Our Work

VOICE Buffalo bridges community organizing, civic engagement, and transformative justice to convene diverse coalitions, from youth leaders and returning citizens to the disability community, policy advocates, and local officials. We don’t just speak on behalf of the community, we are the community, and we organize together for systems-level change. We choose our fights by determining which issues matter most to our members and conducting strategic analyses to determine the power we need to build to win on those issues.

Organizing Efforts

Community Healing & Power-Building

Healing is a collective act. Our communities have survived disinvestment, criminalization, and generational harm — and we are still organizing, dreaming, and leading. Voice Buffalo builds spaces for deep listening, political education, and shared strategy. Power-building means more than mobilizing. It means co-creating the future we want to live in.

Electoral Reform & Voting Rights

Our democracy must work for all of us. That means expanding access to civic tools like voting and representation, especially for people who have been historically locked out: young people, returning citizens, disabled voters, and Black and Brown communities. Through reforms like Ranked Choice Voting, we fight for a political system where every vote counts and every voice matters.

Youth Justice & Leadership Development

We invest in Black and Brown youth not just as future leaders, but as current architects of systemic change. Through employment, civic education, and organizing, we create meaningful leadership pathways that affirm youth voice and wisdom. This work is not about steering youth toward someone else’s vision of success; it’s about equipping them to create their own.

Decarceration & Community Safety

We believe true safety comes not from police or prisons, but from care, housing, education, and opportunity. Voice Buffalo organizes to dismantle the punishment bureaucracy that harms our communities and to build alternative models rooted in care and accountability. We envision a world where safety is co-created by communities, not imposed through surveillance and punishment.

Electoral Reform & Voting Rights

Youth Justice & Leadership Development

Decarceration & Community Safety

Electoral Reform & Voting Rights

Youth Justice & Leadership Development

Decarceration & Community Safety

Electoral Reform & Voting Rights

Youth Justice & Leadership Development

Decarceration & Community Safety

Electoral Reform & Voting Rights

Youth Justice & Leadership Development

Decarceration & Community Safety

Electoral Reform & Voting Rights

Youth Justice & Leadership Development

Decarceration & Community Safety

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Programs and Initiatives

ARISE Committee

A.R.I.S.E believes that people with disabilities should have a voice in the decision that directly impact our lives.

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Healing Circles

Healing circles offer a safe space to give returning citizens and their loved ones to heal from the trauma incarceration.

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Community Responders

Community Responders respond in person, to low-risk calls related to health and social needs, without police.

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Free Our Comrades

We are fighting for comrades who have been wrongfully convicted, murdered behind bars, and who have served their sentence.

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Youth Action Collaborative

Youth Action Collaborative (YAC) is a committee of directly impacted youth focused on healing centered engagement.

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Legislative Priorities

Treatment Court Expansion Act

A New York State bill, the Treatment Court Expansion Act, will provide off-ramps from the revolving door of jail and prison for those who are brought into the criminal legal system due to underlying mental health and substance use issues.

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Ranked Choice Voting

Plurality voting leaves women, communities of color, young people, and other minority groups underrepresented. With RCV, diverse populations are more likely to use multiple rankings, boosting their voting power in the final tally.

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Communities Not Cages

We are fighting to win legislation that will decarcerate New York’s prisons, interrupt the power of prosecutors, and build the power of Black, Brown, working class and poor communities most impacted by the punishment bureaucracy.