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City Shaper: Buffalo Niagara Waterkeeper Executive Director

This week's City Shaper has spent nearly two decades fighting to make sure Western New Yorkers have clean and safe water.

BUFFALO, N.Y. -- Each week in our City Shapers segment we introduce you to someone - or a group of people - making a positive impact in Buffalo.

This week, 2 On Your Side's Kelly Dudzik profiles a Western New Yorker who rose through the ranks to become the leader of a group that's helping to keep our watershed safe and clean.

"Even as a little girl, I always had an affinity for the outdoors. So, it's always kind of been in my blood and kind of a passion of mine," says Jill Jedlicka.

Lancaster-native Jill Jedlicka joined Buffalo Niagara Waterkeeper 17 years ago when it was known as Friends of the Buffalo River. For the past six years, she's been the non-profit's Executive Director.

"What we've done in Western New York is demonstrate that you can't have a strong economy without a healthy environment. And, we're seeing that happen with the revival and restoration of our waterfront and our water resources, in large part because of a lot of the work that we've done and also have done with our partners," says Jedlicka.

The group began as an all-volunteer organization. Now it has thirty fulltime staff members who are working on nearly sixty different programs and projects - from securing federal funding to revitalize our waterways, to volunteer cleanups.

"We've certainly made progress in public access. We've certainly made progress in the water-based economy. We see a lot of investment coming in, but we're still struggling in making steady progress in dealing with historical contamination and sewer overflows, so it's kind of a mixed bag, but we're definitely headed in the right direction," says Jedlicka.

Jedlicka points to Buffalo's resurgence as a sign that work to help the environment really can help drive the economy.

"It's no accident that we as a community have started to value our Great Lakes, value our water, value our public spaces at the same time that we start to see this influx of the younger generation. It's quality of life, and quality of life improvement is also an economic driver," she says.

Jedlicka and her team would not be able to do any of this without the help of the three-thousand or so volunteers who help Buffalo Niagara Waterkeeper each year. Seeing people get involved is one of her favorite parts of her job.

"We're making a difference, and when others around us start to change their behaviors and engage in ways they've never engaged before, then we know we're successful," she says.

The inaugural Waterkeeper Weekend is May 18-20. The group will be celebrating the start of water season with more than a dozen activities and programs for people to take part in.

If you know a Buffalo City Shaper, you can nominate them by emailing Kelly.

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