Press/PR
About Us and From Us
For inquiries, contact Erin Kelly, Director of External Relations ekelly@wedibuffalo.org/716.800.2280
Press About Us
National Trust Community Investment Corporation: September 13, 2022
The West Side Bazaar expansion project represents the eleventh and final investment supported by NTCIC’s current Irvin Henderson Main Street Revitalization Fund. This fund provides $2 – 4 million in innovative NMTCs for smaller-scale historic rehabilitation projects, maximizing the benefits of both credits within the transaction and helping offset the transaction costs by connecting projects to an experienced team of real estate professionals that understand the needs of small deal financing and provides the NMTC financing in a structure that has no origination or sponsor fees.
August 30, 2022
Construction begins on new West Side Bazaar
Construction on the $11.5 million project to move the Bazaar to Niagara Street is now underway. The West Side Bazaar will move from its 3,200 square-foot home on Grant Street to an old factory with more than 16,000 square feet. The project has been in the works since March of 2021.
WGRZ Channel 2: August 30, 2022
Executive Director Carolynn Welch speaks with Channel 2's Andrew Wooten about the expansion of the West Side Bazaar and its impact on the community.
Buffalo Business First: August 17, 2022
West Side Bazaar lands $925K from Erie County for expansion
The Westminster Economic Development Initiative received $925,000 from Erie County to expand its West Side Bazaar project. The agency is among 36 grantees tapped by the Erie County Cultural Capital Grant Program.
Buffalo News: June 7, 2022
Neighborhood revitalization experts say thriving businesses with ownership in the community are key to bringing blocks back. If you’d like to help aid long-term improvement of the economic conditions on Buffalo’s East Side and elsewhere, spending more money at Black-owned businesses there will help.
WKSU Public Radio News for Northeast Ohio: May 20, 2022
In an interview with Buffalo News, Carolynn Welch, executive director of the Westminster Economic Development Initiative, said the immigrant and refugee population has revitalized certain neighborhoods like Grant Street. “The community has become a safer community,” she said. “We've seen the economy grow as opposed to continuing to stagnate.”
May 9, 2022
West Side Bazaar to receive $950k in federal funding
Monday, Congressman Brian Higgins announced $950,000 in federal funding for the West Side Bazaar. The new space is expected to see the number of small businesses double from 12 to 24 and will include seats for almost two hundred people and a new kitchen. Construction is expected to start this summer with an opening date sometime next year.
Buffalo News: May 7, 2022
Several projects remain in the works, Somers said. Westminster Economic Development Initiative has committed to opening a microfinance office on Bailey Avenue, and Urban Fruits & Veggies intends to start a hydroponic garden in the neighborhood.
Smiley News: May 5, 2022
Coming to a new country already has its own host of challenges, and the circumstance of that migration may pile on more. In a country like the United States, breaking into business and expanding work can often be hard for those that don’t have a background in the country or credit to support them. The West Side Bazaar, a food court in Buffalo, is looking to change that.
Bon Appétit: April 25, 2022
Unlike the grain silos and Buffalo’s eponymous hot sauce-slicked wings, the West Side Bazaar was born of 21st-century Buffalo. Inside, instead of videos and DVDs, you’ll find floor-to-ceiling racks of imports: patterned silks, beaded necklaces, and jewel-tone tops embroidered with gold thread that shimmers under fluorescent light. Restaurants flank the opposite side of the bazaar, and the scent of Sudanese sambusas and Chinese shrimp-pork shumai fills the large market.
Buffalo Business First: March 1, 2022
The 11th annual class was narrowed down from nearly 150 nominations, meaning that only 20% of those nominated made the cut, including WEDI's Senior Director, Economic Development, Yanush Sanmugaraja.
Buffalo Business First: February 18, 2022
Fifteen people and seven organizations were chosen from nearly 50 nominations for championing diversity and inclusion. Among those: Westminster Economic Development Initiative of Buffalo.
USA Today: February 9, 2022
In some of America’s smaller Rust Belt cities, refugees once piecing their own lives back together have helped boost struggling economies.
Buffalo News: February 7, 2022
The population of the Buffalo Niagara region is growing again – and it's flipping
many of the basic underpinnings of the local economy.
Buffalo News: February 5, 2022
For more than five years, Carolynn Welch, executive director of the Westminster Economic Development Initiative, has had a front-row seat watching how immigrants have shaped and enriched the City of Buffalo.
Rochester Democrat and Chronicle: January 10, 2022
Across the nation, the results of the 2020 census were the source of hand-wringing and political debate. But in Western New York, they were cause for unbridled celebration.
Spectrum News: January 4, 2022
The West Side Bazaar is known as a melting pot of business owners from around the globe, but many of those entrepreneurs had to rebuild following a burglary in late November. Please note that Carolynn Welch is the executive director of WEDI, not Erin St. John Kelly, who is the Director of External Relations.
Press Releases from us
August 15, 2022
On Friday, Erie County Executive Mark C. Poloncarz announced that WEDI will receive $925,000 for its planned move and expansion of the West Side Bazaar. WEDI has been raising capital campaign funds for building the new Bazaar since March 2021.
December 9, 2021
The $7.5 million capital campaign is now past the halfway mark with contributions from M&T Bank, The John R. Oishei Foundation, and the Community Foundation for Greater Buffalo.
Press Releases about us
August 30, 2022
Governor Kathy Hochul today announced construction has begun on a $11.5 million project to create a new and significantly expanded West Side Bazaar. Founded by the Westminster Economic Development Initiative in 2011, the West Side Bazaar small business incubator quickly became a popular shopping and dining destination for locals and tourists searching for unique food and retail opportunities.
August 12, 2022
Art and cultural institutions of all sizes across Erie County will soon be seeing capital improvements following the investment of over $8.6 million in new county funding to support these organizations’ efforts, the initial investments of a $25 million initiative announced by Erie County Executive Mark C. Poloncarz in his 2022 State of the County address.
July 19, 2022
Buffalo’s West Side Bazaar, a program of the Westminster Economic Development Initiative (WEDI), secured Historic and New Markets Tax Credit equity from Monarch Private Capital with which to invest in its multicultural community hub that supports small business owners.
May 9, 2022
“Small businesses, including these operated by Western New York’s immigrant and refugee population, enrich our community culturally and economically,” said Congressman Higgins. “This federal funding secured for WEDI will be critical in completing the West Side Bazaar expansion project, which will allow the organization to serve a greater number of up-and-coming, traditionally underserved entrepreneurs in the Western New York community.”
August 16, 2021
KeyBank, in partnership with the First Niagara Foundation, is donating $1.5 million to support the Westminster Economic Development Initiative's new West Side Bazaar Project. This transformative gift is part of KeyBank's $40 billion National Community Benefits Plan and is symbolic of the bank's longstanding commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion.
July 29, 2021
Congressman Brian Higgins (NY-26) announced the approval of H.R. 4502, a package of seven appropriation bills making investments in federal programs and initiatives including infrastructure, education, small business, and job opportunity, among other priorities for America and Western New York, including $950,000 for the Westminster Economic Development Initiative (WEDI) to support the expansion of the West Side Bazaar. Watch the announcement or read the press release.
June 29, 2021
Congressman Brian Higgins (NY-26) announced federal legislation, which includes $1.7 million to help small businesses in Western New York, has crossed an initial legislative hurdle. A House Appropriations subcommittee approved a bill including $950,000 for the Westminster Economic Development Initiative (WEDI) to support the expansion of the West Side Bazaar and $750,000 for the Small Business Development Center (SBDC) at SUNY Buffalo State to help small businesses in Western New York expand e-commerce and grow an online presence.