Buffalo's Opportunity Agenda

Building One Buffalo: Inclusive, Strong & Prosperous

City of Buffalo Opportunity Pledge

Whereas

Diversity is an inclusive concept, which encompasses race, color, ethnicity, gender, disability, sexual orientation, gender identity and expression, religion, nationality and socioeconomic status.

Whereas

The City of Buffalo’s diversity makes its human capital wide ranging, unique and strong. As a community, we believe that every person has worth and value and one of our community obligations is to foster an environment in which everyone is positioned to succeed in reaching their true potential.

Whereas

We believe diverse, inclusive communities are vibrant, interesting, economically competitive and sustainable. We believe understanding, respecting, celebrating and embracing our differences create a stronger, more economically advanced community.

Whereas

We believe that community leaders, including the leaders of our business community, understand that creating inclusive workplaces reflecting our City’s rich diversity will bolster recruitment efforts, attract top talent and generate greater profitability for Buffalo’s growing business sector.

Whereas

The goal of this pledge is to encourage businesses, organizations and residents to stand up for inclusiveness and to demonstrate a commitment to building, cultivating and preserving a culture of inclusion, fairness and equity in Buffalo.

Whereas

This pledge recognizes that, by working together, we will increase workforce participation, increase wealth for all residents and build a thriving and inclusive city with opportunity for all.

Now, Therefore, as Institutions, Businesses & Residents, We Pledge to

  • Foster, cultivate and preserve a culture of diversity, inclusion, fairness and equality.
  • Recognize diversity and inclusion as core values of our city.
  • Set collective goals to aggressively reduce poverty and increase employment opportunities for all residents, thereby enhancing our City’s productivity and prosperity.
  • Recognize that achieving true inclusiveness is an evolutionary process, which will require a continuous commitment to identifying and implementing inclusion strategies.
  • Recognize that our City’s strength will grow as each and every one of our neighborhoods grow through employment, upward mobility and prosperity.
  • Recognize that diverse and inclusive workplaces appeal to top talent and encourage excellent performance and productivity, and increase profitability.
  • Generate opportunities in the workplace to increase inclusiveness at all stages of career development in collaboration with the newly created Racial Equity Roundtable. The Roundtable will work with the public, non-profit and private sectors to develop strategies which will advance inclusiveness in the workplace.
  • Build our organizational cultures with this pledge in mind.
  • Make our Boards of Directors more diverse by appointing highly qualified individuals from underrepresented racial groups.
  • Recognize that, in order for Buffalo’s travel, tourism and film industries to be competitive both nationally and internationally, we must support and embrace our community’s diversity.
  • Celebrate diversity, support workplace inclusiveness, and recognize that our City’s progress will accelerate if we embrace our community’s racial diversity.
  • Recognize that our City’s business community will get stronger, as it gets more inclusive and entrepreneurs from every neighborhood and every racial background have the opportunity to realize their true potential.