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Community Coalition

Employ-Community Coaltion

Started in 2015, the Community Coalition, (formerly known as the Employ Buffalo Niagara Coalition) is an employer-led initiative that brings the private and public sectors, education and training partners, and workforce intermediaries together to share their employment challenges, and find solutions that address barriers to economic mobility for the under and unemployed in our region.

The Community Coalition is focused on three main areas:

  1. Access and transportation to solve public transportation barriers, ride-sharing for first/last-mile needs, and employer pooling costs of shared private transportation.
  2. Career awareness to better educate job seekers, reduce high turnover costs for employers and improve our Career Pathways initiative. 
  3. Public and private workforce resources to improve employment systems we've developed 2 tools:
    1. The Benefits Cliff Calculator—a tool to provide employers with a full view of the impact their compensation and promotion practices are making.
    2. The HR Toolkit -- an interactive tool with vetted HR policies that are designed to retain employees and help them advance in your company.
The Community Coalition includes: 
  • 716 Ministries
  • AFL-CIO
  • Bank of America
  • Basil Ford
  • Belmont Housing Resources for WNY, Inc.
  • BestSelf Behavioral Health, Inc.
  • Boys & Men of Color Initiative
  • Buffalo & Erie County Workforce Investment Board, Inc.
  • Buffalo Center for Arts and Technology
  • Buffalo City Mission
  • Buffalo Employment and Training Center
  • Buffalo Futures Hub
  • Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus, Inc.
  • Buffalo Niagara Partnership
  • Buffalo State, State University of New York
  • Buffalo Urban League
  • Catholic Charities of Buffalo
  • Center for Employment Opportunities
  • Charter Communications
  • Charter School for Applied Technologies
  • Cheektowaga Chamber of Commerce
  • Child Care Resource Network
  • Cicatelli Associated
  • City of Buffalo
  • City of Niagara Falls
  • Clarence High School
  • Community Action Organization of Western New York
  • Community Foundation for Greater Buffalo
  • Community Health Center of Buffalo, Inc.
  • Community Services for Every1
  • Diversified Labor Solutions (a division of the Cantalician Center)
  • Dove Transportation
  • Dupont Niagara
  • Erie 1 BOCES
  • Erie Community College
  • Erie County
  • Erie County Executive
  • Erie County Industrial Development Agency
  • Erie Niagara AHEC
  • Evergreen Health
  • Explore and More Ralph C. Wilson Jr. Children's Museum
  • Goodwill Industries of WNY, Inc.
  • Greater Buffalo Niagara Regional Transportation Council
  • Green Options Buffalo, Inc.
  • Transportation Council
  • Greater Rochester Chamber of Commerce
  • Huber Electric Inc.
  • Independent Health Corporation
  • International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (Local 303)
  • International Institute of Buffalo
  • Invest Buffalo Niagara
  • Journey's End Refugee Services, Inc.
  • Key Resource Group
  • M&T Bank
  • McGard LLC
  • Medaille College
  • National Grid
  • Niagara County Community College
  • Niagara Frontier Transportation Authority
  • Niagara University
  • Northland Workforce Training Center
  • Northwest Bank
  • NYS Assembly 141st District
  • NYS DEC Region 9
  • NYS Senate 60th District
  • NYS Senate 61st District
  • NYS Senate 63rd District
  • OLV Charities, A Father Baker Legacy
  • Pegula Sports & Entertainment, LLC
  • Personal Computers, Inc.
  • Prentice Office Environments
  • Ralph C. Wilson, Jr. Foundation
  • Remedy Intelligent Staffing
  • S&T Bank
  • Say Yes Buffalo
  • Scherer Electric
  • Sealing Devices Inc.
  • Shea's Performing Arts Center
  • SoPark Corporation
  • TAM Ceramics
  • Tapecon, Inc.
  • TechBuffalo
  • Tesla
  • The John R. Oishei Foundation
  • The Service Collaborative of WNY, Inc.
  • Trocaire College
  • Try-It Distributing Co., Inc.
  • Unite Us
  • United Way of Buffalo & Erie County
  • Univera Healthcare
  • University at Buffalo
  • USA Niagara Chamber
  • VIA (Pathways for the Visually Impaired)
  • Wegmans Food Markets, Inc.
  • WNY Women's Foundation
  • Zehnder Rittling

The Coalition is managed by our Executive Committee who meet quarterly to address the full group’s concerns and clear a path forward with solutions to Buffalo Niagara’s systemic issues.

If you’d like to receive information on advancing economic mobility, learn about our progress on local employment efforts and stay informed about Coalition meetings or workshops, let’s get in touch.

From the Blog

Employ Team Participates in Nationally Recognized Programs to Advance Local Initiatives

By communications@thepartnership.org | April 13, 2023

Buffalo Niagara Partnership (BNP) team members were selected to participate in two nationally recognized programs to advance Employ Buffalo Niagara and the chamber’s workforce and talent initiatives.

Reaching the Next Generation of Hidden Talent

By communications@thepartnership.org | April 6, 2023

Uncovering and Cultivating Hidden Talent Series: Session 1 – Next Gen Talent

As employers, we all know that the job market has changed, which makes it harder to hire and retain quality employees.

Manufacturing TPM: Reaching Important Hiring Milestones

By sethpiccirillo | March 15, 2023

The Buffalo Niagara Partnership’s Manufacturing Talent Pipeline Management (TPM) Collaborative made important career connections in the first quarter of 2023.

TPM: Sizing Up the Right Fit

By communications@thepartnership.org | August 18, 2022

What’s it like to work a customer service job at a regional employer with immediate openings? Students from 716 Ministries/Trocaire and the Service Collaborative of WNY found out through a day spent visiting with hiring managers from Univera, National Fuel, Wegmans, and Independent Health.