Julia Allen
The Foundry is an incubator and creative community space on the East Side of Buffalo. They provide opportunities to build business, create art & craft, and inspire the next generation of makers, learners, and doers.
Work Highlights
- Actively engaged in researching, planning and implementing an outreach campaign to understand how to better connect with the immediate neighborhood around the organization’s location.
- Created a database of the local community to determine which homes were occupied and whether or not owner-occupied and identify additional assets.
- Canvassed the neighborhood to find out economic needs of the people and suggestions for programming at the Foundry.
- Created an outline of recommendations for potential future programming.
- Utilized the woodworking classes to build a Cornhole board for a fundraiser.
In their words
“Buffalo was a wonderful learning city. It introduced me to basic navigation and using public transit. I learned to love the subway, and the conversations I would have with people while waiting for our trains. It introduced me to the trends of segregation and gentrification that occur in almost every metro area. I enjoyed hearing about other fellows’ work, and sharing victories and trials. Shared struggles are always one of the best ways to learn and bond.”
Impact
“Julia provided incredibly valuable outreach for us this summer. She's worked to find out if people in our targeted neighborhood have ever heard of The Foundry and invited them to come participate. She worked with young people from the Mayor’s Summer Youth to accomplish this. This helps us understand our outreach and how we might need to switch tactics and offer more/different opportunities that would interest community members. “
Megan McNally,
The Foundry