The 2024 Open Buffalo Emerging Leaders Graduation.
Open Buffalo Graduates 8th Cohort of Emerging Leaders
Published November 25, 2024
On Saturday, November 23, Open Buffalo celebrated the graduation of our eighth cohort of Emerging Leaders. The 23 graduates of the Class of 2024 took the stage at the Burchfield Penney Art Center to present their plans for addressing challenges and inequities in their communities across Western New York.
The 2024 graduates are:
- Jennifer Arroyo
- SayVette Brice
- Onice Castro
- Madeline Collins
- Hy-Deia Elwadi
- Allison Geddes
- La’Shea Green-Thomas
- Willie Griffin
- Patricia Hamilton
- Natalie (Tala) Harden
- Cheryl Harris
- Kito Hill
- Rachel Manor
- Ebony McMillan
- Amanda Mikels
- Wilton Pennyamon Jr.
- Latisha Ann Randle
- Sabriyah Lailla Smith
- Arthur Springs
- Ahrian Symphony Marie Stevens
- Aye Min Thant
- Rennel Williams
- Jessica Young
The projects this cohort have planned will address food insecurity and workforce development, reducing food waste and packaging waste, a first-of-its-kind shelter meeting the needs of unhoused individuals and families with disabilities, access to culturally relevant holistic wellness, structural racism in real estate development, strengthening families and rebuilding neighborhood support networks, empowering women and mothers, educational inequities and fostering student success, youth mentoring, creating a community-based upcycled fashion business, a campaign pushing local government to implement creative solutions to homelessness, reconnecting communities through music, and more.
The graduates now join the ranks of Emerging Leaders Program alumni, bringing our total number of program graduates to 175 since the program launched in 2015. We at Open Buffalo are incredibly proud of each of the graduates, and we cannot wait to see how their projects develop as they begin to put them into action.
The Emerging Leaders Program owes a great deal to alumni who have stayed engaged in Open Buffalo work and continue to contribute to the success of each cohort. We would like to recognize our 2024 Advisory Board for their exemplary service, including Melissa Spikes-Archer (2021), DaMante’ Curry (2023), Jimmy Darby (2017), Kenyana David (2018), Donna Latham Edwards (2016), Yolando Mullen (2023), and Shantelle Patton (2017).
The application process for the Class of 2025 will launch in February.