Uncrowned Community Builders

Rosa Gibson was educated at Carver High School in Detroit, Michigan. She earned an Associate's degree from the School of Nursing at Niagara County Community College and a Bachelor of Science degree in Nursing from D'Youville College.

She is a determined woman with a deep sense of community, turning her Best Street home into a crime fighting headquarters to help launch a system of neighborhood patrols by and for the people. She organized the City of Buffalo's first nighttime citizen's patrols. As President of the Masten Park Community Block Club No. 1, she became leader of the club's Crime Watch Program, which put volunteer patrols on some of the toughest city streets in search of suspicious activity to report to the police. This led to a Night Out for Masten Park, a program that encouraged area residents to turn on their house lights, sit on their front porches, and talk to their neighbors to show support for the fight against crime. Her organization is responsible for holding Buffalo's first National Night Out. The program was such a success that it went city-wide in 1984. The Crime Watch program that she oversees also is concerned about monitoring trash dumping and abandoned houses in the neighborhood.

Ms. Gibson has fought against many injustices for area citizens including the imposing of a garbage user fee by the City of Buffalo. She also got the city to replace traffic lights and street signs on several area streets.

As the President and Director of the Community Action Information Center, Inc. (CAIC), Ms. Gibson's activities are extensive. CAIC deals with any problem that may arise in the community from improper traffic sign demarcation to hazardous materials dumping. Ms. Gibson coordinates and administers several target projects under the auspices of CAIC. She runs a food shelter that picks up food items from various stores and makes monthly deliveries to senior citizens. Through the Crime Watch Patrolling Project, Ms. Gibson, and other volunteers, work closely with the Buffalo Police Department to report any illegal street activities, including gangs, illegal drugs, and vacant housing.

In addition to the above projects, she coordinates and supervises staff and volunteers in the COURTS and HIRE programs. Through the COURTS program, workers are sent by the Buffalo City Court to do community service in lieu of serving time in jail. The HIRE Program disseminates workers throughout the community to work for their stipend from the Department of Social Services. Ms. Gibson supervises Senior Aid Program workers who are fifty-five years of age and over and are referred to work for Center Supportive Services. She also supervises and coordinates the Neighborhood Youth Task Force that enables young people to help identify community needs, participate in various community activities, and take education tours.

Currently, Ms. Gibson is working to inform the public about the purchase and proposed usage of 485 Best Street, the former Youth Detention Facility. The state sold this cavernous structure to the Islamic Society of America (ISA). The Society plans to convert the complex into a mosque, school, and boarding school. Ms. Gibson's primary concern centers on the issue of the safe removal of the razor sharp barbed wire that was placed around the top of the building when it was an active detention center. She is seeking to promote an open dialogue between the Islamic Society of America and the community that surrounds the building.

Ms. Gibson coordinates community beautification projects to clean vacant lots, decorate streets during the holidays, make sure garbage is picked up, assure abandoned houses are maintained, and abandoned cars are removed from the street. She also coordinates the planning and cultivation of community gardens in vacant city lots for vegetables for the community. On a larger scale, CAIC is part of the Victory Gardens Partnership Project that works to transform vacant city lots into evergreen forests, fruit orchards, and butterfly and memorial gardens for the community to share and enjoy. The Buffalo Museum of Science, Stanley Makowski Early Childhood Center, and Sandy White from the City of Buffalo, along with student volunteers from the University at Buffalo, are assisting with these projects.

Her memberships include the Prince of Peace Temple Church of God in Christ, Inc.; United Neighborhood Advisory Board; Buffalo Public Schools Space Utilization Task Force; Citizens Against Tax; and Crime Watch Program.