With the help of the Buffalo Economic Renaissance Corporation’s CARE program, Buffalo’s locally owned small businesses are getting a makeover. Funded by the city, the three year old program seeks to improve the facades of small businesses to make them attractive and inviting to customers and the community once again. Architect Jerry Young of Young Architects which is based out of the Larkin Building, helps design projects for the program that targets six key districts in the city of Buffalo: Jefferson, Lower Niagara Street, Grant/Ferry, Broadway/Fillmore, Seneca and Fillmore/LeRoy. The leaders of this program intend to expand operations to the Lovejoy and Bailey districts in the upcoming year. Each area is allotted fifteen to twenty-five projects per year but currently, the CARE program does not cap funding if more projects arise in any one area.

The CARE program offers three distinct phases of funding to small business owners in these districts. At two of the three levels of funding, the program offers matching grants, with the maximum amount of total investment for each building coming to roughly twenty three thousand dollars. The first phase of funding, known as Operation Facelift, makes up to two thousand dollars of grant money available for minor aesthetic improvement to the building such as removing signage and repairing broken or deteriorating windows. The second phase offers up to eight thousand dollars of matching grants for additions such as awnings, new signs or a new paint job. The final funding phase of the program offers up to three thousand dollars of matching grants to improve overall security of the building and the immediate area. To the architects and designers who run the CARE program, security does not mean the menacing metal gates in place in some area stores, but instead, improved lighting and security cameras.

While the program is designed to create a refreshing new store front, it also aims at getting community leaders involved in revitalizing their neighborhoods. At each level of planning, the members of the CARE program and Young architects discuss plans and designs for each building with community members. The process starts when community activists and small business owners come to the CARE program seeking funds for local development. After the initial meeting between the two parties, designers from Young Architects measure, photograph and ultimately create a style that is clean and attractive to potential customers. At the same time, the designers are aware of the necessity of creating a design that is compatible with others in the region in an attempt to produce a common style. Following the approval of the designs by community leaders and small business owners, the job is made available to the lowest qualified bidder. In this case, a qualified bidder is a company or individual who in the past has completed a job with the CARE program to the satisfaction of the community leaders, small business owners and leaders of the CARE program. Once the work is complete, Young Architects makes a final inspection and meets with the community leaders and small business owners to ensure that their designs were fully incorporated and built to a high standard before signing off on the project.

Though the CARE program grew in each of the three years the city of Buffalo funded it, some small business owners are leery of using labor hired through the CARE program because of the high wage rates laborers are paid. Under the Davis-Bacon Act of 1931, laborers on any public works project must be paid no less than local prevailing wages, meaning labor on CARE projects is generally expensive. Some small business owners view the labor costs as an obstacle and choose to do the work privately or by themselves. In reality, the matching grant system set up for the CARE program helps to defray the costs of labor. Ultimately, small business owners end up paying almost the same amount of money for a CARE project as they would if they completed it privately.

So the next time you are on the 1900-2200 block of Seneca Street or make a trip to Doris Records, pay attention to the new and improved storefront that features a freshly designed exterior and brighter new lighting. Slowly, but surely, the CARE program, with the help of Young Architects, is expanding to help small business owners throughout the city of Buffalo generate business by improving their appearance.