Reporter Volume 26, No.8 October 27, 1994

By ELLEN GOLDBAUM
News Bureau Staff
Many residents of Amherst, especially those with children, are
familiar with the programs and services run by the Amherst Youth
Board. From musical theater productions for starstruck kids and
transportation for disabled children to activities for preschoolers,
diversion programs for first-time offenders and employment referrals,
the Youth Board offers programs and services that deal with the needs
of young people of nearly all interests and age groups.
	It wasn't always this way. Back in the 1970s, just as the town
was beginning to experience dramatic growth, a group of parents in
Williamsville decided that teenagers needed a place outside of school
or home where they could gather. Carol Greiner, wife of UB President
William R. Greiner, was one of those parents.
	"Town and county services were not as extensive then as they
are now," she recalled. "There were numerous athletic programs for
young people and the schools provided extracurricular activities and
athletics after school, but there was a real gap regarding activities
and gathering places for teenagers after school and on weekends."
	The PTA, of which Greiner was a member, joined forces with the
Amherst Junior Chamber of Commerce, the YMCA, and, with some help from
the town, set out to develop a teen center. They got together and took
over an abandoned schoolhouse on North Ellicott Creek Road. They
scrubbed the floors, painted and rehabilitated the school so that it
could be used as a community center for Amherst youth.	Out of that
group emerged the Amherst Youth Foundation, the fund-raising arm of
the Amherst Youth Board. Greiner is a founding member of the board's
Youth Center Advisory Committee.
	"Today the Amherst Youth Board provides a broad range of
services for young people," Greiner said. "The Amherst Youth
Foundation raises funds for the board and also supports other youth
activities in Amherst. The main beneficiary of our work is the youth
of Amherst.
	"As the mother of four children who grew up in Amherst, and as
a volunteer active in many youth-oriented agencies, I have learned a
great deal about the needs of young people for support from their
families and other caring adults. Sharing that knowledge and
experience with the other members of the foundation has been a most
rewarding way to continue helping young people, and to support a
community that was so good for my children during their formative
years," she said.
	The Amherst Youth Foundation, a donor-f SEFA/United Way, has
been partly responsible for the board's increased funding from private
sources, including individuals, especially during a time when
government cutbacks restricted the board's activities. 
	"From 1990-91, the board experienced a 45 percent cutback in
government funding," said Joseph E. Bachovchin, executive director of
the Amherst Youth Board. "The writing was on the wall. We knew we had
to increase our fund-raising from private sources."
	Perhaps the most visible service the board provides is its
operation of youth centers throughout Amherst. Currently, the board is
assisting in implementing recommendations to establish a new youth
center in Eggertsville. The recommendations resulted from a survey
conducted by UB professors Murray Levine and Simon Singer.
	The Youth Foundation supports and enriches the lives of young
people through organized programs and, occasionally, through efforts
that help individuals. "One of our youngsters had an opportunity to
participate in track events in the International Deaf Olympics being
held in Christ Church, New Zealand," said James C. Bailey, president
of the Amherst Youth Foundation's board of directors. "He was unable
to raise enough funds by himself to go. So we helped him raise some of
the money he needed in order to attend and compete."
	Foundation money has been applied toward the purchase of
playground equipment, libraries for parenting skills workshops, and
vans, including one equipped for disabled children, to take youngsters
on field trips.
	Richard Jones, clinical assistant professor in the UB School
of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, who serves on the foundation's
board of directors, noted that the board helps youngsters who find
themselves in trouble. "Our diversion program is designed to step in
when a case is being heard that involves, say, a kid caught
shoplifting," he said. "We'll tell the judge that we would like to
take charge of this youngster, involve him or her in our programs,
demonstrate positive role-modeling and hopefully, divert him or her
from the criminal justice system."