The JCC's core mission has guided its growth into a range of services for all age groups in our community.

Mission & Vision

Jewish Community Center of Greater Buffalo's core mission is to be the town square for building and strengthening the Jewish and Western New York communities by providing recreational, educational, cultural, and social programs and services consistent with Jewish values. The JCC's vision is "Shaping Futures, Building Community."

As a not-for-profit, multi-service agency open to everyone, the JCC is a diverse community that helps people of all ages thrive. We offer fitness and wellness services, summer day camp, preschool, and school-age child care, family recreation, youth enrichment, adult programs, cultural arts programming, our beloved Jewish Repertory Theatre, and Israel programs and events! We are unrivaled in our passion for helping the whole family.

History of JCC Buffalo

The Jewish Community Center of Greater Buffalo was an outgrowth of a movement that began in 1891 with the Sisterhood of Zion. A new “Zion House” was purchased in 1896 at 456 Jefferson Avenue, but future expansion led to the erection of the Jewish Community Building at 406 Jefferson, where an active program thrived through 1943. Extensive programs served the Center at various sites through the mid 1940’s. A permanent site and a camp for children were desperately needed. A coordinating committee organized by the Jewish Federation surveyed the need for a new Jewish Community Building in Buffalo to serve several Jewish organizations, leading to the formation of the Jewish Center of Buffalo in July 1945.

The YM and YWHA began in 1907 as the Jewish Young Men’s Association. The JYMA met at the Jewish Community Building for several years. After a name change to the Young Men’s Hebrew Association and years of inactivity and reorganization, a facility at 277 Linwood Avenue was purchased in 1937. A New Year’s Day fire in 1945 destroyed the building.

In 1948, the same year the State of Israel was founded, a new state-of-the-art building was built at 787 Delaware Avenue in Buffalo. In 1972, a second building was built on North Forest Road in Amherst. In 1954, Camp Centerland was established in Elma. Camp Lakeland, an overnight camp originally on the shore of Lake Erie in Angola, relocated to Franklinville in 1974 and became part of the JCC.

The new millennium brought the realization that Buffalo’s Jewish Community was shrinking and that a plan was needed to make the JCC sustainable. A vote by the Board of Trustees to close the Benderson Family Building and restructure the agency was reversed shortly after. The Benderson and Gellman families, along with a group of donors, devised a plan to strengthen the agency through consolidation, right-sizing, and strategic planning. Both buildings were substantially renovated over a five-year period ending in 2012.

The Early Childhood program was dramatically expanded at the Holland Family Building, as was our Kids’ Place After-School program. The Benderson Family Building was reduced in size, Camp Lakeland was sold, and the Elma Camp Centerland property was sold. Camp Centerland was moved to Amherst in 2013 on land adjacent to the JCC, behind the Weinberg Campus.

Programming at the JCC evolved from an emphasis on social services to a focus on wellness, cultural programming, education, and child care. The Jewish Repertory Theatre has become an important part of the JCC's cultural arts program. It is joined by our Buffalo International Jewish Film Festival, Cover-to-Cover Jewish Book Fair, Israel programming, and more. Art exhibits and classes, music lessons and concerts, and programming for Senior Adults are also part of the JCC's offerings.

By 2013, more than 1,000 people passed through the doors daily at each facility following an almost doubling of membership. Changing demographics have led the JCC to be inclusive of people of many religions and cultures. Our JCC is a welcoming institution with a bright and diverse future, cognizant of the Jewish values and roots that contribute to our success. It is the responsibility of every staff member to ensure that a spirit of friendly service, meaningful programming, and hope for a continued strong future permeates the air.