Who We Are
Change Buffalo PAC is a non-partisan community action organization driven by a coalition of thought leaders from the business, civic and cultural spheres. United by an unyielding commitment to the Queen City, we challenge the entrenched assumptions and inertia that have held Western New York back.
Our Mission
Our mission is to ignite an economic and cultural renaissance in Buffalo Niagara by designing bold, practical solutions to the region’s most persistent social, economic and environmental challenges, and by building the public support to carry them out.
Why We Exist: Filling the Leadership Void
Buffalo Niagara has extraordinary assets: fresh water, an international border, world-class architecture, a celebrated Olmsted park system, great universities and hospitals, and people who never gave up on their home. After sixty years of decline, the city grew again in the 2020 census.
What the region has lacked is a shared direction. Erie County alone has 44 cities, towns and villages. Economic development is split among multiple agencies. The biggest decisions about our highways and waterfront have stalled for years for lack of consensus. No one has been setting a bold vision for the whole region and rallying people to achieve it.
Change Buffalo PAC steps into that gap. We act as a reform-oriented think tank and a civic movement at the same time: we develop detailed policy, publish it openly, and organize residents to make it real.
What We Believe
- Growth is the answer to decline. A growing region can afford both good services and lower taxes.
- Markets and citizens, not bureaucracy, drive renewal. Clear rules, open competition and empowered neighborhoods beat red tape and backroom deals.
- Government should do less, better, and together. Consolidation, transparency and fiscal discipline earn public trust.
- Every neighborhood deserves to share in the comeback. The turnaround must reach the East Side, the West Side, the waterfront and the suburbs alike.
- Democracy is a strength. Decisions are better and last longer when the people affected help make them.
What We Do
- Develop policy. Our Turnaround Agenda and detailed policy plans set out specific proposals at the city, county and regional levels.
- Advocate. Our advocacy campaigns focus on the decisions that will shape the next decade.
- Organize. Our organizing programs build leadership in every neighborhood.
- Propose reform. Our legislative and reform initiatives offer model laws for better, more accountable government.
Our Vision
We are working toward a vibrant, prosperous and inclusive Buffalo Niagara, where every resident can thrive, iconic urban landscapes inspire, and global opportunity is within reach. Through strategic collaboration, fearless ideas and relentless advocacy, Change Buffalo PAC will help redefine the region as a beacon of resilience, creativity and shared growth.
Read Buffalo’s turnaround story · Meet our founder · Get involved
