SESSION 1 DETAILS, 10:35-11:30AM

SESSION 1: How to Respond When Accountability Falls on Deaf Ears?

Buffalo received unprecedented funds through the American Rescue Plan. Though there was a lot of community buy-in in shaping the plan, what was ultimately received looks different than what we collaborated on. Learn more about how to be an engaged citizen as these funds become available to community organizations in early 2024.

TIME 10:35-11:30 AM

HOSTED BY Frontline Arts Buffalo, Barrett & Benitez Development

Location: Missionary Room

SESSION 1: How We Empower Communities And Get To A System of Co-Governance

Communities are rarely active and authentic participants in the matters that collectively affect them. Instead, ordinary people experience life as relatively disempowered subjects left to adjust to and embrace the world that developers, corporations, and other powerholders create for and around them. When they do not embrace that world, and instead organize and mobilize challenges against it, communities typically find themselves outmatched by resource-rich opponents with access to power. Communities that draw on legal “allowable remedies'' (e.g., lawsuits or appeals to regulatory agencies) to resist unwanted development projects are invariably outspent by their opponents, who work tirelessly to maintain and uphold a system of laws and norms that prioritizes individualized private property rights over collective community rights. These dynamics make it nearly impossible for people to work together to create equitable, inclusive, sustainable, and democratic communities. Remedying this reality is not a matter of reforming existing inequitable development rules, but of re-forming the governance structure in which development decisions get made. Using the tools of systems thinking, this teach-in will inform participants about an opportunity for the City of Buffalo, NY to deepen and expand participatory governance and community self-determination, by replacing its current corporate charter with one that is firmly grounded in community and human rights.

TIME 10:35-11:30AM

HOSTED BY Cornell ILR Buffalo Co-Lab

Location: Liberated wellness center (393 Delaware Ave)

SESSION 1: Increasing Student Success through Community Inclusion & Family Involvement

The Buffalo Parent Teacher Organization highlights the work being done with inclusion and cultural relevance. We encourage families and community partners to join us in supporting students and families through programs that recognize culturally relevant foods and increasing parent engagement in schools.

TIME 10:35-11:30AM

HOSTED BY Buffalo Parent Teacher Organization

Location: chapel

SESSION 1: The Never-Ending Displacement Struggle on Haudenosaunee Land

In this workshop, you'll hear from Indigenous people about the displacement that they've long endured on their land and some of the most recent struggles. John will Present on the displacement of Native people in the gaming industry we built. Expose the designation of "incompetent" on the Osage that led to the fraud, exploitation, theft and murder to the same designation that would lead to the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act which deems us as incompetent to run our own business without State regulatory authority and their hands in both our pockets.  Paul will cover the Tonawanda Seneca Nation's struggle to Defend their sovereignty, STOP the mega industrial nys sponsored STAMP project. Paul will talk of the importance of the protecting the Big Woods and the rights of Nature. Come learn more about the STAMP project and the Tonawanda Seneca's fight. Dr. Williams will moderate.

TIME 10:35-11:30AM

HOSTED & Organized by Nekanęhsakt and Presented by John Kane (Mohawk), Paul Winnie (Tonawanda Seneca), Dr. Agnes Williams (Seneca)

Location: Main room

SESSION 1: Buffalo Common Council Procedures and How to Take Action

Too often, grassroots advocates are left confused and excluded by the technical procedures and rules in City Hall. This workshop will help participants feel more confident bringing policy change priorities and concerns to the Buffalo Common Council. The Common Council is the legislative branch of the City of Buffalo. The Council meets every week to discuss city matters, including new legislation, finances and city spending, resident concerns, and more. This skills workshop will explain the Council’s schedule and meeting types, how residents can interact with the Council by filing and speaking on items during meetings, and how the Council can change local policy through ordinances and resolutions. We will look at sample letters to the Council, share a glossary of terms that residents should know when working to advance an issue or policy change, and share tips and successful advocacy stories for interacting with the Council.

TIME 10:35-11:30 AM

HOSTED BY Partnership for the Public Good

Location: main Room

SESSION 1: It’s Been a Long Journey: Immigration in Buffalo 2023

Borders. Hotels. Buses. Benefits. Election year. Housing Crisis. Buzzwords and headlines abound, but what are the real experiences  of immigration and immigrant communities in Buffalo in 2023? 

This workshop will be for the purpose of sharing direct story and experience from Buffalo residents, and also for open and open minded conversation between all who join today

on who we are, where we are going and where we need to go. The workshop will open with a roundtable representing a look back at a year in immigration in Buffalo, followed by a guided discussion and a creative simulation experience. Come to this workshop if you want to learn, talk, ask questions, get creative, and get involved in local solutions such as language justice and legal access for immigrant communities.

Except for Six Nations people, everyone is from somewhere, and in the now, we are also all from here. Let’s talk.

TIME 10:35-11:30 AM

HOSTED BY Justice for Migrant Families

Location: Main room

SESSION 2 OPTIONS: 12:05-1PM

SESSION 2: Buffalo Creek Reservation - Displaced and Still Here

Alyssa Mt. Pleasant will present on the history of Seneca's territory at Buffalo Creek, the struggles of the people to resist colonization. How Buffalo Creek was home to thriving community who housed many already displaced indigenous people survivors from US colonialism. Mellissa will present on how did a cemetery become a city park? This is the story of Seneca Indian Park, located in South Buffalo. Not well known, this site is a burial grounds dating back to 1500. It is one of the last remnants of the Senecas who were displaced when the Buffalo Creek Treaty was signed, and I aim to raise awareness of this sacred site. Come hear more!

TIME 12:05-1:00 PM

HOSTED & Organized by Nekanęhsakt and Presented by AlysSa Mt. Pleasant, Mellissa Leonard (Seneca)

Location: Main room

SESSION 2: Mapping the Local Political Landscape

It's no secret that Byron Brown is trying to leave office before his fifth term is up. We know he won't become the new president of Buffalo State University, but will he run for NY-26? Whatever the future holds for Mayor Byron Brown, it will have clear political ramifications in 2024-2025. In this session, participants will delve into the political rumors, intrigue, and nitty gritty details of if/then scenarios with the help of OCB and Buffalonians who are just as interested in what happens next as you are.

TIME 12:05-1:00 PM

HOSTED BY Our City Buffalo

Location: liberated wellness center (393 Delaware ave.)

SESSION 2: Putting people and planet first: Fighting back against National Fuel’s assault on our communities

National Fuel Gas has been wiling out over the last year opposing New York’s landmark climate law - the Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act. The investor-owned utility has allegedly used our money to run a grassroots lobbying and robocalling campaign that has targeted customers and elected officials with misinformation about the harmful impacts of the law. They’ve made false claims about the benefits and resilience of the gas system during last December’s deadly blizzard. They’re seeking approval for a 20-year long-term plan from state regulators that would deepen our dependence on fracked gas as the climate crisis worsens. And now they’re petitioning the state to raise our utility rates by at least 13.7% which will increase heating costs and contribute to neighborhood displacement for marginalized residents in Buffalo. As a result, multiple fronts are now open for our communities to fight back against National Fuel’s monopoly power. This workshop will provide information and tools to build and exercise community power through effective engagement in utility rate cases.

TIME 12:05-1:00 PM

HOSTED BY Hosted by PUSH Buffalo and the Alliance for a Green Economy

Location: Missionary Room

SESSION 2: Anti-Oppressive Facilitation and Democratic Decision Making

This hands-on, skills-focused workshop will introduce participants to the tools that help to build strong democratic businesses, organizations, and movements. At Cooperation Buffalo, we aim to combat increasing inequality by moving resources to cooperatively-owned and democratically-controlled enterprises embedded in the communities that need it the most. But establishing a worker-owned cooperative or a democratic organization is only the first step. How we practice democracy matters--in our workplaces, collectives, nonprofits, and movements for justice. We will explore tools, strategies, and resources that push back against oppression in workplaces and meetings, and practice democratic decision making--together!

TIME 12:05-1:00 PM

HOSTED BY Cooperation Buffalo

Location: main Room

SESSION 2: Oral Fluid Testing a Tool to for Change

Since March 2021, transit riders have been living with suspended services–with cuts on weekend and weekday evening hours. Before the suspension, as many as 12 bus routes ran a bus every half hour on Saturdays. Today, riders live mostly with buses running once every hour–sometimes every 40 minutes depending on time and place.

The issue isn’t NFTA not finding enough money. Rather it’s NFTA not finding enough people to operate behind the wheel. We’ve talked to many folks about this: NFTA planning staff, operators and local leaders, and they all share a similar story: With a newly increased starting wage of $20 per hour, there’s been plenty of interest in the jobs, but they are turned away by the drug testing. No rider wants to board a bus with an operator under the influence of any substance or drug, but that’s not what these current tests do. By detecting marijuana use in the last 30 days, they disqualify folks who use responsibly, similar to someone drinking beer on a night off of work.

We were happy to learn that the US DOT updated the rule to allow agencies to use Oral Fluid testing as of June 1st.  However, we’re still stuck because the Dept of Health and Human Services haven't approved any labs who can certify the results. More drivers won’t fully address Buffalo’s mobility justice needs, but it will make taking the bus a more livable option for folks with the fewest transportation options available.

TIME 12:05-1:00 PM

HOSTED BY Hosted by CEJ Buffalo

Location: chapel