New outreach building on Michigan Avenue set to open this fall

If you’ve driven up Michigan Avenue near Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center in the last few months, you might have noticed a lot of activity around an historic old home at 907 Michigan, a light green house built in 1878 that the Fruit Belt Community fought long and hard to keep standing.

In partnership with Roswell Park, New York State, the Fruit Belt Coalition, the Michigan Street African American Heritage Corridor and the support of both Governor Kathy Hochul and New York State Assembly Majority Leader Crystal Peoples Stokes, this brand-new community building is set to open in the fall, providing a unified office location for Roswell Park’s Community Outreach and Engagement teams while offering a new space for neighbors to gather.

Designed by RiShawn Sonubi and Matthew Cummings of Young + Wright Architectural, the building combines modern and historical touches, from floor-to-ceiling glass on the new building to a window-lined corridor connecting it to the preserved house, in addition to custom-designed wallpaper featuring buildings of historical and cultural significance to the  African American community in Buffalo.

“We’ve never really been easily reachable within the halls of Roswell Park. People didn’t know we existed as an office,” says Nikia Clark, Senior Community Outreach and Engagement Manager. “Being forward-facing, public-facing, and in the community like this is big. This new space will enhance all of our programs. We’ll also have the ability, and the availability, to invite people in, to do more one-on-one conversations.” While there will not be clinical space inside the new facility, people can stop in and get information on cancer screenings, learn their eligibility for screenings and can work with a patient care navigator to make appointments if needed. The navigators can even walk with people down to the main Roswell Park facility for assistance if asked.

The building also has available computers for anyone who wants to stop in and look up cancer information, look or apply for jobs, write resumes or take care of other needs, Clark says. This is an extension of the work already done in the community by the Roswell Park Community Alliance to Reach, Empower and Sustain (CARES) program, a grant-providing initiative that has included building a 2,000-square-foot computer center and the reconstruction and improvement of the Seneca Babcock Community Association to create a pre-school and afterschool childcare and recreation facility.

When the new facility opens, it will bring under one roof Roswell Park’s existing outreach groups, The Witness Project, which goes door-to-door in many Buffalo neighborhoods, including the Fruit Belt and the city’s East Side, passing out healthcare information and working to help people access cancer screenings, and Esperanza y Vida, a Spanish-language outreach program. “This doesn’t decrease the amount of time we’ll be going out into the community,” Clark reassures. “We see this spot as the social capital building, because in addition to us going out, we can invite people in. This is a community space that can be used by organizations that aren’t part of Roswell Park. I’ve met people at various health fairs and I know they don’t have a space they can use. I tell them, come visit me! We have this awesome room you can utilize for your event or meeting.

“We’re really looking at this as part of a giveback to the community,” she continues. “It’s free – we’re never going to charge people to use it. The community room has all the technology, all the audio-visual components needed for meetings.”

The Fruit Belt Coalition already has reached out to the CARES program to move the group’s regular meeting from Roswell Park’s Gaylord Cary meeting room into the community building, says Bernarda Arias, a Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Administrator in the CARES program. “We have turned people away in the past. So many requests come our way that we could not accommodate certain things, so it’ll be nice to have space now that we can use.”

While the building will be occupied by Roswell Park teams, both Clark and Arias stress this building will not be solely for the center’s use and encourage people to stop by and take a look around. There will be a grand opening celebration announced at a later date and open houses scheduled for the fall as well.

“We want this place to stay vibrant,” Clark says. “We want it to be lived in. We want people to fully occupy and utilize every square inch of this space because it was so hard fought for. We want there to be joy.”