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Why Our Annual Meeting Matters More Than Ever
By Bernice Radle,  Executive Director, Preservation Buffalo Niagara

Each year, as we gather for Preservation Buffalo Niagara’s Annual Meeting on November 24th at the historic Delaine Waring Church, I’m reminded why this organization—and this community—continues to inspire me. Our work isn’t just about saving old buildings. It’s about honoring the stories they carry, strengthening the neighborhoods they anchor, and ensuring that the places we love remain vibrant, equitable, and meaningful for generations to come.

Sign up here: https://givebutter.com/2025PBN-annual-meeting

Here’s why attending our Annual Meeting on November 24th truly matters:

1. It’s our moment to reflect—and to recommit.

Preservation can often feel like a marathon made up of countless sprints: crisis interventions, policy battles, project launches, and community collaborations. The Annual Meeting gives us a rare chance to pause and take stock of everything we’ve accomplished together. We are doing a lot this year – expanding the Save our Sacred Sites initiative and seeing exemplary results from that effort, spending of over a million dollars in the last year on historic buildings within the East Side Commercial Building Stabilization Program, and starting the Vacant Rental Improvement Program in Niagara Falls… there is a lot going on that you should hear about.

2. You help shape the direction of the preservation movement.

Preservation Buffalo Niagara is a member-driven organization. That means our priorities, our outreach, and our programming are guided by the people who show up and speak up.

At the Annual Meeting, you have a voice in:

• Board leadership decisions
• New Board Members

Your participation ensures our work reflects the needs, values, and vision of the people we’re here to serve.

3. We build stronger connections through community.

Every year, I’m struck by the conversations happening before, during, and after the formal program. Members swap stories about neighborhood history. Homeowners trade restoration tips. Advocates brainstorm new collaborations.

Preservation is inherently a community effort—no organization can do it alone. When you attend the Annual Meeting, you become part of a network of people committed to making Western New York a place where history is honored, diversity is celebrated, and progress is intentional.

4. You get a front-row seat to the work ahead.

Preservation requires both vision and vigilance. The Annual Meeting is where we unveil the initiatives, partnerships, and advocacy campaigns that will shape our region in the coming year.

5. Your presence demonstrates the power of preservation.

When a room is full, decision-makers notice. Funders notice. Partners notice. But most importantly, the community notices.

Showing up is a way to affirm that preservation isn’t niche or nostalgic—it’s central to economic development, sustainability, housing quality, and community identity. Your attendance sends a message that this work matters, that our historic places matter, and that our collective commitment to them is strong.

6. We celebrate you!

The Annual Meeting isn’t just about organizational milestones. It’s about honoring the residents, volunteers, donors, partners, and advocates who make all of this possible.

Every project we showcase is, in some way, a reflection of your support. Your willingness to engage, to learn, to advocate, and to love this region’s distinctive sense of place is what keeps this movement alive.

Join us—because your presence shapes our future.

It takes a community that shows up, speaks out, and stands together.

Our Annual Meeting is where that community comes to life.
I hope you’ll be part of it!

Sign up here: https://givebutter.com/2025PBN-annual-meeting

See you on Monday at the Delaine Waring Church from 5:30pm – 6:30pm. There will be light refreshments and drinks and you can see inside the beautiful Delaine Waring Church which has an incredible story and has has local and national impacts to our world.  You can read more about it here. 

On Friday, December 5, 2025, Preservation Buffalo Niagara will host a free virtual Lunch & Learn focused on the next phase of its Green Book Site Initiative—an ongoing effort to document and protect Buffalo’s surviving Green Book locations.

The Negro Motorist Green Book was a travel guide published from 1936 to 1966 that listed safe accommodations, restaurants, and services for Black travelers during the era of segregation. Buffalo was home to more than 120 such listings, many concentrated in historically Black neighborhoods such as the Fruit Belt, Broadway-Fillmore, and the East Side. Today, only 16 of those buildings remain.

This webinar will explore Phase Two of the initiative, which builds on research conducted in 2025 by Jakob Saeli, a Cornell High Road Fellow. His work included mapping Green Book sites, surveying surviving structures, and creating a digital archive. Phase Two shifts the focus to 16 of the 104 demolished Green Book Sites in Buffalo documented by Fall 2025 Intern, Junah Siboney.

The Lunch & Learn is free to attend, but registration is required.
Register here: https://us06web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_4QpNoFgsT1mfvkrr_Wf9Vw

This event offers an opportunity to reflect on Buffalo’s Black history and to support efforts that ensure these stories and spaces are not forgotten