Community members and local leaders gathered Thursday to celebrate a major new investment on Buffalo’s East Side.
Da’Von McCune, Executive Director of the King Urban Life Center, said the effort is about far more than construction — it’s about belonging, opportunity, and creating the conditions for families to thrive.
The Mother Cabrini Health Foundation is awarding a $3 million, two‑year grant to the Buffalo Center for Health Equity to launch the Upper Broadway–Fillmore Neighborhood Transformation Project. Foundation officials said the East Side’s resilience and hope inspired their support, noting that the grant will fund essential planning work and help local organizations continue providing health, food, and housing services.
Henry Louis Taylor Jr., Ph.D., Director of UB’s Center for Urban Studies, called the initiative “the beginning of a new beginning.” The funding will help assemble an “A Team” to design and test a neighborhood‑transformation model, starting with a single demonstration area before expanding to other East Side neighborhoods. Early work will focus on staffing, planning, and repairing existing homes while beginning some new construction.
Pastor George Nicholas, CEO of the Buffalo Center for Health Equity, emphasized that lasting success depends on collaboration and a shared commitment to ensuring residents can lead healthy, prosperous lives.
Here’s an AI summary of the project:
Upper Broadway-Fillmore Neighborhood Transformation Project
The Upper Broadway-Fillmore Neighborhood Transformation Project is a community-driven initiative aimed at radically revitalizing Buffalo’s East Side, with a pilot focus on Census Tract 166 — the Upper Broadway-Fillmore area bounded by Broadway (south), Fillmore Avenue (east), Genesee Street (west), and Best Street (north) article.wn.com.
Origins and Goals
The project was launched by Henry-Louis Taylor Jr., PhD, director of UB’s Center for Urban Studies, in response to research linking poor health outcomes in Black Buffalo to neighborhood conditions. The goal is to transform the physical and social environment to improve health, housing, education, and economic opportunity University at Buffalo+1. It was selected as a pilot from five candidate neighborhoods for its:
- Strong resident engagement
- Economic and racial diversity
- Presence of community anchors (e.g., King Urban Life Center, Broadway Fillmore Neighborhood Housing Services)
- Mix of occupied and vacant homes, plus over 1,000 vacant lots
- Strategic location near downtown and the Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus
- Vulnerability to gentrification, which the project seeks to protect University at Buffalo+1.
Approach
The model is neighborhood-led, meaning residents will drive decisions on revitalization. It aims to:
- Reclaim and repurpose vacant lots
- Improve housing conditions
- Expand access to education and economic opportunities
- Strengthen community institutions
- Address systemic neglect and concentrated poverty buffalohealthequity.com+1.
Funding and Support
In June 2026, the Mother Cabrini Health Foundation awarded a $3 million, two-year grant to the Buffalo Center for Health Equity to launch the project buffalohealthequity.com+1. The funds will:
- Support administrative infrastructure
- Provide immediate services (health, food, housing)
- Build an “A Team” to generate additional funding
- Test and refine the transformation model for potential replication in other East Side neighborhoods WIVB News 4.
Significance
Taylor called the investment “the beginning of a new beginning,” emphasizing that the project is not just about buildings but about belonging, health, and the conditions that allow families to thrive WIVB News 4. The success of this pilot could serve as a blueprint for transforming other underdeveloped neighborhoods in Buffalo and beyond.
In short: The Upper Broadway-Fillmore Transformation Project is a bold, community-led effort to turn a historically underserved, vacant-lot-heavy neighborhood into a healthier, more equitable, and resilient community — with the potential to scale across Buffalo’s East Side.
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