How about Community Actions Figure Actions Figures? I can see them now, packaged just like GI joes. First one on the market: "Marilyn! with super grant writing abilities!" now all you need to do is pick out a cape color.
Hey, and why not a "Johnson Park Playset", now with super walking path!
i think i hear mattel calling.
al, knowing Marilyn she would probably choose purple to match the trim on her beloved home.
I can say, unequivocably, the West Village has seen tremendous growth and reinvestment under her watch. Marilyn has the uncanny ability to be so open with people and draw them into productive dialogue which creates new collaboration. This ability also is complimented by the way she can then put the right people together to create a team with vast skill sets to get the job done.
Previously, attempts were made to make things better, but the teamwork wasn't there. My aunt's neighborhood on the East Side has also received good direction from Marilyn and has started to emerge under her tutilage.
As far as the Johnson Park Playset, I think she already has a plan there, but the idea you mention would be a real enjoyable way to raise funds for it.
One other thing about Marilyn. She takes the problems to the right places and in turn absorbs the threats and damages to protect others. That itself is the defining of leadership. She also has better common sense at play that would defy just the book-learning of many would be city planners.
ANY GRANT WRITERS OUT THERE? I am interested in researching more about grant writing for the Buffalo Central Terminal.
halljd39 - Just read the article - Marilyn IS a grant writer and has a spot available now. why don;t you give her a shot. I believe she once had an office in the Central Terminal in the 80s and is very attached to the terminal.
Yes, and she does a real good job with grants. A group I was working for needed money for a centralized business listing and she wrote the grant and it was fully funded. I also hear that the west village just recieved a grant from google earth to work with their mapping system of crime and housing problems. That's a great way to show other grants available more background to get the money. Yeah, she does real good work. I would recommend her as a grant writer.
Congratulations, Marilyn for the well-deserved award! As I have said many times, you are truly an inspiration for me and others in Buffalo. I have made it my mantra to return home and follow your lead and put "sweat equity" into Buffalo.
By the way, another fine example of her capabilities as a grant writer is another community group which benefits from her efforts: ReTree WNY
We are all better off having you on the front lines. Hang on, help is on the way...
Can't think of a better person to recieve the award. Just think, if a company does business with Ms Rogers, they are also hiring a person with a disability and one who is a woman. Except this one has real talent and not depending on these minority qualifications.
SonnyDayz - how was the grant fully funded. I'm assuming that Marilyn was paid some how, correct?
We paid her through our organization's account. The grant was fully funded meaning each dollar requested in the proposed budget was approved and we got the money and produced the piece. I only wish we kept her services after the grant to do the administration and report to the funding agency but our president was trying to cut corners and it was a hard time to pull all the information together for the end report. I'm not sure it got in during the allowed timeframe either. I saw the report she authored for the Oishei grant for Housing Court. It was bound, with pictures, diagrams, graphs, and produced very much like a short book. Really professional grade there. We should have contracted with her for a series of months rather than just to write the grant. What's the expression? Penny wise and palm foolish?
SonnyDayz - Thank you for the insight and methodology. I'd have to contact the power that be - the CTRC board to see if this would be a viable avenue.
Marilyn's been a great asset and advocate for Garden Walk Buffalo as well.
Each year she rallies her neighborhood (and others) to get involved. Last year there were five gardens, and the Green, encouraging neighbors and out-of-towners alike to stroll through the area's oldest continually-occupied neighborhood.
She's also contributed to the Garden Walk Book & DVD with her garden & house on a double-page spread (pages 106-107) and interview on the DVD.
She's what makes this area a great place to live.
Kudos Marilyn on your recent reward- I'm a big fan of you and your work. The WVRG is a role model other neighborhoods would do well to copy.
Let me clue you in on the hit to the ear. I live around the block from Johnson Park and have known Marilyn for about 10 years. Ever since the guy clocked her one she has had severe ear and throat infections. The lump mentioned above is really located on the corner of her jaw and has grown ever since. Marilyn has no health insurance as she works as an independent contractor. She fights these infections along with her arthritis every day and still fights for her neighborhood. Not many people know about the health issues, that's why I decided to let you all in on what this woman faces each day when she's out there trying to make things better for everybody else. She deserves more than a certificate of excellence. She deserves to be paid for her work.
Right on, iambuffalo and anyone else who knows what this amazing woman deals with physically on a daily basis yet still gives her all to her community.
Marilyn GETS THINGS DONE. She is a brilliant Grant Writer and community advocate who has compassion and ethics and that is why she has so many folks who love and respect her.
She will most certainly be embarrassed by all this attention, but she deserves it and so much more...
She is her Mama"s gift to Buffalo and to me personally, as a dear friend.
Congrats, Marilyn! You deserve this! The change in Johnson Park over the last few years is nothing short of amazing. You always point out that you haven't been working alone, but this just goes to show it couldn't have been done without you!
Not unlike one of those magnificent trees in Johnson Park.
What manner of brute attacks another human being in that way? Sickening.
God Bless you and the work you do, Marilyn. One of the great benefits of this cyber age is the ability to learn of the people who still are doing selfless community service everywhere.
As an aside, my arthritis is oddly always BETTER in Buffalo than where I live now. Take care.
Great story - congratulations to a woman not afraid to stand up for what is right.
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