Over the last six months, PPG convened a Principles Committee of staff, board members, and partner representatives to lead a participatory process to refresh our principles, as they had not been updated since PPG’s founding in 2007. The process collected priorities and feedback from more than 100 of our partners through surveys, focus groups, and one-on-one meetings.

On December 1, PPG held a Renewing Our Principles celebration with our partners to unveil our updated principles. We are grateful to our Principles Committee for making this work possible: from our board, Lou Jean Fleron, Devonya Havis, Ben Kerman, and Susan Thomas; from our staff, Keelan Erhard, Caitlin Crowell, Dejia James, Regine Ndanga, Andrea Ó Súilleabháin, and Sarah Wooton; and from our partners, Steven Haagsma of Housing Opportunities Made Equal, Grace Karambizi of the Buffalo Immigrant Leadership Team, Joe Kurtz of Massachusetts Avenue Project and Greater Buffalo Urban Growers, and Jerome Singletary of the United Way of Buffalo and Erie County.

Our renewed principles can be found here. As you read and consider them, we offer the following introduction:
PPG’s work is rooted in our partner organizations and the urgent needs and systemic challenges they address every day. These community groups make Buffalo Niagara more equitable, sustainable, and culturally vibrant; they take the lead in times of crisis, fill gaps in our public systems, and provide critical local leadership. Our work for policy change centers their knowledge, experience, and expertise.

Our democratic Community Agenda process ensures that our partnership’s collective vision for Buffalo Niagara drives our work. Together, we see a revitalized Buffalo Niagara in which community groups and residents have a stronger voice in public policy and are better able to promote the public good. We see a community building on assets such as diversity, historic neighborhoods, and ecological resources, making progress on problems such as segregation, inequality, and poor housing conditions, and finding solutions that bring greater accountability and democracy to local government.

In addition to our partners’ annual priorities, PPG’s principles guide our work. It is these principles that a partner endorses in order to join PPG. We believe that building a better Buffalo Niagara means cultivating our region’s existing assets while addressing our most serious problems at their roots.