By Sharon Osorio
http://stream.publicbroadcasting.net/production/mp3/wbfo/local-wbfo-968307.mp3
Buffalo, NY – A group of local movers and shakers of color are putting their heads - and their funds - together to make a difference for minority-children in low-income neighborhoods. And as WBFO's Sharon Osorio tells us, this group is not satisfied with supporting the same-old programs.
It wasn't your average field trip for City of Buffalo public schoolchildren. Last year, 4th, 5th and 6th graders settled into Kleinhans to see the African-American soprano, Angela Brown, performing her "Opera from a Sistah's Point of View" program live. This was the signature event to introduce students and the public to the Cultures of Giving Legacy Initiative, a local group comprised of CEOs, PhDs, lawyers, judges and business leaders who are African American, Hispanic, Native American and Asian--joining together to make a difference in the lives of minority children living in low-income neighborhoods.
City Court Judge Betty Calvo-Torres is a member of the initiative, and the expressions on the students' faces were what she'd anticipated.
"A huge smile with their face lighting up," says Calvo-Torres as she describes the students' reaction to Brown. "And it wasn't when she was singing. It was when she was talking to them. And she talked like them, and then turned around and sang in a way that they have never heard. And to see - especially the young women - be able to totally relate to that, and their face light up and smile, that's priceless."
The mission of the CGLI is using endowment money expose children to people, places and experiences that help them envision and achieve positive life goals.
Jennifer J. Parker is the chair of the CGLI. Parker says the group developed its mission in-part by listening to the stories each member told about what triggered their own motivations toward excellence.
"Everyone had someone that said they could do it, and provided them access to what options and what success could look like," says Parker. "And the main thing was options. We heard options, we heard access."
Judge Calvo-Torres says it was her single, immigrant mother who gave her options and access. She and Calvo-Torres lived in subsidized housing, and Mom spoke little English. But her mother pushed Calvo-Torres to succeed academically with the little money they had.
"As compared to all the kids that grew up in that neighborhood who ended up either being drug dealers, or strung out on drugs, or pregnant at the age of 15 and on welfare, or dropping out of school, the difference for me was having a mother, who although not educated herself, understood the importance of education," says Calvo-Torres.
And if the CGLI can take-on or supplement the role of motivator with its people, places and experiences it offers, members feel they can make a big difference in the community. The initiative is part of the Community Foundation for Greater Buffalo. CGLI members invested their own money to kick off the endowment for the initiative. Endowments start with a bulk of money, and the group spends only the interest that builds off of it. The group has grown its endowment to $126,000 from which to build interest, and Parker is thrilled to already have enough interest to match a $5,000 grant to send some Buffalo schoolchildren to the nation's capital.
"We were approached by a program director with the organization called Close Up, and Close Up is a civic-engagement leadership program that kids are taken to Washington, DC, for two different weeks, where they meet their senators, they meet congressmen, they are able to ask policy questions and listen to how everything works, and become just civically engaged," says Parker.
"If you grow up on the West Side and that's all you see, then you think, 'OK, well, that's my world,'" says Calvo-Torres. "But you leave it and you realize, 'Wow, there are people out here who, on a day-to-day basis, are making a difference in other people's lives. There are people who are living the life that I would like to live, dynamic, active, not limited by their circumstances or their finances.' When you see that for yourself, that makes a huge difference. That was my experience growing up."
The group plans on remaining choosy about where its money goes.
"Everyone around the table in our committee said we don't want to be involved if we're going to just fund the status quo," Parker says. "We, as people of color, know what the problems are. We want to address those issues, but it can't be the traditional route, and we want to be open for things, just like the Close Up opportunity. We want to be open for opportunities that we can make a difference in the lives of these children."
The CGLI has hired a program developer to create a unique program for local children of color based on research, and focus groups with community leaders and children themselves. This new program will remain under wraps until the fall. And the endowment continues to build.
"It's a great concept, it's a great group of people, and I think that we are destined to make a great difference in the lives of minority children."