Intersect Buffalo

Congratulations to Queen City Early Childhood center!

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🚀 THE COUNTDOWN IS ON!

There's something about bringing a new group of entrepreneurs into a room and knowing you're about to witness the beginning of something BIG.

The next IC Success Launchpad cohort kicks off October 8, and we're getting ready to welcome a new class of visionaries, innovators, and entrepreneurs who are ready to put in the work.

Over the coming weeks, we'll introduce you to the people behind the businesses, share their stories, and give you a front row seat as they turn ambition into action.

Buffalo, get ready to meet our next generation of entrepreneurs!

👀 Stay tuned. The Launchpad is getting ready for takeoff.

Thank you, Buffalo Business First, for highlighting our CEO, Kyria Stephens, and the work happening through Intersect Buffalo.

This recognition is about more than one person—it shines a light on the work being done alongside residents, businesses, institutions, and partners to create lasting, generational change in our community.

We believe real transformation happens when we bring people together, align resources, and create opportunities for communities to shape and benefit from their own future.

We’re proud of the progress, grateful for everyone building with us, and excited about what’s ahead.

We’re just getting started.

Read the feature from Buffalo Business First below. (BizJournals⁠)

CEO describes Intersect Buffalo as the Josh Allen of the district: It calls the huddle, bringing people together; gets the play call from the offensive coordinator (the community); reads the defense at the line of scrimmage for adjustments; and gets the ball >> See the full article below ⬇️

Want to grow a money tree? Well you have to make sure you have strong roots! Come out to this series and Let’s work on growing this forest together!

Registration —> https://forms.cloud.microsoft/pages/responsepage.aspx?id=2OY3G2xEQkWWAXUdHVzDrkdpDQr-KCtNvpJWD7vM6PVUNjJBOFpIWUI0MVMzRTcyN1pEWlhDUzZOVy4u&origin=lprLink&route=shorturl

OPPORTUNITIES IN OUR DISTRICT‼️

Hey Happy Monday!
Let’s get to it!

Hey Masten, we have a great opportunity for connecting with housing and lead safety assistance! 🏠🏡

Come out to the Delavan Grider Community Center on Tuesday, October 20, from 6–8 p.m., to connect with more than 20 local agencies and community organizations. They will be helping residents connect with housing resources, lead-safety education, financial assistance, and homeownership support.

Come get information, ask questions, and connect with resources that can help keep our homes and families safe.

A picture can capture a moment—but pictures mean nothing if the moment doesn’t translate into progress.

The real moment is about the work that happens after the picture.

Intersect Buffalo President & CEO Kyria Stephens recently had the opportunity to meet New York State Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins, alongside two important partners in our work—Buffalo Common Council President Pro Tempore and Intersect Buffalo Board Member Zeneta B. Everhart, and Leecia Eve, who is leading the strategic planning process for our Empowerment District.

Each person in this picture represents a different connection to the work we are building.

Councilwoman Everhart has been a partner in helping us think differently about how we engage young people—creating meaningful pathways to education, careers, entrepreneurship and opportunity so they have the tools to build the lives and communities they want to see.

Leecia Eve brings decades of experience across government, economic development, law, business and civic leadership to helping us develop a strategy for the Empowerment District that is ambitious, actionable and built to last.

And the opportunity to connect with Majority Leader Stewart-Cousins represents something important as well: connecting the work happening at the neighborhood level to leadership and opportunity at the state level.

But ultimately, the people in this picture aren’t the story.

The people we serve are.

The mother wondering what opportunities will exist for her child.

The young person trying to figure out what comes after high school.

The entrepreneur with the ability and ambition but without access to the capital or relationships they need.

The family that wants to own a home, build assets and leave something to the next generation.

The resident watching investment happen around them and asking:

“Will any of this benefit us?”

Those are the people the Empowerment District has to work for.

Relationships across community, government, business and institutions matter because they can help us move resources, remove barriers, create opportunities and build systems that work better for people.

Access isn’t the goal. Outcomes are.

As we continue building the Empowerment District on Buffalo’s East Side, that will remain our standard:

Can people see it?
Can people feel it?
And are more people able to build the life—and the community—they want because we did the work?

That’s what matters.

Be an Intersecter.

👀

The City of Buffalo has a new 311 Pothole Tracker to keep residents up to date on the status of repairs to potholes reported to 311.

You can report potholes by calling 311, using the City of Buffalo 311 app, or online through either the 311 page or the Pothole Tracker: https://www.buffalony.gov/1934/311-Pothole-Tracker

YOUR VOICE MATTERS. HELP SHAPE THE EMPOWERMENT DISTRICT.

We’re building something bigger than a program.

We’re working to build an Empowerment District where people have greater access to opportunity, stronger connections, a better quality of life, and a real pathway to building wealth.

But we can’t build it for the community without building it with the community.

If you live here, work here, worship here, own a business here, spend time here, grew up here, know someone here, or love someone here — we want to hear from YOU.

Intersect Buffalo is conducting a Community Survey to better understand what people believe is working, what needs to change, and what matters most as we shape the future of the Empowerment District.

And yes — your voice can directly influence the work, priorities, partnerships, and investments we pursue.

Take a few minutes to complete the survey:

bit.ly/IntersectBuffaloSurvey

And please SHARE this post with someone who has a connection to the community.

We don’t just want to know what institutions think.

We want to know what YOU think.

Together, we can build a community with greater connection, opportunity, ownership, and lasting change.