BUFFALO, N.Y. (WKBW) — A promise of progress for Buffalo's East Side is moving forward.
The University at Buffalo has partnered with community leaders to address systemic issues affecting residents daily: housing, health and redevelopment. These are all key focuses of a new pilot program.
Now more than a year in, the initiative is gathering insights on what the community needs and what residents say is essential to thrive.
Monday night, leaders shared their findings and identified the first neighborhood for transformation under the East Side Neighborhood Transformation Demonstration Project.
The Broadway-Fillmore area has been selected as the starting point. Leaders surveyed more than 500 homes to understand how residents want revitalization to take shape.
"People who lived there were anxious to transform and change their community, and they would be willing to participate in the process actively," UB Center for Urban Studies Director Dr. Henry-Louis Taylor Jr. said.
Other key figures in the project include:
- Pastor James Giles with Back to Basics Outreach Ministries
- Essence Sweat with East Buffalo Development Corporation
- Christopher Kennedy with Habitat for Humanity
- Tim Murphy with UB's Community Health Equity Research Institute
Dozens of residents provided additional feedback at a follow-up meeting at the King Urban Life Center on Genesee Street.
Buffalo's East Side is home to businesses and residences, but much of it is surrounded by vacant lots and abandoned buildings.
UB's Dr. Henry-Louis Taylor Jr. hoped neighbors could help reimagine the community.
"In partnership with the people who live in the neighborhood, a new kind and type of community," he explained.
He said Broadway-Fillmore's proximity to the medical campus, Downtown Buffalo, and the Broadway Market made it the ideal starting point.
"It made it an ideal place for gentrification," Dr. Taylor said. "For us, this is an opportunity to intervene to prevent displacement and preserve a community with historic significance to the African American community. In the long term, I think it transforms it. It creates a healthy, thriving, and joyful community. I always emphasize joy because Black people should live in places that make them happy."
Taylor said the goal is to tackle the East Side's biggest challenges while improving overall health.
"People will live longer, suffer less from preventable diseases, and experience less daily stress; both mentally and physically."
The King Urban Life Center will serve as the hub for ongoing discussions. A funding announcement is expected in June.
