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On the Edge of Abundance: Water Affordability and Equity in Buffalo
Anna Blatto — Dec 30, 2024
This report examines the critical issue of water affordability and equity in Buffalo, New York.
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The Child Care Crisis: History and Examples from Across the United States
Song Lee — Sep 3, 2024
This report by Community Foundation for Greater 2024 Buffalo High Road Fellow, Song Lee shares the history and status of child care in the United States. The report defines the care economy, analyzes the child care crisis, reviews past federal and state efforts for universal child care, and proposes potential solutions.
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The Rich Don't Pay But You Do: The City's Free Rides for the Rich, An Analysis of City of Buffalo Property Tax Revenue
Our City Buffalo, Kevin Connor — Jun 15, 2024
The City of Buffalo is facing a significant financial crisis – including a projected gap of $41 to $55 million next year – that could have a major destabilizing impact on the city and its residents in the coming years. Significant cuts to city services and further property tax and fee increases are likely looming. The city’s residents could see a further deterioration of essential services like snow plowing and street and sidewalk maintenance even as they are asked to pay more …
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The True Cost of Child Care: Erie County NY (Final Report)
Lou Jean Fleron, Russell Weaver, Catherine Creighton — Oct 26, 2022
Funded by Erie County and supplemented with New York state funds allocated to the Cornell ILR Buffalo Co-Lab, the study builds on the Phase One report issued earlier this year and analyzes data on the child care industry and workforce for both Erie County and the state.
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Racial Disparities and Homelessness in Western New York
Homeless Alliance of Western New York — Oct 12, 2018
In this data analysis, Western New York is defined as Erie, Niagara, Genesee, Wyoming and Orleans County because these are areas the Homeless Alliance of WNY coordinate services with and administer the data for. The Homeless Alliance of Western New York analyzed racial disparities among homelessness within Western New York and examined the homeless system’s equity serving different racial/ethnic groups in terms of receiving those services, prioritizing those services, and housing success …
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Voices for 2020: Ending Family Homelessness Summary Report
Homeless Alliance of Western New York, Diane Bessell — Oct 12, 2018
Voices for 2020 was undertaken at the request of the Homeless Alliance of Western New York with the expressed goal of developing a clearer picture of the physical, psychological, social, and resource needs of homeless families living in Erie, Niagara, Genesee, Orleans, and Wyoming Counties. The project was developed in direct response to the United States Interagency Council on Homelessness’s call to develop coordinated community responses to end homelessness among families with children …
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Voices for 2020: Strategies to Address Family Homelessness in WNY
Homeless Alliance of Western New York, Diane Bessell — Oct 12, 2018
Ending family homelessness will require a wide variety of community-based strategies to ensure that every member of each family experiencing homelessness is offered the services and supports they need to thrive. Following engagement with homeless families and health and human service providers; a review of the research literature and best practices in addressing the needs of homeless families; and completion of a local environmental scan, several strategies were identified for local action to …
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Workers on the Brink: Low-Wage Employment in Buffalo and Erie County
Nicole Hallett Apr 12, 2018
In 2017, Professor Hallett, winner of a public research fellowship from Open Buffalo and PPG, conducted a survey of 213 workers in Buffalo to learn more about the challenges they are facing.
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Poverty in Buffalo: Causes, Impacts, Solutions
Orlando Dickson, Sam Magavern, Alyssa Bergsten, David Clayton, Chad Davenport, Melissa Kathan, Hayley Ross — Apr 10, 2018
Poverty in Buffalo-Niagara is concentrated in urban areas. It is segregated and racialized. One major cause of poverty is jobs that do not pay enough. Other major causes include disability, unaffordable housing, and lack of public transit access to quality jobs. Fifty years after Martin Luther King, Jr. launched the Poor People’s Campaign, the nation’s commitment to reducing poverty has rarely been weaker, and millions of people are suffering as a result. Poverty is not natural or …
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Renewing Our Pledge: A Path to Ending Lead Poisoning of Buffalo's Most Vulnerable Citizens
Kent Gardner — Mar 29, 2018
This report provides a comprehensive assessment of lead poisoning data for community stakeholders, decision makers, and funders. The assessment was advised by the WNY Coalition to Prevent Lead Poisoning and informed by key staff from the City of Buffalo Department of Permits and Inspections and Corporation Counsel, the Erie County Department of Health, and interviews conducted with officials, tenants, landlords, homeowners, nonprofit staff, community leaders, and other stakeholders in Erie …
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A Profile of Financial Hardship in Erie County
United Way of Buffalo and Erie County — Nov 27, 2017
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Working Toward Equality, Updated: Race, Employment, and Public Transportation in Erie County
Sam Magavern, Aaron Krolikowski — Jul 5, 2017
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Inclusionary Zoning: Creating Equity and Lasting Affordability in the City of Buffalo, New York
Buffalo Inclusionary Housing Coalition, Skye Hart, Victoria Neenan — Oct 12, 2016
The City of Buffalo is experiencing fast-rising rents and housing prices in the midst of severe and growing poverty. New housing is being built, with generous subsidies from the taxpayers, but most of it is luxury or market-rate apartments and condominiums. Far from aiding the affordability crisis, this new development is worsening it, particularly in neighborhood such as downtown, the West Side and Fruit Belt, where gentrification is underway and displacement of lower income …
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Energy Poverty in Buffalo's West Side: PUSH, National Fuel, and the Fight for Equitable Energy Access
Anthony Hilbert — Jun 16, 2016
Energy poverty, the condition of households that cannot adequately heat their homes, is a chronic problem resulting from low income, high fuel prices, and poorly insulated, energy inefficient houses. In addition to financial strain, energy poverty causes severe social and health problems for people living in under-heated homes (Boardman 1991; 2013). Despite its seriousness and pervasiveness, energy poverty has been ignored too often in the US. Those that suffer through energy …
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One Region Forward A New Way To Plan For Buffalo Niagara
University at Buffalo Regional Institute — Jul 20, 2015
This document represents the culmination of three years of research, community engagement, partnership building and planning under the banner of One Region Forward. Within the pages of this plan, you will find the major research findings of what the data tells us about where the region is today and expressions of thousands of citizen voices on the direction people in the region want to see Buffalo Niagara go. Proposed strategies and actions, built by a team of 100+ subject matter experts, are …
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Temp Work and Poverty in Buffalo
J.A. Dewald Jan 1, 2015
There are many kinds of temp work, but this report focuses on the most common type, in which a worker is employed by a temporary service agency and placed at one or more work sites. The temp agency typically charges its client business roughly twice the worker’s hourly wages. Temp agencies create a triangular relationship in which the worker works at the host business but for the temp agency. In other words, it is the temp agency that typically recruits, screens, hires, …
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Buffalo Poverty Research Workshop
Mark Poloncarz — Mar 28, 2014
While Erie County’s unemployment rate and levels of poverty are better than the state and national averages, not everyone is benefitting from our resurgent economy. In fact, many at the lowest rung of the economic ladder are being left behind, and income inequality is now putting at risk the middle class. Poverty plays a profound role in the educational challenges in a city where nearly one in two students does not graduate high school on time. Poverty also contributes …
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Individuals Below the Poverty Level
Sam Magavern, Partnership for the Public Good Dec 31, 2009
Census Tracts in the City of Buffalo.
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Buffalo Poverty Reduction Blueprint
Donna Brown — Apr 29, 2009
High levels of poverty in the City of Buffalo continue to persist despite significant economic development in the last several years. With recent data by the U.S. Census Bureau listing Buffalo as the third poorest city in the nation, it is imperative that a comprehensive and strategic approach be put into place to address this situation. This report is designed to be a blueprint for strategic planning and action to reduce the level of poverty in Buffalo and assure that all of …
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Poverty Level Work in Western New York
Sam Magavern — Nov 16, 2008
A large percentage of the jobs in western New York do not pay enough to keep a family safely out of poverty. Roughly 125,000 workers are in occupations for which the median wage is less than $20,000 per year – including salespeople, cashiers, security guards, and child care workers. Another 40,000 workers are in jobs where the median wage falls between $20,000 and $23,000 – including janitors, home health aides, pre-school teachers, and teachers assistants.
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The Geography of Urban Poverty
Wende A. Mix — Jan 1, 2008
The Census Bureau reports poverty statistics annually based on American Community Survey (ACS) data. For the past two years this has included listing the ten places with the highest poverty rates and the ten with the lowest poverty rates. This study considers the interpretation of these statistics when different geographies form the analytical framework. As expected, interpretation of these statistics is influenced by the Modifiable Areal Unit Problem (MAUP) in geography.
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An Integrated Approach to Fighting Blight and Poverty in Buffalo's Low-Income Neighborhoods
Partnership for the Public Good — Dec 31, 2007
Recently released Census data confirms the City of Buffalo is now among the very poorest and most blighted large cities in the United States. The report pegs Buffalo’s poverty rate at 29.9%, ranking second behind only Detroit. This news was released within days of Buffalo Mayor Byron Brown’s announcement of his “5 in 5” Demolition Plan. This plan sets a goal of demolishing 5,000 houses in five years, on the road to stabilizing Buffalo’s vacancy …
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Poverty and Buffalo: Beyond the Headlines
Wende A. Mix — Dec 31, 2007
On August 28, 2007 the U.S. Census Bureau released statistics on poverty and earnings in the United States. These statistics were based on results from the 2006 American Community Survey (ACS) which is an ongoing (continuous measurement) survey conducted by the Bureau. The Buffalo News published a front page story on August 30, 2007 with the following headline “Buffalo falls to second-poorest big city in U.S., with a poverty rate of nearly 30 percent”. The Census …
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The High Cost of Being Poor
Rod Watson, Jonathan Epstein, Brian Meyer — Jun 21, 2006
A FOUR-PART SERIES REPRINTED FROM JUNE 18-21, 2006. In November 2005, about half-a-dozen Buffalo News reporters and editors sat in a circle and began brainstorming story ideas. As part of a two-day training session conducted by the Committee of Concerned Journalists, the News staffers were looking for story ideas that would be worth an extended investment of time and resources. Jonathan Epstein, a News financial reporter who specializes in banking and insurance issues, suggested it might …
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Losing Ground: Income and Poverty in Upstate New York, 1980-2000
Rolf Pendall, Susan Christopherson — Sep 1, 2004
Over the past several decades, Upstate New York has transitioned from a stable middle-income region to one with serious income and economic problems. In 1969, per capita personal income (PCPI) in Upstate exceeded that of the United States, but by 2000, it trailed the national average by 11 percent. These lagging incomes likely contribute to the substantial out-migration of mobile residents from the area—especially in the mid-1990s—which in turn is threatening economic …