This past month, I and other Ready for 100 organizers from Cleveland, Chicago, Atalanta and others visited Buffalo to learn how communities there have worked together to build community controlled sustainable and affordable housing that brings hyper local training and jobs for a resilient future and 100% renewable energy network that truly includes and reflects the needs of that community every step of way

People United for Sustainable Housing (PUSH Buffalo) was gracious enough to welcome us into their community, a community that has used their deep roots, knowledge, talent, and relationships to build a community-driven, healthy and sustainable future and I left feeling inspired for what our collective future could look like. Here’s just a sliver of Buffalo’s incredible journey. 

When their hospital expanded, the development displaced local residents, and street parking in front of resident’s homes was claimed by the hospital. Residents decided that instead of asking the hospital for their parking back, they would push to own their own land so this couldn’t happen again so PUSH Buffalo created a Community Land Trust to buy abandoned properties and create affordable and sustainable housing units. This started with two properties and grew into dozens of homes now called the Green Development Zone that are affordable, healthy, and sustainable with solar panels, rain gardens, green roofs, and permeable pavements. 

In order to develop these homes, PUSH Buffalo trained and paid members of the neighborhoods they were developing in to install those solar panels, build rain gardens, and to weatherize and complete home efficiency projects. They then helped to place dozens of these workers into full time employment in sustainable building trades to strengthen both the economy and health of those local communities.  

When School 77 — a school known for bringing together the many immigrant populations of Buffalo — was closed, the community pushed the City of Buffalo to place a 1-year moratorium on the sale of the building to private developers while the community developed a plan for the space, a plan that reflected the needs of the community and honored the building’s legacy. Our team was honored to be there for the reopening of School 77.  The building now features thirty energy efficient affordable apartments for seniors and houses PUSH Buffalo, the community-led Ujima Theatre Company, and a program for at-risk youth focused on community engagement and job training. The building also features a community solar array, a green roof, and eco-landscaping. 

We met a group of youth at the former school who were going door-to-door talking to their neighbors about housing rights and testifying in front of council. We met the local green landscapers training their neighbors in the craft. We were honored to see the first theatre performance in the space, Free Fred Brown, about young man sent to jail after his family couldn’t afford their utilities, a threatened utility merger threatening to exacerbate the issue, and the community led movement to end the cycle of poverty and incarceration that followed. I was blown away and inspired to learn that the local cast-- from middle school students to seniors-- co-wrote the play based on their experiences in the communities.

Ready for 100 Organizers and audience dances with the Free Fred Brown Cast during an interactive part of the show.

On the last day of the retreat, we had the opportunity to participate in a training from the Million Person Project and learn how to tell our stories in order to inspire others to action and to share our full, authentic selves in the work we do. We were asked to find the reasons why we were pulled to this work: What were our experiences, challenges, and stories from growing up that have led us to the work we do and how do we show up in our work?. We were challenged to ask: what about ourselves are we not sharing as leaders and why? What would it mean to other people for us to share that vulnerability? I challenged myself to break out of the standard story I’ve shared for years, and to live on the edge of my comfort zone by sharing stories about the times I’ve fallen into depression and how how that’s shaped my passion that communities must care for one another. 

The retreat was raw, vulnerable, emotional, and inspiring from start to finish. I left with the knowledge that we must think bigger and more holistically about the future we are working to build. The way that PUSH Buffalo brought together their creativity, food, housing needs, development, job training, youth programs, and so much more to build a future where all of our issues and solutions are intertwined showed me that we can do better. Every community has all the talent it needs to thrive and, by accessing and investing in that talent, we will build truly resilient, thriving communities. 

To an inclusive and just Pittsburgh, 

Eva Resnick-Day