Niagara Rises, Inc. – Established in 2006

Inside the main room at the Niagara Broadcast Network in February 2010, a packed room of business owners and residents were at total attentiveness. Eyes and ears riveted toward a panel of two – Frank Croisdale and Colleen Kulikowski, the President and Chairperson of Niagara Rises, Inc. The purpose, a town hall-like atmosphere – one to build awareness and above all, air out all that has not resulted in success in the city of Niagara Falls, New York.

Owner of Niagara Broadcast Network, Sal Paonessa recalls that evening, in which Croisdale and Kulikowsi drew attention to the issues that have plagued progress in the Cataract City.

“It was a great evening, because not only was one audience logging on, another completely different audience was now watching.” Paonessa said.

Paonessa, who will be featuring local news on Niagara Broadcast Network this month, was pleasantly surprised that the meeting was such a success.

“Our computer system crashed, due to the sudden surge of internet hits on our website.”

As a result, a simple adjustment was made by increasing the bandwidth of his internet broadcast based network, so that more viewers and listeners can experience Sal’s novel concept of media.

Remarkably, the journey of Niagara Rises, Inc, began in 2006, while Frank Croisdale was listening to then Niagara Falls High School’s Paul Harris’s press conference – with Harris confirming that he had signed a letter of intent to play basketball and attend Syracuse University. Croisdale, at the time, had graduated twenty-five years before.

“What I heard during Paul Harris’s press conference was completely different in comparison than what I went through in my years at Niagara Falls High School.” Croisdale said.

Paul Harris found ‘the ticket’. In these times, ‘the ticket’ is all that a child through adolescence, living in Niagara Falls – talks about. It’s their way out of Niagara Falls. If an individual is gifted in sports and excels throughout their years in high school – that ‘ticket’ is as good as gold.

“Their thought process is basically, ‘there’s nothing for me going on here in this city – and I need to find my way out of here and go to somewhere else.’ “ Croisdale said.

This inspired Croisdale to write an article in the Reporter, regarding this very topic. What was e mailed to him in return were several supportive comments, backing Frank Croisdale. The result – a room full of people, airing out their thoughts, complaints and grievances of the then current state of the city of Niagara Falls, New York.

“Venting was good for a while, because at the time, it was important to have people with common thoughts – but sometime soon, we would have to advance and move forward with something else.”

Croisdale began to have meetings with those in attendance giving output for ideas in order to change the culture of Niagara Falls, New York. The more organized the meetings were, the better the implementation of the ideas followed.
Then came the name.

“I didn’t know exactly how this name came to mind, but when it did, it gave a better sense to what our goals were going to be about.” Croisdale said.

Niagara Rises was going to be the name. The goal – to bring those who have left the city of Niagara Falls permanently back home. The meetings began to be goal oriented, one that will send a mission statement to those residing in Niagara Falls, and others who moved away from Niagara Falls, New York.

Today, there are over 400 members of Niagara Rises Inc. Even more amazing – over 3600 combined followers on Facebook and Twitter.

“We still maintain our focus as a group – and though it is very tough to change the past, we know what will lie ahead for us as a team.” Croisdale said.

The slogan mirrors Frank Croisdale’s time in 2006, listening to that basketball star and to this date, it states his vision – Our Passion, Your Future.

—Tom Proctor e mail tfpiv@yahoo.com