Building Relationships, Trust, and Power
for Healthier Individuals, Organizations, and Communities
THE CHALLENGE
Health happens where we live, work, and worship. Many organizations address specific populations, leading to individual and neighborhood disconnections.
To address this, we need more than services; we need trusted advocates weaving a strong, diverse network.
OUR SOLUTION
We cultivate Community Health Workers from the communities they serve, equipping them with knowledge and skills to transform lived experience into community power.
We move beyond service navigation to grassroots advocacy, transforming systems through relationships and collective action.
Our Network For Impact
CoNECT is a braided network where each person, initiative, and policy change fuels the success of the next—turning job training, youth empowerment, and collective healing into a unified force for change.
By weaving these efforts together, we create the lasting power for communities in Buffalo and beyond to thrive.
Our 2025 Impact in Numbers
500+
Training Participants
CHWs and others participated in our trainings and workshops
200+
Families Assisted
Received accompaniment and advocacy support
100+
Collaborative Events
Meetings and gatherings throughout the year
2.5K+
Youth Development Hours
Positive youth development and service learning
How Our Plan Works
Our programs are not isolated efforts; they are a scaffolded strategy designed to build capacity and foster sustainable change in the lives of individuals and in the well-being of communities.
By recruiting directly impacted individuals into a workforce and movement for health and wellness, we have built an intergenerational, multicultural network that works both top-down and bottom-up.
This integrated approach ensures that we aren't just responding to an isolated crisis or need, but cultivating connections necessary for true community transformation.
Training & Workforce Development
Building knowledge, skills, and connections for people of and from the community
Education & Youth
Empowering the next generation through leadership development and service learning.
Crisis Response, Service Navigation, and Accompaniment
Meeting community where they need us when they need us.
Systems Change and Collective Impact
Programs, practices, and policy efforts meet to drive holistic community well-being.
Meet Rehma: A Youth CHW Story
Rehma was our first student co-chair of the Buffalo Public Schools CHW Parent and Student Association, where she championed expanded food access and the "solutions not suspensions" campaign. She is currently a first year student at Canisius University.
"I enjoy how health and wellness has been our foundation, and there are so many avenues that students are supported in— professional development, being better people in community, along with mental and emotional health supports."
— Rehma Kashindi, CHW
Get Involved
With CoNECT
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Build your knowledge, skills and tools for impactful community work and health promotion through training.
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