Executive Summary

The mission of PUSH Buffalo is to mobilize residents to create strong neighborhoods with quality, affordable housing; to expand local hiring opportunities; and to advance racial, economic, and environmental justice in Buffalo. Our goals are: Create strong neighborhoods by building a more democratic, action-oriented organization that addresses poor housing conditions and the lack of living wage jobs in our neighborhoods. Develop neighborhood leaders to be full participants in every aspect of our change/movement work from organizing, policy development, workforce, to community development. Decrease the rate of housing abandonment by reclaiming properties from neglectful public and private owners and redeveloping them for occupancy using an anti-displacement strategy. PUSH owns 150 parcels of land, has 108 fully rented apartments with 49-units in construction being built to NetZero standards. We have trained and placed over 450 low-income green workers and plan to complete construction on a Sustainable Workforce Training Center. Create a replicable model of grassroots neighborhood organizing and redevelopment that can be deployed in other low-income communities. Our bold vision is to have a community-owned neighborhood from owning our utility infrastructure (solar, micro-grid, charging stations, wind, geothermal and housing projects) to build community wealth, resilient and sustainable neighborhoods prepared to address a changing climate and economy and the people that are of and from our neighborhood are the decision makers and leaders practicing deep democracy and civic engagement. Our work is intergenerational and includes passing these skills to the next generation. We believe that “nothing for us, without us is about us.”

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