When your stuff breaks, don’t ditch it – fix it! Don’t know how? The fixers with Dare to Repair will show you. Join The Tool Library and Buffalo Recycles for their January Dare to Repair Cafe on Saturday, January 21st at 11AM at the Tosh Collins Community Center in South Buffalo. Dare to Repair is best when shared! Download our flyer to post online or around your neighborhood. Details for the event are as follows: Location: Tosh Collins Community Center – 35 Cazenovia St, Buffalo, NY 14210 (see map) Date: Saturday, January 21st Time: 11am – 2pm What is a Dare to Repair Cafe you might ask?…
Author: Darren Cotton
Darren Cotton
Darren has over a decade of experience in the fields of community development, urban planning, and information design. Working as Director of Community Development & Planning at the University District Community Development Association (UDCDA), Darren was responsible for writing and administering over $2 million in grant funding focused on commercial corridor revitalization, small business development, alternative transportation planning, historic preservation, public art, and community capacity building in Buffalo's University District. As a graduate student at the University at Buffalo, Darren founded The Tool Library, a community-based tool lending library, with an aim of providing affordable tool access and building the Sharing Economy in WNY. With a Bachelor's Degree in International Studies and Linguistics and a Master's Degree in Urban Planning from the University at Buffalo, Darren works to bridge the gap between research and policy through planning, design, and grassroots activism. and is a firm believer that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world.
Dare to Repair is best when shared! Download our flyer to post online or around your neighborhood. When your stuff breaks, don’t ditch it – fix it! Don’t know how? The fixers with Dare to Repair will show you. Join The Tool Library and Buffalo Recycles for their December Dare to Repair Cafe on Saturday, December 3rd at 11AM at the Frank E. Merriweather Public Library. Details for the event are as follows: Location: Frank E. Merriweather, Jr. Branch Library – 1324 Jefferson Ave, Buffalo, NY 14208 (https://goo.gl/maps/ibt3Xg6y8guNmtCYA)Date: Saturday, December 3rdTime: 11am – 2pm What is a Dare to Repair Cafe you might ask? It’s a popup…
Buffalo, NY – The Tool Library’s service events return to put their tools and volunteers to work with a calendar of community service events every Saturday in October and on November 5. Each of the six service events provide an opportunity to beautify, strengthen, and contribute to the WNY community through direct, hands-on action. Volunteers with The Tool Library have helped plant more than 10,000 bulbs in community gardens, pocket parks, and green spaces across the city! This fall’s schedule includes park and trail cleanups, planting in community gardens, and gardening at William Gaiter Parkway, and cleanup in Dewey Park.…
The Tool Library will be celebrating another year of borrowing and building at Gather, Garden & Grow, their annual fundraiser and garden part on Saturday, August 13th from 6 to 8 p.m. at The Plot Flower Farm, Buffalo’s smallest (and newest!) urban flower farm, located behind the former Cantalician Center at 3233 Main Street. Tickets are $20 for adults and free for children under the age of 12 and can be purchased online. During the outdoor event, guests can play lawn games, tour the garden, participate in loads of basket and fresh cut flower raffles, and dine on award winning jerk chicken from…
Dare to Repair is best when shared! Download our flyer to post online or around your neighborhood. When your stuff breaks, you should have the right to repair it. The fixers with Dare to Repair will show you how! Join The Tool Library and friends for the first Dare to Repair Cafe of 2022 on Saturday, June 4th at 11AM at the Lancaster Public Library. Details for the event are as follows: Location: Lancaster Public Library – 5466 Broadway, Lancaster NY 14086 (goo.gl/maps/ekRupwCZ6CQC5Btd6)Date: Saturday, June 4thTime: 11am – 2pm After over a year hiatus, the Dare to Repair crew is back in action fixing your stuff FOR FREE and…
Now in its sixth year, the Citizen Planning School Champions for Change program will once again host a culminating event, the Idea Summit, as a way to celebrate the bright ideas and inspired leadership of citizen champions working across the Buffalo-Niagara region. Join us for the 2022 Idea Summit on Saturday, May 14th from 9:30AM – Noon in 403 Hayes Hall on the UB South Campus. Launched in the spring of 2014, Champions for Change is a program of One Region Forward’s Citizen Planning School and offered through the UB School of Architecture and Planning. The program assists residents of…
The Tool Library announces it will be putting its tools and volunteers to work with a new calendar of community service events, on April 23 and 30 and May 7, 14, 21, and 28. Each of the six service events provide an opportunity to beautify, strengthen, and contribute to the WNY community through direct, hands-on action. Even 3″ of snow couldn’t stop volunteers at The Tool Library’s Dewey Park tree planting last November! This spring’s schedule includes park and trail cleanups, planting in community gardens across Buffalo’s University Heights and Kensington-Bailey neighborhoods, and tree stewardship for newly planted trees along…
The Tool Library and WNY Trash Mob have officially opened registration for their city-wide Earth Day Cleanup Competition scheduled from Friday, April 22 to Sunday, April 24. The Tool Library and WNY Trash Mob have formed a coalition of community organizations from across Buffalo dedicated to building community, promoting civic engagement, and advancing neighborhood beautification. Individuals and groups are welcome to show their support and participate in this year’s contest. Play a little part in sending a big message: We Care About Our Community – join us as we work together to celebrate Earth Day though clean ups, caring, and…
It’s officially tree planting season and the volunteers at The Tool Library are gearing up for their last big event this year. They’ll be headed to Dewey Park in Buffalo’s Masten District for a 100 tree planting on Saturday, November 13th starting at 9am. As with many parks and greenspaces across the city, Dewey Park has lost a significant portion of its tree canopy to disease and pests like the Emerald Ash Borer. This planting will add 50 new ornamental trees and 50 new shade trees to the park and surrounding areas. Species include: Valley Forge American Elm Swamp White…
Buffalo’s University Heights, home to one of the city’s newest and largest historic districts, may soon add another district to ranks of the National Register thanks to a $9,120 Preserve New York grant awarded to the University Heights Collaborative (UHC) by the Preservation League of New York State and New York State Council on the Arts. The grant will allow the UHC to work with kta preservation specialists, a Buffalo-based preservation consulting firm, on a reconnaissance level survey focusing on the University Heights neighborhood located to the west of Main Street near the University at Buffalo South Campus. Built between…