FASD Center for Excellence

Erie County, New York

The CSAP team visited Erie County, New York, May 15-16, 2002. Hosted by the Erie County Council for the Prevention of Alcohol and Substance Abuse (ECCPASA) in mid-May, team members received extensive information on the challenges and opportunities that await them and their community partners as preparations move forward for the launch of the Partnership to Prevent FASD. ECCPASA Executive Director Jan Duffey, Director of Program Services Harry Carter, and FADE Prevention Coordinator Helen Weinstein provided a thorough briefing on Erie County. The team met with health and social service providers and conducted four discussion groups with a wide range of potential partner organizations.

Erie County encompasses urban, suburban, and rural areas with great fluidity between these diverse areas. Erie County is also a border community, which impacts alcohol consumption because of the lower drinking age in neighboring Canada. The city of Buffalo is located within Erie County and is itself a city of great diversity. The East Side is primarily African American, while the West Side is a melting pot composed of Hispanic, Immigrant, and Native American cultures. Many residents come from Cambodia, Vietnam, Somalia, and Bosnia or are of Caribbean or Middle Eastern descent. The southern part of the county is home to a large Native American community.

Known as the "City of Good Neighbors" and the world's "biggest small town," Buffalo and its neighbors throughout Erie County have distinct needs which will require different strategies to reach different subgroups of women and their significant others. The Partnership will also have to take the significant challenges facing Buffalo into account in designing these strategies. These challenges include the shrinking population of the core city due to urban flight, economic decline from the closing of steel mills and the downsizing of major corporate employers, high unemployment, and a school system in crisis.

Despite these challenges, the excellent turnout for the site visit indicates the community's readiness to tackle the important issue of FASD. In the weeks ahead, the team will work with ECCPASA to deepen the engagement of a variety of community leaders and organizations as preparations continue for the Partnership launch in the fall.