. The students meet three times a week in the kitchen of the Lunchbox, a restaurant located within the same building as the organization at 2495 Main St.

   

Amy McCarthy, president/CEO of the LunchBox, talks about the Journey's End culinary class:

         “The Lunchbox has been very supportive by allowing us to use their kitchen and their equipment,” Doherty said. “Sometimes the owners are not even here when we are, so there is a lot of trust involved.”

The refugees also help with food production for food sold at the Lunchbox.

              Aside from trust, Doherty expressed that through the program, relationships have been established by simple gestures.

“I truly enjoy working with people who come and in some cases, my students give me little treats for my kids,” Doherty said. “It is little exchanges like that that build mutual respect.”

Ogilvie expressed that as a direct result of the program, an average of approximately 250 refugees are placed with a job each year. 

           “Because it is a state employment program, when the students go through and finish the program, they will certainly be on the radar when it comes to employers, and have a better chance at a job,” Ogilvie said. Edited by Tom Gallagher

Community Academic Center marks first year

By Shari Ingles and Mauree Vitali
BengalNews Reporters
      A half a dozen wiggling children in the Community Academic Center’s visual arts program could be seen through the storefront window molding clay. However, there is more being molded inside than just clay.
       Since the CAC opened last November, on 214 Grant St., it has molded the minds of youth and is continuing to build bonds of trust with several populations including other community organizations, neighborhood parents and children, and Buffalo State College students. 
     In doing this, the CAC has furthered its mission to coordinate and provide cradle-to-career educational support programming for youth and families on the West Side. Their mission has been made possible thanks to a $500,000 donation from Buffalo State College, class of 1950, graduate, Eleanore Woods Beals and her husband Vaughn Beals.
      According to the CAC’s page on Buffalo State’s website, “The CAC is jointly operated by Buffalo State's Center for Excellence in Rural and Urban Education and the This connection proved to be an advantage when it came to building trust and collaboration with other community organizations. Gaining the trust of parents proved to be more difficult. 
     “Since our program is so new, it can be challenging to convince parents in the West Side that we’re credible,” said Buffalo State AmeriCorps Community Service After-School CAC Volunteer, Marshay Berry, as she walked to the Grant Street Neighborhood Center to gather participants for the CAC’s evening activity. Berry explained that the CAC works directly with well-established community groups such as the Grant Street Neighborhood Center, the Asarese-Matters Community Center, and Journey’s End Refugee Services. According to Berry, these bonds have greatly boosted CAC’s image as a reliable organization.
      “Parents don’t want their kids to be supervised by just anyone,” said Berry. “Fortunately, our partnerships with other West Side organizations have really helped us to succeed in our goal of becoming a community organization that’s seen as credible.”
      Although the CAC has successfully gained the trust of surrounding community organizations, parents and children of the West Side, it is still struggling to earn the trust of Buffalo State students. The CAC is struggling to do this because of the popular student perception that Grant Street is a dangerous place to be. Berry believes this is a poorly founded misconception. 
     

 -->Employees of the Community Academic Center located, on 214 Grant St., discuss the misconceptions of Grant Street and how the CAC is working to improve relations with Buffalo State College.

      Berry said that in order to overcome the negative perception of Grant Street; students need to be exposed to more of the positive things that are happening in the area. The CAC already boasts a variety of volunteer opportunities for Buffalo State students, including Berry’s own position with the CAC. 
     However, Berry thinks that more can be done. She would like to see students take charge and experience Grant Street for themselves, so that their positive word-of-mouth can help engage other students. 
     Program Coordinator of the CAC, Maureen McCarthy, said the portion of Grant Street closest to Buffalo State is arguably the most intense area of the street; but she has never felt unsafe in the part of Grant Street where the CAC is located.
      “Crime only happens in areas where people aren’t paying attention,” said McCarthy. She agrees with Berry that securing the trust and confidence of Buffalo State students is the key to establishing the success of both the CAC and of the West Side.
      “We’re not there to just sit and judge, but definitely to be a part of and help the change that is happening with our youth and with our community,” said Berry. “I was one of those students who was unaware of the great things that were happening on Grant, but my eyes have definitely been opened in this position.” Edited by Jasmine Willis