BUFFALO, N.Y. (WKBW) — The state is pumping some serious money into a new program aimed at helping neighbors in East Buffalo learn how to navigate social services in their community. It's all part of the state $50 million commitment to bring access to services right to your front door.
$500,000 will now go specifically toward a local human services agency to conduct community and direct door-to door household outreach on the East Side.
Governor Kathy Hochul said she hopes this program will help "right the wrings of the past" saying in a statement:
The new outreach program will be run by the Buffalo Federation of Neighborhood Centers which has served the community for over 125 years. Chandra Redfern, CEO of the BFNC said they plan to use culturally competent and trauma informed methods to assist and spread resources to household specifically in the zip codes 14204, 14208, 14209, 14211, 14212 and 14215.
"One of the things that we will be doing is we will be mobilizing community outreach and engagement teams that will be going door to door in East Side neighborhoods to hopefully be able to speak to the community," said Redfern. "Let them know what services are available based on their needs, what they may be eligible for and hopefully be able to link them to resources."
Teams will provide access to programs like SNAP, HEAP, STAR Property Tax Exemptions, Medicaid, Medicare, Children's Health Insurance and more, Redfern said applying for some of these services can be complicated so having help in person is huge.
"I don't think that anybody sets out to intentionally make it that way but it can be overwhelming," said Redfern. "Sometimes those applications are a little lengthy or they're not so easy to understand sometimes and that's what the team will do."
Mayor Byron Brown called this a "crucial project" in a statement saying:
Redfern said to be on the look out for the BFNC Outreach and Engagement Team. They plan to get boots on the ground by the end of this month once they're done on-boarding staff members.
"I'm really excited that this program privies an opportunity for individuals to be a bridge to say between what that resource is and the community and to help them if they get stuck," said Redfern.
