Saira Siddiqui

Saira Siddiqui serves as Community Impact Program Director, Organizational Power at the Oishei Foundation, leading work focused on strengthening the leadership, infrastructure, relationships, and long-term sustainability of organizations rooted in and serving Buffalo’s East Side communities. Through the Foundation’s Community Power-Building Framework, she works alongside nonprofit leaders, partners, and community stakeholders to help build organizational power, deepen collaboration, and support long-term systems change grounded in community voice and racial equity.

Saira brings more than a decade of experience in collective impact capacity building, nonprofit strategy, district development, and community-rooted facilitation. Prior to joining the Foundation, she founded SAIRA Creative, a consulting practice focused on organizational development, place-based program design, and collaborative learning. She also previously served as Program Officer at the Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC), where she led neighborhood planning and investment initiatives across Buffalo’s East Side.

An urban planner, artist, and systems-change leader, Saira brings an interdisciplinary perspective that blends creativity, strategy, and community engagement. Deeply connected to Buffalo and its neighborhoods, she approaches her work with curiosity, collaboration, and a belief that communities should have greater influence over the systems and decisions that shape their futures.

My parents came to this country in the wave of immigration made possible by the 1965 Immigration Act - a door opened by the Civil Rights Movement and the sacrifices of Black Americans who fought for a more just society. That history is personal to me. It reminds me that our liberation is bound together - that when we open doors for others, all of us move forward. This work is my way of giving back to that legacy.