BUFFALO, N.Y. — A march through a historic Buffalo neighborhood was the kickoff to an important weekend event.
A group stepped off under the Michigan Street African American Heritage Archway on a two-mile Freedom Walk along Michigan Avenue.
The purpose was to announce a two-day conference called Igniting Hope, which brings together community leaders to better understand health disparities in the Black community and discuss viable solutions to the systemic problems here.
"This came to us because we recognized that there was a lot of hesitancy in the community," Rita Hubbard-Robinson said. "And we need to really embrace our history, the good and the bad of it, and figure out how to heal from it so that we can be better, more healthy, and have improved systems."
This year is the fourth annual event. A grant from the National Institutes of Health helped fund the weekend conference.