Community Investment Presentation January 8 at 7pm

Trustee Alan Chamberlin invites the public to a presentation on community reinvestment with architect and Mayor of Perry, NY, Rick Hauser. Anyone interested in downtown revitalization or those who want to help, but don't know how, should attend. The presentation will be held Wednesday, January 8 at 7pm at The Village Court, 65 Franklin Street (above the old firehall), Springville. Six years ago Hauser developed an anti-blight tool called "Main Street LLC" - a community-wide development corporation. The concept has been tested and proven with Perry New York LLC, which has renovated several broadly-owned downtown projects using the model, and Rick has since helped communities across the state evaluate its potential use in their towns. Chamberlin said, "We have encountered many people who want to see downtown succeed but very few have the capital to buy and rehabilitate an older house or commercial building themselves. This concept provides a way for the average citizen to invest in downtown and help preserve the area." Rick Hauser started In. Site: Architecture in 2001, and soon co-founded a sister business to buy and rehab downtown buildings. He taught architecture for twelve years at Hobart & William Smith Colleges in Geneva, where his firm now maintains a second office. He has also helped launch, and manages, several regional events including a farmers' market, an annual First Night celebration, and a chalk art festival. He began Perry Main Street Association, a volunteer-led, downtown advocacy and action organization in 2006. His firm's "Downtowns Studio" includes revitalization consulting for villages, small cities and neighborhoods. In March, he became Perry's mayor.

Allison Duwe for School Board

Allison Duwe is endorsed by Revitalize Springville to be the next SGI School Board Member. 

I am excited to be your new School Board representative. I want SGI to be great and I will bring much needed leadership to the Board.

School just isn’t what it used to be. Our elected officials have been starving our schools of funding while imposing mandate after mandate. My oldest son will begin kindergarten in the fall. With changes being made to public education, he will spend more time taking tests and less time exploring, reading, playing music, and creating art.

I was born and raised in Springville and am a SGI graduate. While in school I was an honors student and very active in sports and music. I graduated from Oberlin College with a history degree in 2001. After working out of the area, I returned in 2005 to start a family and begin a job as the Executive Director of the Coalition for Economic Justice, a Buffalo-based non-profit. As Director, I spearheaded the organization’s involvement in state and local economic reform and anti-poverty initiatives while tripling its funding. I have experience building broad coalitions of organizations, faith leaders, unions, business groups and politicians to win policy changes that benefit the entire community. Last fall I stepped down as Director in anticipation of the birth of my third child to be a full-time mom.

I have served in leadership positions on several boards, including as President of Springville Center for the Arts during the purchase of the former Baptist Church. I have been recognized by the John R. Oishei Foundation as one of WNY’s most notable young leaders. I am married to Seth Wochensky and we are the proud parents of Elijah, Anatoly, and Adeline.

I want my children and our community’s children to have the best educational experience possible. I believe that teaching is more important than testing. I believe the success of our district hinges on having strong and innovative academic programs. I believe that we should be engaging students, teachers, and parents in advancing green initiatives like school gardens, composting, and alternative energy production.  I believe in making our budget process more transparent and I believe in collaborating with parents, teachers, and students to advocate for the funding that has been taken from our district by officials in Albany.

Allison Duwe

To read my full platform click here.

Please feel free to contact me at electallison@gmail.com. You can also join our campaign effort on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/ElectAllison