[Congressional Record Volume 170, Number 16 (Monday, January 29, 2024)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E87]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




      RECOGNIZING THE LIFE AND ADVOCACY OF STEPHANIE BARBER-GETER

                                 ______
                                 

                           HON. BRIAN HIGGINS

                              of new york

                    in the house of representatives

                        Monday, January 29, 2024

  Mr. HIGGINS of New York. Mr. Speaker, today I am honored to recognize 
a community activist and dependable leader on Buffalo's East Side, 
Stephanie Barber-Geter. As the longtime chairwoman of Restore Our 
Community Coalition (ROCC), she was a shining light and inspiration to 
anyone with a vision of a better future for the City of Buffalo.
  A Hamlin Park resident, Stephanie Barber-Geter was the steady hand 
behind numerous community development projects. She directed the Head 
Start Partnership at SUNY Buffalo State College, served as the senior 
vice president of United Way of Buffalo & Eric County, served as board 
chair of Elim Community Corp, and president of the Hamlin Park 
Community & Taxpayers Association. Most notably, her efforts were the 
driving force behind the decision to restore the Humboldt Parkway 
community. In 2022 and 2023, aftel tireless years of advocacy and hard 
work, New York State and the federal government announced plans to re-
imagine the Kensington Expressway. Stephanie recognized that urban 
landscape has the power to hurt or to heal; she saw the Kensington 
Expressway for what it was--a destruction of a thriving community in 
Buffalo. Just last March, Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg 
visited Buffalo to affirm that she had it right all along. The United 
States government has unequivocally backed Stephanie's vision in both 
words and resources.
  Stephanie Barber-Geter embodied everything that is good about our 
city and its people. She dedicated her time and expertise to countless 
organizations in the pursuit of a better Buffalo. I trust that the 
Kensington project, along with many others that Stephanie played a 
critical role, will continue to transform Western New York in her 
absence. To her husband, Edwin, and all her loved ones, she will be 
sorely missed. But for the people of Buffalo's East Side, Stephanie 
will be remembered as not only a fixture of the community, but as their 
champion who delivered tangible results.

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