In April, the Junior League of Buffalo chose to fund $1000 to the Social Work department through their small grants program. These funds will be used to provide supplies and publicity for a Youth Summit in the Seneca Babcock Community. The summit will provide a forum for neighborhood youth and teens, ages 11-19 year old, to speak up and identify problems and solutions to community issues. The first Youth Summit was held in April; funds will be used for the next Youth Summit in the Fall of 2002.

Daemen Associate Professor of Social Work Renee Daniel, director of the grant, notes, "These funds will help us involve more neighborhood teens. Participants in the Summit will be able to walk away with something that will remind them of the experience. Through the Teen Summit we hope to identify community teen leaders that can work with other community leaders for the betterment of the neighborhood."

Since the early 1980’s, Daemen students have volunteered throughout Western New York through the Daemen Community Service Program. In 1998, Daemen students and faculty began concentrating their efforts on the Seneca Babcock neighborhood, and what began as periodic volunteering developed into the Daemen College-Seneca Babcock Partnership. With support from the John R. Oishei Foundation, Daemen took the partnership to a new level this summer, opening the first Daemen College Center for Community Excellence on Seneca Street in Seneca Babcock. Students in the Daemen education, social work, and physician assistant programs provide direct services in the Buffalo community, including English and math tutoring, computer training, health care screenings and tax assistance.

Daemen College has also received support for the Daemen College-Seneca Babcock partnership from KeyBank USA, the Providence Fund and in-kind support from Computers for Children, Inc and individual donors. To read more about the partnership, visit: http://www.daemen.edu/offices/grants/Funded%20Projects/BABCO.HTML