The Jefferson Avenue short film has been accepted to the 2026 Buffalo International Film Festival! Attend this event on October 12 at North Park Theater. Afterwards, the film will be posted on this website.
The East Side of Buffalo has been shaped profoundly by the Kensington Expressway — a highway that bisected the community in the 1950s and whose legacy continues to define how residents move through, experience, and understand their neighborhood today.
Through a series of five community workshops, East Side residents led neighborhood walks, documented stories, and collaborated to develop interactive online maps that capture the texture of daily life along this transportation corridor. Participants brought photographs, personal recollections, and local artifacts to build a shared archive of neighborhood knowledge.
"We know what our community needs. We're here. We need each other."
-Starr Funderberg
Surfacing initial community knowledge
Participant-led documentation of spaces, barriers, and connections along the corridor
Visualizing gathered materials — photos, recollections, and artifacts — via ArcGIS StoryMap
Reviewing shared findings and identifying pathways for ongoing advocacy and engagement