BengalNews Reporters -->
PUSH Buffalo and three other non-profit
organizations in Buffalo have teamed up to create Open Buffalo, a collaborative
program working towards a more democratic innovative and united Bufflao.
PUSH Buffalo, Partnership for the Public Good,
Coalition for economic Justice, and VOICE Buffalo were selected to receive a
grant from the Open Society Foundations. Open Society Foundations awarded a $100,000 grant to the four
organizations to design a plan to increase low-income and minority communities’
influence in Buffalo.
According to Megan Connelly, director of programs
and development at Partnership for the Public Good, Buffalo was one of 16
cities that were invited to apply for the foundation’s new Open Places
Initiative program. The program aims to bring about systematic change relating
to equity, justice, and democratic practice. The four non-profit organizations
in Buffalo were chosen to form collaborations and come up with a proposal.
Megan Connelly, on Open Buffalo:
Buffalo became one of the eight cities to win the
planning grant.
“The
program has been in a few other cities, but Buffalo’s version brings together
PUSH Buffalo, Partnership for the Public Good, Coalition for Economic Justice
and VOICE Buffalo,” Lonnie Barlow, communications coordinator at PUSH Buffalo
said. “These organizations will work together to help bring about change in different
areas throughout the city of Buffalo.”
PUSH Buffalo is geared towards improving housing
in Buffalo, while Coalition for Economic Justice and VOICE Buffalo works to
create economic justice in the city. Partnership for the Public Good caters to
Buffalo by creating a more cultural and vibrant community.
Each of the participating organizations were sent
email invitations to apply for the grant, which allows the organizations to
focus their efforts on different areas they would like to work on.
“What
I think that says is that there is some very interesting non-profit activity
going on here in Buffalo that is maybe not so well-known here,” Lou Jean
Fleron, co-director of Partnership for the Public Good said. “It’s getting
attention outside our own area because we didn’t seek out the grant.”
The next step in the planning process will take
place from April to September 2013 and will propose a plan for building the
region’s capacity and bring about long-term change. Open Buffalo will work with
other organizations that cater to the West Side like the Belle Center, Jericho
Road Ministries, Boys and Girls Club and the Peace Keepers’ Coalition. The
program will also have a community rollout in June to include West Side
residents in the planning process.
“Access to communications is really important so
we want to make sure that people know about what we’re doing so we can present
it in a way they feel is going to affect them,” Connelly said. “We have an incredibly vibrant refugee
and immigrant community on the West Side so we want to make sure that there’s a
cultural competency to everything we do.”
Connelly says she is confident that the
organizations will win the implementation grant, and that Open Buffalo will
continue even if they do not win.
“Open Buffalo started the day that we received
the planning grant,” Connelly said “We want this process to continue regardless of whether we
get the implementation grant or not.”
Prior to being selected to collaborate on Open Buffalo to receive the grant from Open Society’s Foundations, Partnership for the Public Good, PUSH Buffalo, VOICE-Buffalo and the Coalition for Economic Justice have worked together on other projects to cater to the community. As part of the High Road Runs through the city program, students from Cornell University were given the opportunity to come to Buffalo to work with nonprofit organizations such as PUSH Buffalo. Two years ago, students worked with the PUSH organization and lived in the net zero houses on the West Side when they were first built. - Malniquia Evans and Janiel Thomas
ReplyDelete