By Eileen Buckley
Buffalo, NY – The City and a community organization have teamed up to re-use a West Side library branch that was shut down due to Erie County's fiscal crisis.
The former Northwest Branch on Grant Street in Buffalo is now the new headquarters of the Massachusetts Avenue Project known as MAP. The non-profit organization offers a number of innovative community development programs.
MAP moved into the new location this past January. Program leaders were forced to find a new site after an arson fire destroyed their former location last August.
MAP's Executive director Christina Akers says Niagara District Council member Nick Bonifacio reached out when the Northwest Branch was forced to close.
"One door closes, another one opens. The Northwest Library was one of the 16 county libraries that was closed in the Fall. So Bonifacio saw that we needed office space, and that we were looking on the West Side. He knew the library was going dark, so he paired us together," said Akers.
Next Wednesday a grand reopening will be held for the public. MAP has secured a front desk manager that will oversee a reading room and internet use. It will be opened to the public 20-hours. The center won't offer the same services as the branch once did.
Users will not be allowed to check out books. But Akers says it is a solution to deal with a closed branch building.
"Going into the summer, the building will be open to kids in the neighborhood, and a place where people have educational resources available to them on a consistent basis. We are really looking forward to adding services and activities out of the center, and making it a place where people can come and learn and build communities," Akers said.
MAP will manage all activities and services. The City still owns the building and will continue to maintain it and pay for utilities. Akers says the new use plan is a unique arrangement and a win-win for MAP, Buffalo and its West Side citizens.