News

Community Policing Survey Goal Reached!

Our Justice and Opportunity Table has brought new allies together to work toward community-oriented policing in the city of Buffalo. In February, we launched a community survey to get an understanding of the community’s perceptions and attitudes toward the Buffalo Police Department. We have had many volunteers actively surveying the community by tabling at public grocery stores, working with churches and community groups, canvassing neighborhoods and train stations, and hosting community talks and conversations in their homes. By the beginning of June, we’d reached our goal of collecting 2,000 survey responses from Buffalo residents, in languages including Spanish, Burmese-Karen and Nepali.

Our friends at Partnership for the Public Good have been analyzing surveys as they come in, and will compile a report of our findings, identifying trends in data based on ZIP code, racial demographics, sexual orientation, and more. The J&O Table will review the results and determine the direction of our campaign moving forward.

Justice & Opportunity Week

During the week of July 18, we will be kicking off our first-ever “Justice & Opportunity Week.” This week will include the official unveiling of our survey report, and will feature a series of events to educate, inspire, and mobilize Buffalo.

The week's events will include:

• A press conference to kick-off Justice & Opportunity Week
• A keynote address from D’Artagnan Scorza, Founder and Executive Director of the Social Justice Learning Institute in Inglewood, CA
• A screening of the powerful documentary “The House I Live In,” followed by Panel discussion with the Drug Policy Alliance
• An interactive “Know Your Rights Workshop” led by Emily Terrana of the New York Civil Liberties Union
• A performance/speak out session with artists and creative residents from across Buffalo 

(Stay tuned for more details.)