By: Brittany McDanel

The Asarese Matters Community Center is open for creating positive changes in the community. With the help of local organizations and Buffalo State College, the center is brought to life and useful for the entire neighborhood.

Robert Franke, director of the Grant Ferry Association, has been working for years on improving the center, as well as the neighborhood. Recently, Franke has teamed up with some of the staff at Buffalo State College to create a task force called the Friends of the Asarese Center.  

“This is a group of people interested in bettering the community,” Franke said.

The task force includes members such as Marian Deutschman, Interim Director of College and Community Partnerships, Thomas Koller, associate director of Athletics, and Gary Welborn, professor of Sociology.

The department of College and Community Partnerships has been working with students and getting them involved with different parts of the community. Deutschman feels positive that the partnership will lead to new opportunities.

“It is an effort, a partnership with people of the community and of the college that have been meeting for several months to specifically make it a model center,” she said. “We have been working with several classes of students to get involved as well”.

Buffalo State College feels strongly about giving back to the community and getting students involved. The Grant Street Task Force is trying to accomplish that with enhancing the quality of the center.

“Education, Economic and Cultural development, those are three areas really important to us,” Deutschman said.

Buffalo State College is even working with the city and county on providing an adequate center for the community. Marsha Maracle, Director of Recreation, City Division has spoken with Koller to keep promoting a center that will be sufficient for the neighborhood.

“It’s critically important for the youth to have a safe haven to go to express themselves through sports and other events,” she said.

The Asarese Matters Community Center is open daily to provide recreation for youth in the area from 1p.m. to 10p.m. There are also seven other centers throughout the city of Buffalo, Maracle said.

“We have been meeting with organizations to enhance the youth participation in the area,” Maracle said.

Contact Brittany McDanel @ mcdabr77@buffalostate.edu