BUFFALO, N.Y. — Investments in Buffalo’s East Side have taken the form of infrastructure and small business support, but according to some community advocates, the key to long-term prosperity is investing in the kids.

From education to nutrition, studies show youth programs can have immediate and long-term positive impacts, not only for children and their families, but also the whole of society.

“A lot of things that we see throughout our city are not normal,” said Willie Stewart, a volunteer counselor with the Stop the Violence Coalition on Buffalo’s East Side.

Stewart mentors youth alongside other adult leaders in an effort to decrease violence and boost the wellbeing of kids with life skills and educational programming.

“I see that there’s adults actively trying to engage in children’s lives, and I’m like, ‘that’s cool, I like that,'” Farrah Wills said at a Wednesday afternoon meeting, where the group talked about a recent trip to the Harriet Tubman Home.

The children in the program have been students throughout the COVID-19 pandemic and have seen their community targeted by an act of racist mass violence in 2022. They said it can be a lot to handle on top of just being an adolescent.

“A lot of people my age, we keep things to ourselves. We stay to ourselves a lot and we don’t really expand in person, I’ll say,” Willis said.

The Stop the Violence Coalition is a county-funded program and just one of many ways adults have helped kids who are at a greater risk of poverty and violence in Western New York.

According to a study by the Washington, D.C.-based research organization Urban Institute, public investments in education, housing, income, health and nutrition can improve family finances, test scores, mental health, homelessness rates and graduation rates. Overall, these investments can reduce the need for public spending on adult social services. Plus, students said it’s a fun place to be and learn.

“I like being here,” said Empress Wills. “It’s interesting. I get to meet a lot of different people and unlike school, there’s not really a lot of unnecessary drama.”

Counselors said sometimes it’s as simple as hearing kids out – letting them have a voice in the room. Other times it can be more complicated, like budgeting tax dollars. Either way, studies show teens can benefit greatly from being surrounded by adults who believe in them and that investment can come right back to the community making it.

“This is our future,” said Stewart. “And we have to let them know that they are the future and they’re better than what people think about them.”