$700,000 in funding powers 80 community providers to expand summer programming, provide positive youth development, academic support, more
ERIE COUNTY, NY— The Erie County Department of Social Services’ Youth Bureau is helping to make summer safer, more active and more fun for thousands of local children by investing $700,000 in the 2026 Summer Primetime program. Operation Primetime provides for an adult-supervised environment for the school summer recess period and helps local organizations offer summer program activities consisting of positive youth development, including academic support, mentoring, cultural enrichment, and structured activities that prevent delinquency, increase socialization, and foster respect for authority.
“Operation Primetime is an annual investment in Erie County youth and helps to make summers better for children through various supervised activities with peers. The program is also good for parents, particularly working parents, who want to know that their children are safe, supervised and staying busy during the summer break,” said Erie County Executive Mark C. Poloncarz. “Helping children have a healthy, active and supervised summer is a good investment all around.”
Eighty community providers from across Erie County contracted with the Department of Social Services to provide Operation Primetime programming, with awards ranging from $2,500 to $10,000 to fund that programming.
Organizations receiving $10,000 in Primetime funding include: Peace of the City; Bestself Behavioral Health, Inc.; Boys & Girls Club of Buffalo, Inc.; Buffalo Arts and Technology Center, Inc.; Erie Regional Housing Development Corporation; Family Promise of Western New York; Northwest Buffalo Community Center, Inc.; Police Athletic League of Buffalo, Inc.; the Rural Outreach Center, Inc.; the Salvation Army; University District Community Development Association, Inc.; Back to Basics Outreach Ministries, Inc.; Boys & Girls Club of the Northtowns of WNY, Inc.; Buffalo Urban League, Inc.; First Shiloh Youth Foundation; Karen Society of Buffalo; Polish Community Center of Buffalo, Inc.; United Church Home; King Urban life Center, Inc.; Native American Community Services of Erie and Niagara Counties, Inc.; Full Circle Family Service, Inc.; Buffalo-area Engineering Awareness for Minorities; Buffalo Vineyard; EPIC – Every Person Influences Children, Inc.; Resource Council of WNY; Seneca Street Community Development Corporation; West Side Community Services; YWCA of Western New York, Inc.; AWO; Massachusetts Avenue Project; Boys & Girls Club of East Aurora; Baker Hall, Inc.; Mt. Olive MBC, Inc.; Boys & Girls Club of Holland; the Collaborative Center for Social innovation, Inc.; Cradle Beach, Inc.; Lackawanna Yemen Soccer Club; G.I.R.L.S. Sports Foundation, Inc.; T Corp Community Development Corporation; the Research Foundation for the State University of NY; TRE & Associates, Inc.; Wave Buffalo, Inc.; Great Falls Council, Inc. Boy Scouts of America; Hope of Buffalo, Inc. DBA: Peaceprints of WNY; Toll to our Legacy’s & Legends, Inc.; Westminster Economic Development Initiative, Inc.; Be-A-Friend Program, Inc., Big Brothers and Big Sisters of Erie, Niagara and the Southern Tier; Tru-Way Community Center, Inc.; Boys & Girls Club of Orchard Park; Town of Cheektowaga; Bits and Bytes STEM Foundation; Buffalo Media Resources, Inc.; Compeer West, Inc.; Girl Scouts of WNY; HEAL International; Buffalo Prep, Inc.; Community Action Organization of WNY; Cornell Cooperative Extension of Erie County; Boys & Girls Club of Eden, Inc.; City Swim Project; Village of Hamburg; Jewish Community Center of Greater Buffalo, Inc.
Organizations receiving $5,000 in Primetime funding include: Parker Academy Child Care and Learning Center, Inc.; Boys & Girls Club of Elma, Marilla and Wales; Friends, Inc.; Solid Foundation Prep, Inc.; the Prevention Council of Erie County; Antioch Baptist Church; VOICE Buffalo; Town of West Seneca; Kids Escaping Drugs, Inc.; Locust Street Neighborhood Art Classes, Inc.; Enlightenment Bookstore & Café; Child Care Network of the Niagara Frontier, Inc.; Urban Christian ministries; Springville Youth, Inc.
Organizations receiving $2,500 in Primetime funding include: Rohingya Empowerment Community, Inc.; Open Buffalo; Community Wellness Works Giving, Inc.; Be Elite, Inc.
The Youth Bureau distributed a request for proposal (RFP) to interested parties for this program and the Youth Board panel recommendations were utilized to determine contract award amounts.
For more information:
On the Erie County Department of Social Services, visit https://www3.erie.gov/socialservices/
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