Uncrowned Community Builders

Jan Peters was executive director of the Buffalo Federation of Neighborhood Centers, Inc. (BFNC) from 1977 until her retirement in 2013. The BFNC is a not-for-profit human service corporation serving Buffalo and Erie County with diversified programs, activities and services for all age groups.

Ms. Peters came to the Neighborhood House Association, a settlement house founded in 1883, in 1977. Peters successfully implemented the merger, in 1981, of two of the oldest "settlement houses" in the nation-the Westminster Community House, founded in 1894, and the Neighborhood House Association into the Buffalo Federation of Neighborhood Centers, Inc. During her tenure she has been instrumental in the building of the operations from $400,000 to $6 million dollars annually by developing new programs and services. These programs helped those with mental illness, developmental disabilities and addictions. She also established the Moot Senior Citizens Center adjacent to the Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus.

The "settlement house" movement of the 19th century included an active social advocacy and public policy component. It seemed a perfectly logical move for Jan to pursue advocacy in a public policy forum such as the school board. And, in 1995 Ms. Peters was elected to the Buffalo School Board, representing the Central District. She was re-elected, without opposition, in 1998. She ran for office again in 2001. She was promoted to fill the at-large Board seat held by Rev. Darius Pridgen when he left the Board in 2002. She served as the Board's vice president.

Since her election, Jan chaired several Board committees including Buildings and Grounds, Legislation, and CHOICE. She also served as a member of the Budget and Audit Committee and was a designated representative of the Board of Education to the Joint Schools Construction Board, which managed the construction of new schools in the district.

Jan's priorities included:

Facility improvements, promotion of talented persons of color to important positions within the district, support of fair treatment of Superintendent Harris; Active involvement of parents in the educational process, Introduction of junior varsity sports to the district; Maintenance and financial support of varsity sports in the district; Support for the re-introduction of music, arts and physical education to the primary grades; Xtra Time/Xtra help funds for students experiencing academic difficulties; Support of the regents standards and improved academic performance of all students; retaining the Buffalo Vocational/Technical Center (BVTC) as a vocational school with an improved curriculum.
In her "quiet" manner, and supported by her colleagues on the Board, Jan was instrumental in having an Assistant Principal placed at Herman Badillo School for the first time, two computer teachers added to the staffing pattern at Buffalo Traditional School, naming of a public school in honor of Dr. Lydia T. Wright and the creation of the Parent Ombudsman function out of the Office of the Superintendent.

The CHOICE Committee, created with the purpose of expanding parental choice in the BPS district, and chaired by Jan, developed a district data matrix, which will be available to the public, commissioned a poll to determine variables important to parents and the public in the BPS district, and, prioritized areas for initiatives in 2001 that enhanced parental choice. Initiatives under discussion included changing school attendance zones, the revamping the district's student transfer policy, transportation from school to childcare/babysitting locations, five-year high school diplomas, and creating district operated charter schools and/or re-constituting existing poor performing schools.

She was a founding member and first president of the Buffalo Chapter of the National Coalition of 100 Black Women; president and treasurer of the Community Enterprise Federal Credit Union and president of the Housing Assistance Center of the Niagara Frontier. She also served on the boards of numerous community organizations, from the Pratt-Willert Revitalization Corporation to Leadership Buffalo. She also was active in Delta Sigma Theta sorority.

Ms. Peters was frequently cited for her active participation in the affairs of the Buffalo community. She received numerous awards including: 1987 YMCA's Toast of Buffalo, 1988 Buffalo News' Citizen of the Year, 1991 YWCA Leadership, 1992 NCCJ Sisterhood and, 1994 Buffalo NAACP Human Relations.

Jan was born in Augsburg, Germany. She was adopted at age 8 and raised by loving parents, who were in the US Army. She as raised in Rome, New York where she attended public schools. She earned her Bachelor's degree in 1968 from the University at Buffalo and received her Master's Degree in Urban Studies from Occidental College in Los Anglos in 1975. IN 1974 she was selected as a National Urban Fellow and interned as executive assistant to Coleman Young, former Mayor of Detroit.

Returning to Buffalo, Jan served as director of the Buffalo Community Development Organization, special assistant to Buffalo's commissioner of human resources, director of the Public Service Careers program for Buffalo's Model Cities Agency, assistant coordinator for the Day Care Council of Erie County and assistant director of research and development for the Opportunities Development Corporation. She also was an instructor at SUNY Buffalo State and Millard Fillmore College at UB, where she taught classes in black history, English and the social dynamics of poverty.

Ms. Peters' family resides in and about Grandview, Missouri. She, however, considered Buffalo her home, having moved here in 1965.

Ms. Peters died on April 10, 2016. She was survived by two sisters, Ranee Arledge and Lisa Boone-Reddick and a brother Jeffrey Boone.