October 13, 1994: Vol26n6: UB Professors help Amherst determine needs of its youth

By MARK WALLACE
Reporter Contributor
Two UB professors, one in law and the other in sociology, have been
helping Amherst Township better understand the needs of its youth.
	Murray Levine, professor of law and co-director of the
Research Center for Children and Youth, and Simon Singer, professor of
sociology, have been working with Amherst town officials and the
Amherst Youth Board on statistical studies to determine youth needs in
Amherst, as well as on another survey designed to assess the need and
potential for a Youth/Family At-Risk Center to serve the Eggertsville
community, a section of Amherst Township.
	Levine and Singer began their work for Amherst with the 1987
Amherst Youth Board Needs Assessment Survey, which was administered to
high school students in the school districts of Amherst, Sweet Home,
and Williamsville. That survey, as well as a second one done in 1990,
asked students to answer questions about behavior, and looked at such
issues as teen delinquency, alcohol and drug use, and sexuality.
	A 1993 survey, funded by a grant awarded to the Amherst
Central School District by the NYS Education Department, looked at
factors such as characteristics of the population and interests of
community members. It determined that "a community center of the type
proposed has a strong potential for serving, preserving and enhancing
the quality of life in the entire community as well as preventing
social problems in the future."
	The community and campus partnership has advantages for both
Amherst and the researchers, Singer says. "By looking closely at
Amherst, I can describe things much more specifically than they can in
national surveys. There are a lot of federal government surveys on
such things as delinquency, but they don't account well for local
variations and so can't get a feel for local communities. I get
unique, wonderful data that can lead me to a particular sense of
what's important locally. It's gratifying to get immediate local
feedback."
	The advantage for Amherst, Singer says, is that the community
gets the expertise to do state mandated assessments more accurately,
and in such a way that results can be compared over time. The town
also gets to work with its own statistics rather than national ones,
and so has a better sense of the dimensions of its own particular
problems, he said.
	"Amherst responded to our report about alcohol use in the 1987
survey," Singer says. "They had discussions and presentations, and
received money to sponsor alcohol awareness programs. Then when we did
the survey again in 1990 they had specific evidence to say that
teenagers reported that drinking had declined."
	Levine agrees with Singer on the importance of
campus-community partnerships. "To me it seems self-evident that UB
should work cooperatively with the outside community. Such a
partnership provides cooperative access to material of mutual
benefit," he said.