Following a month’s worth of collaboration between the Buffalo Jewish Federation and the 5/14 Memorial Foundation, Federation is proud to cast a spotlight on Chad Houston, Executive Director of the 5/14 Memorial Foundation.

For Chad remembering the past is inseparable from the responsibility of building a better future. In his role, Chad is helping Buffalo transform one of its most painful chapters into an enduring commitment to healing, education, and community connection.

The racially motivated attack at the Jefferson Avenue Tops on May 14, 2022, struck close to home for Chad, who witnessed firsthand the grief that followed, as well as the unity that emerged among his neighbors.

A graduate of Howard University, Houston previously served as Director of Telecommunications for the City of Buffalo. In July 2025, he was selected from a national search to lead the 5/14 Memorial Foundation, bringing municipal leadership experience and a deeply personal connection to its mission.

Today, Chad is guiding the development of the 5/14 Living Memorial and Healing Center, planned for the intersection of Jefferson Avenue and Best Street. More than a permanent tribute to the 10 lives lost, the project is envisioned as a gathering place for education, creative expression, wellness, and advocacy.

That spirit of collaboration has recently brought Chad and the 5/14 Memorial Foundation into partnership with Buffalo Jewish Federation and its Holocaust Education Resource Organization (HERO). Together, we organized three school readings and engagement events and an evening of conversation between Jewish and Black leaders. The relationship is already creating meaningful opportunities to connect both organizations’ missions with broader conversations about racism, antisemitism, remembrance, and our shared responsibility to confront hatred.

Importantly, the partnership also opens doors to deeper relationships between Buffalo’s Black and Jewish communities. By bringing together organizations committed to preserving history and educating future generations, Federation and the 5/14 Memorial Foundation are helping build understanding, empathy, and solidarity across communities.

Through his leadership, Chad is helping ensure that remembrance becomes more than an act of looking backward. It becomes an invitation to come together, learn from one another, and create a future rooted in compassion and shared purpose.

Chad Houston, Lauren Bloomberg and Wendy Weisbrot of HERO, and other education leaders smile with students at Stanley Makowski Buffalo Public School 99.