Facebook

Cobblestone Museum awarded $10K from Community Foundation of Greater Buffalo

By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 1 August 2025 at 9:24 am

Money provides operational support for museum in Childs hamlet

Photos by Tom Rivers: Doug Farley, executive director for the Cobblestone Museum, speaks during a July 6 patriotic service at the Cobblestone Church. The church is in an 1834 building and hosts a church service every year near the July 4th holiday.

CHILDS – The Cobblestone Museum has received a grant from the Community Foundation for Greater Buffalo, and the $10,000 award will goes towards operating support.

The museum is one of 32 non-profit organizations in Western New York receiving a total of $630,000 in funding from the Community Foundation.

Doug Farley, the Cobblestone Museum executive director, said the museum is grateful for the funding.

“There are not a lot of grantors that provide operating support,” he said. “This type of grant covers a lot of overhead expenses.”

Farley said Community Foundation for Greater Buffalo recently expanded its reach to include Orleans County organizations.

The Community Foundation said the 32 grants were awarded after a competitive process. The organizations have to support at least one of the Community Foundation’s four community goals:

  • Achieve racial/ethnic equity
  • Promote economic mobility through educational achievement for residents living in low-income households
  • Steward significant environmental resources in the context of climate resilience
  • Promote regional vibrancy through architecture, arts and culture

Bill Lattin, retired director of the Cobblestone Museum, led a tour on May 17 of the outhouses on the museum’s campus, including the outhouse in this phot that is next to Farmers’ Hall. This outhouse is the fanciest of a collection at the museum. The outhouse is a five-seater in a Greek Revival architectural style.

The Community Foundation for Greater Buffalo 2025 Competitive Grants recipients include:

  • 716 Squash – $15,000 for “Educational Achievement to Low-Income Students”
  • Advocacy Institute – $15,000 for “General Operations in WNY”
  • African American Cultural Center of Buffalo – $14,000 for “Long Layover, A New Theatrical Production”
  • Arts for Learning WNY – $20,000 for “Artworks: Hired to Create. Inspired to Succeed: Year 2 of 3”
  • Buffalo-Area Engineering Awareness for Minorities (BEAM) – $18,000 for “School Year and Summer Engineering Exploration Programs”
  • Buffalo Arts Studio – $15,000 for “General Operations”
  • Buffalo Center for Arts and Technology – $36,000 for “Expanded Arts and Career Readiness Programming”
  • Buffalo Olmsted Parks Conservancy – $20,000 for “General Operations: Year 1 of 3”
  • Buffalo Prep – $38,000 for “General Operations”
  • Buffalo Urban League – $20,000 for “YOLO-Your Life Changing Opportunity”
  • Cobblestone Society – $10,000 for “General Operations”
  • Cornell Cooperative Extension of Erie County – $22,650 for “4H Youth Community Action Network”
  • Create a Healthier Niagara Falls Collaborative – $10,500 for “Champion of Change Training”
  • Grassroots Gardens of WNY – $15,000 for “General Operations: Year 3 of 3”
  • Green Options Buffalo aka GObike Buffalo – $19,508 for “City-Wide Equitable Advocacy Committee Development”
  • Infinity Visual and Performing Arts – $20,000 for “Rooted in Creativity: Equitable Arts Access”
  • Just Buffalo Literary Center – $15,000 for “General Operations”
  • King Urban Life Center – $30,000 for “Parent Child PLUS Program”
  • Martin House Restoration Corporation – $15,000 for “General Operations”
  • MCC-DC dba West Side Community Services – $15,000 for “General Operations”
  • Mental Health Advocates of WNY – $30,000 for “Basic Emotional Skills Training (BEST)”
  • Natural Heritage Trust – $18,000 “Restoring Freedom Park’s Gardens”
  • Niagara Frontier Radio Reading Service – $16,371 for “Urban Outreach Initiative”
  • Open Buffalo – $20,000 for “Emerging Leaders Program”
  • Peace of the City – $20,000 for “All of the Arts”
  • Roycroft Campus Corporation – $20,000 for “Illuminating the Roycroft Campus for Accessibility and Tourism”
  • Seneca Street Community Development Corporation – $20,000 for “Youth Programs”
  • Service Collaborative of WNY – $15,000 for “General Operations”
  • Springville Center for the Arts Theater – $19,362 for “Stained Glass Curtains”
  • WNY Land Conservancy – $17,000 for “Re-treeing for Rural Community Water Quality”
  • WNY Women’s Foundation – $36,000 for “MOMs: From Education to Employment Program”
  • Youth Mentoring Services – $18,500 for “LINKS”