Latest News

October 1, 2024

WGRZ: "2006 to 2024, how does data rate the Brown administration?"

Nate Benson | October 1, 2024 When asked by 2 On Your Side's Claudine Ewing to rate his performance after 19 years as Mayor, Byron Brown deferred to the public.  "As I am prepared to leave office after 19 plus years of service, it's really up to the people of Buffalo to judge me," …

May 9, 2024

Join webinar (5/24): Broadband for All? Mapping and Discussing Progress and Remaining Challenges Across NYS

Community partners, policy makers, and decision makers across NY are invited to join Rusty Weaver, Director of Research, ILR Buffalo Co-Lab, and community leaders in broadband accessibility for a presentation of the Digital Equity Tool and a discussion on opportunities going forward.  The …

April 13, 2024

Registration Open for Uniting on the High Road: A Conference on Economic Justice at the Local Level

In cities across the United States, everyday people are working to transform our democracy by strengthening their voices in local government, shaping an economy that works for all, and reimagining public safety and health. They are organizing locally to imagine and build a new future where people …

February 27, 2024

SAVE THE DATE: Uniting on the High Road Conference

Uniting on the High Road: A Conference on Economic Justice at the Local Level will take place on June 20-22, 2024 in Buffalo, NY. Hosted by Cornell University ILR Buffalo Co-Lab and Partnership for the Public Good, with community and academic partners from across Buffalo and nationwide, the …

January 26, 2023

New Policy Brief: Raising and Indexing State Minimum Wage Would Have a Large Impact on Women, People of Color, and Immigrants in Western New York

Our latest policy brief by Sam Magavern, Russell Weaver, and Haley Smith examines the potential impact of raising the state's minimum wage for workers in Western New York. The authors conclude that the legislative proposal to raise New York’s minimum wage gradually to $20 by 2026 in …

May 31, 2022

Buffalo News: "Racist attack highlights sparse supermarket options in Buffalo's largely Black neighborhoods"

By: Stephen T. Watson | May 31, 2022  The Tops Markets on Jefferson Avenue, targeted by an avowed white supremacist in a massacre that killed 10 Black people, is the only supermarket within the 14208 ZIP code and a wider section of Buffalo's East Side. The closest full-service grocery …

May 30, 2022

Buffalo News: "The Editorial Board: An ingrained system of segregation led the Tops shooter to Buffalo’s East Side"

The Buffalo News Editorial Board | May 30, 2022 This is the first in a series of editorials.  The cauldron of hate had been brewing for a while, fueled by false notions of “replacement theory.” But long before the shooter stepped foot in that Tops supermarket on May …

May 30, 2022

Buffalo News: "A racist gunman came for Buffalo, but 'racism is not new here;"

By: Stephen T. Watson & Charlie Specht | May 30, 2022 A racist came looking for Buffalo. But Buffalo doesn't have to look far to find racism. In the hours after this month's horrific mass shooting at a Jefferson Avenue supermarket, where 10 Black people were killed, some Buffalo …

May 27, 2022

Black Enterprise: "The supermarket that was the scene of he Buffalo shooting is also an example of supermarket redlining"

By: Derek Major | May 27, 2022  The Tops Supermarket that was the scene of the Buffalo mass shooting was once a beacon of progress for the city’s Black residents. CNN reported in August 2001, Sens. Hillary Clinton and Chuck Schumer attended the announcement of the  Tops …

May 26, 2022

City & State New York: "“We battled to get that food store:” What the Tops supermarket meant to Buffalo’s Black community"

By:Justin Sondel | May 26, 2022 Shortly after President Joe Biden laid flowers at a memorial for the dead in the days after the racist attack that took the lives of 10 Black people at a supermarket in Buffalo, Robert Scott, who has frequented the store for years, spoke with other mourners. He …

May 23, 2022

NPR: "Buffalo plagued by economic neglect, segregation long before shooting, residents say"

By: Alana Wise | May 23, 2022 Buffalo is one of the most economically stunted cities in the nation. It is also one of the most segregated. In the city's East Side neighborhood – where last week, Black shoppers were mowed down by an accused racist gunman – the contrast is clear. The …

May 21, 2022

CBC Radio: "A gunman cost east Buffalo its only large grocery store - so locals are banding together to keep people fed"

CBC Radio | May 21, 2022 This article accompanies the May 19th, 2022  episode of CBC Radio's show The Current with Matt Galloway. Listen to the full episode here and read the transcript here.