Gibson Street Café is to become Community Café & Resource Center

(By Joyelle Tedeschi, YWCA) In August 2007, the YWCA embarked on an endeavor to open the doors of the building located at 224 Gibson St., in the Broadway-Fillmore District of Buffalo’s lower east side. As a graduate student fromthe University at Buffalo (with an MSW Community Concentration) and with experience working in the field, I was eager to be a part of such an exciting project.

The Broadway-Fillmore community suffers from poverty and isolation, yet is home to one of Buffalo’s most culturally and historically treasured neighborhoods. I value deeply my own connection with the neighborhood. My father grew up there and met my mother at the local dance hall that now houses the Matt Urban Center. It is the home of The Broadway Market and the location of St. Stanislaus, where I celebrate Dyngus Day every year with my father. My attachment to the neighborhood gives me a special motivation to fight the poverty in this community.

Since August 2007, the YWCA has made strides toward the opening of the Café, while never losing sight of our mission to empower. The first step in the program development was to ask residents what their community needed. Once the needs-assessments were completed, the programs were laid out and returned to the residents for their approval. The result of the discussion with the members of the community was the objective of the Community Café. The title of the Café itself conveys the importance of the community, both in residents’ involvement with development, as well as the needs the Café will serve.

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[read more about proposal here – .pdf]

http://www.ywca-wny.org/