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Power to Heal: Civic Design in the Aftermath of Tragedy
Gold
Thursday, November 17, 2022 • Civic Design 2022
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Power to Heal: Civic Design in the Aftermath of Tragedy
Speakers: Kyria Stephens and Marlon Kerner
Link:

Summary

Senseless acts of violence change lives forever. For the victims and their families, life will never be the same. But wounds, particularly those inflicted by racism and hatred, injure entire communities; and communities must find a way to move on. Civic design, practiced at a community level and led by leaders from inside, offers a generative approach to restoring agency, purpose and power. It has the potential to rekindle hope and trust, and to reclaim power, despite those who tried to take it away. This session illustrates how civic design is being used to heal an injured community.

Key Insights

  • Buffalo ranks as one of the most segregated cities in America, with 85% of its Black population concentrated on the East Side.

  • Urban infrastructure like highway 33 physically divided Buffalo neighborhoods, exacerbating segregation and limiting mobility.

  • Modern redlining practices persisted in Buffalo as recently as 2015, demonstrated by lending discrimination by a local bank.

  • A food desert exists on Buffalo's East Side, intensifying community vulnerability by limiting access to healthy food and basic services.

  • The Buffalo mass shooting perpetrator used census data to deliberately target a densely Black neighborhood to maximize racial violence.

  • Community healing efforts included culturally tailored resource distribution, grief counseling with local counselors, and public vigils.

  • Multi-sector, multi-generational collaboration was key to a coordinated response involving local government, nonprofits, businesses, and indigenous leaders.

  • Emotional processing and grieving were prioritized before action, understanding trauma needed to be addressed to build trust and momentum.

  • Transparent systems for monetary donations were rapidly put into place by community leaders like Thurman Thomas to ensure effective aid.

  • Government cannot solve these crises alone; long-term civic design must include empowered community voices and ongoing participatory systems.

Notable Quotes

"Buffalo is actually one of the most segregated cities in America."

"We drive it all the time—the 33—that literally cut a neighborhood in half."

"Underinvestment is a reallocation of funds; it’s money that should go to you but goes somewhere else."

"The shooter used census data to figure out what city he could inflict the most damage in."

"People were traumatized especially from the East Side; a book slammed on the ground and everybody panicked."

"You got to allow people to grieve first—it’s like when a kid scrapes their knee, you hug them before you say I told you so."

"We created a multi-sector, multi-generational collaborative to build a 50 to 100 year plan for the community."

"Government can’t be the only solution; we brought people together from all sectors and empowered community voices."

"Political leaders started showing up just to listen and be part of the crowd, not to campaign."

"Buffalo is known as the city of good neighbors; people immediately started asking on social media how to help."

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