Youth Board
Conference center to use $10,000 grant for audiovisual equipment
by JESSICA L. FINCH Associate Editor

The days of the outdated conference room will soon be behind the Amherst Youth Board.

Thanks to a grant from Sen. Mary Lou Rath, R-Amherst, the Youth Development Training Center located in the Harlem Road Community Center will be getting a high tech upgrade.

"We are very grateful for the grant," said Mary-Diana Pouli, coordinator of the Senior Youth Services Program.

With the $10,000 grant the Youth Board will be purchasing several pieces of state-of-the-art equipment.

Pouli said she is hoping the grant will cover most of the audiovisual equipment, which will include a ceiling-mounted projector, white board, sound system and electric screen.

Not updated since the 1980s, Pouli said the conference room is in rough shape, currently using a projection screen that is being held together by tape and yardsticks.

"So many of us live in a world of second hand and always looking for money. It will be nice for us to be able to get the best," she said.

The conference room is used by the Youth Board, the Amherst Emergency Services Department and numerous groups from around Western New York. It is also used by many town groups for their meetings.

"Our children will greatly benefit from the training that this new center will provide to groups all over the area," Rath said when announcing the grant on Aug. 16.

The Youth Board plans to begin purchasing equipment in the fall and have the center completed by January.

"Once completed, the training center will provide programming for volunteer and professional youth workers," Pouli said. "It is being designed to enhance their ability to effectively provide programs and services to children, youth and families."

She added that the improvements will make the center more effective for training the Youth Board staff.