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Far too often, multiple people work for the same cause from different directions with different resources when they could accomplish more cooperatively.
That was the focus of a gathering of community and faith-based organizations at the Underground Railroad Heritage Museum Thursday.
The event was sponsored by Niagara University’s Levesque Institute Institute and catered by Classic Soul.
The keynote speaker was Charles Perry who grew up on the mean streets of Chicago, did time in jail and has seen the good, bad and ugly of struggling cities.
He looks around Niagara Falls and sees opportunity where others see hopelessness. For example, Main Street.
He talked about Niagara Guys pizza, clinging to an oasis in the midst of Main Street squalor in a world where such stretches seem to always turn around and, as he hopes, Niagara Falls will one day.
“Either you will be the first and take a chance, (as Niagara guys are),” he said, “or you will come last and pay extra to be a part of it.”
Perry spoke about driving past Prophet Isaiah House. He knew nothing of the background, only that the pride one property can spread in revitalizing a neighborhood.
“Whether it is smalltown America or big city Chicago, we have to take care of the community” he said. “You have everything you need to bring the community back, but you need to do it before someone else does.”
He talked about waterfront being the key, whether in Chicago, or Detroit. Twenty years ago, Detroit was in a rough spot. Today, people wonder why they didn’t see the turnaround coming and get on board.
The Englewood neighborhood, adjacent to the Dan Ryan Expressway in Chicago is a prime example. A Japanese company started buying and fixing property. Now the Obama Presidential library will be built there. People are moving in. Real estate is valuable again. The same thing can happen for Niagara Falls.
The stakeholders at the meeting, gathered at the invitation of Rhonda Bivins-Talley of the LeVesque Institute, networked and shared ideas via sticky notes explaining what their organizations do and how they can help.
Bivins-Talley will collect those notes and, hopefully demonstrate that many oars rowing in the same direction make the boat go faster because disconnected organizations with different funding often have commonality in their missions.
