Introducing HOCN's New Logo!
A Message from Our Executive Director, Stephanie Simeon
Guess who is no longer one of Buffalo’s best kept secrets? I’ll give you a hint… their name is linked to one of the body’s most vital organs? Yep, you guessed right- Heart of the City Neighborhoods.
Over the past 24 months, Heart of the City has been going through a ‘360 degree’ review that involved the people we serve, people who fund us, those who started us, and those that are involved in the day-to-day operations. This exposed an ongoing theme that we can finally address- HOCN has been a constant in the community, but doesn’t get the recognition deserved. We’re a ‘best kept secret.’
So please allow us to reintroduce ourselves. With the generosity from Center for Regional Strategies, we were able to design a new logo with one of Buffalo’s top design firms, OtherWisz Creative, that fully showcased all that we do at HOCN.
You will see 4 themes illustrated by corresponding icons;
- A house representing our affordable housing programs
It was always house by house, block by block- but focusing on real estate barely touched the surface on how people lived and what improved upon their quality of life. - A tree representing our environmental impact programs
The environment both inside and outside of a home affects our community’s quality of life. Our programs and partnership centering around lead paint and water lines awareness and the many ways we can get exposed is key. - A map representing our planning and management work
Working with other community focused groups and nontraditional developers, but helping them with community planning and management allowed for more hands to make the load much lighter. - A light bulb representing our development and growth support to partner organizations
We work with smaller community focused groups that want to do better but are lacking staffing capacity and systems to do more.
These 4 themes are the secret sauce to how we have stabilized distressed and under-invested communities for the last 26 years. Our mission will continue to center around housing, but we could have only been able to do that with the tried-and-true holistic approach. We recognized that we didn’t have to do all the work or become a one stop shop, but that we are truly stronger together. Our thanks to our many partners over the years.
We look forward to continuing to work with familiar and new faces for many years to come. Same great name, people, and mission- but no longer a secret!