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City Shaper: Open Buffalo Executive Director

This week's City Shaper is Franchelle Parker from Open Buffalo.

BUFFALO, N.Y. -- Each Monday, we highlight the work of a Buffalo City Shaper - someone who's having a positive impact on Western New York.

This week, 2 On Your Side's Kelly Dudzik tells us how a Niagara Falls native is working to make sure Buffalo's resurgence is within everyone's reach.

When Franchelle Parker graduated from SUNY Buffalo State in 2004. Like many young adults at the time, she left Western New York.

"There were really no jobs here. The folks that had grown up here in Buffalo still really wanted to get away. In Buffalo, there were no opportunities," says Parker.

But, after graduate school, Parker made her way back home.

"Folks were actually moving back to Buffalo. People that had absolutely had no understanding of Buffalo besides snow actually wanted to come and raise their family here and start a life," says Parker.

Parker is concerned, though, that Buffalo's renaissance isn't happening for everyone. That's where Open Buffalo comes in. It is a grassroots movement with a primary focus of making sure everyone can participate in Western New York’s resurgence.

Parker is the group's Executive Director.

"We train individuals in the community to really figure out what's going right, but also what's going wrong in that they have the power to change those things," she explains.

Open Buffalo has more than one-hundred partners and allies across the region. Right now, the not-for-profits are working on statewide criminal justice reform for marijuana possession and expanding access to safe, affordable, quality housing in Buffalo.

"I don't know too many people that can afford to pay 15-hundred dollars a month here in Buffalo. Because we're seeing a spike in housing prices, but we're not seeing a spike in wages and benefits, so it's frustrating, and I would say that that's the meat of the work that we're working on lately," says Parker.

Parker encourages people to get involved in any way they can whether it's through Open Buffalo, a block club, or other community group. She says that involvement and collaboration makes her hopeful for Buffalo's future.

"I think it's the beginning stages of something beautiful, and if it's done equitably, Buffalo can really lead the country in how to turn back a Rust Belt city," says Parker.

Parker is always looking for people to join the emerging leaders program.

And, if you would like to nominate someone to be a Buffalo City Shaper, just email Kelly Dudzik.

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