The We Refuse to Lose series explores what cradle-to-career initiatives across the country are doing to improve outcomes for students of color and those experiencing poverty. The series profiles five communities—Buffalo, Chattanooga, Dallas, the Rio Grande Valley and Tacoma—that are working to close racial gaps for students journeying from early education to careers. A majority of these students come from populations that have been historically oppressed and marginalized through poorly resourced schools, employment, housing and loan discrimination, police violence, a disproportionate criminal justice system and harsh immigration policies.
Buffalo is one of the most racially and economically segregated cities in the country, the result of generations of racist housing, lending and employment practices. With the help of Say Yes Buffalo and its partners, aspiring doctor Temara Cross and other Buffalo youth are acquiring social capital and passing it on to other youth of color, helping their communities eliminate the racial disparities the city’s long history of segregation has engendered.
