Jabril Shareef, Honoree

A Buffalo native, originally hailing from Memphis, Tennessee, Jabril Shareef graduated from Buffalo State in August 1963 with a bachelor’s degree in Industrial Arts Education. Mr. Shareef was one of the first minority businesses to obtain a developer’s license in the city of Buffalo, and an absolute trailblazer in this sector for over 50 years. Mr. Shareef focused his career on the construction trades as a New York State certified Minority owned business, building homes on the East Side of Buffalo under the city’s affordable housing program for first time home buyers. Mr. Shareef oversaw, managed, and directed, Buffalo’s premier Job Corps recruitment site, placing over 1000 youth into the Job Corps Center Trades Facility in Cassadaga, NY. Additionally, Mr. Shareef reimagined the business from building houses in the city to taking them down and became one of the city’s premier demolition companies under the auspices of Amir’s Vision. Still Mr. Shareef was not done. He took his company to another level and added another line of expertise leading the way as an elite asbestos and lead abatement company in the city. Throughout his over 50 years in industry, Mr. Shareef always sought to uplift the community providing job opportunities to the youth, underprivileged, and rehabilitating classes. Currently, he is the managing partner for C&R Housing, a Minority Owned Business Enterprise (MBE) and a BPI Certified NYS Contractor, specializing in NYSERDA’s EmPower Program as well as Energy STAR’s Assisted Home Performance Program.

Through the Buffalo State Small Business Development Center, Mr. Shareef completed the Contractor Training Program and completed the Minority and Women Bonding Readiness Program and the Entrepreneurial Effectiveness Program. Mr. Shareef has always been at the tip of the spear on matters of diversity, equity/equality, and inclusion. His recent business enterprises have included green products, including converting recycled paper into cellulose insulation and hydroseed mulch. Again, Mr. Shareef was at the forefront of climate change practices leading the way in eco-friendly, energy conservation, and green practices.

Mr. Shareef is no stranger to cooperative efforts with Buffalo State. Not only is he a graduate, but in 2014 he was a presenter at the Buffalo State Dare to Innovate Program presented by the Small Business Development Center and the School of the Professions.

This scholarship was established by Amir and Hakim Shareef in honor of their father, Jabril Shareef, to encourage Buffalo State students to follow their father’s example of perseverance against all odds to achieve success. But even more importantly, while on the journey to success, never stop uplifting those around you and lifting as you climb.