Stephanie Barber Geter

Stephanie Barber Geter is a difference maker and bridge builder in the City of Buffalo. She has dedicated her life to reconnecting her community, and has created countless opportunities to strengthen neighborhoods within Buffalo’s Hamlin Park and beyond.

Ms. Geter is a native of Buffalo, New York and was raised on the East Side by her grandmother, who encouraged her to get involved in her housing project’s tenant council at just 12 years old. There, she listened to concerns over deteriorating conditions in public housing and rising rent. Those meetings spurred her to use her voice to create change. As a teenager, she became involved in political campaigns, participated in her high school student council, and in college, the Ellicott District Neighborhood Council.

Over the next 37 years, Ms. Geter committed herself to bettering Western New York through her work in government, local non-profits, the United Way of Buffalo & Erie County and Buffalo State College. She was a staff leader for the development of 211WNY, and helped secure results-based funding and school-community collaborations used nationwide. Ms. Geter has served on the Board of Directors of Feed More WNY, Elim Community Corp., and the Masten TRIAD Housing
Association.

Currently retired, she continues to serve as President of the Hamlin Park Taxpayers and Community Association. The Association focuses on neighborhood stabilization and resident involvement.

One of Ms. Geter’s most recent projects has been addressing dangerous conditions related to the hazardous Humboldt Parkway Expressway. As part of her neighborhood work, Ms. Geter serves as Board Chair of the Restore Our Community Coalition (ROCC), whose single focus has been addressing this specific issue. She was instrumental in working with federal, State, and City partners to secure a historic $1.55 billion to reimagine the Kensington Expressway and reconnect the community she is proud to call home. Ms. Geter’s fierce leadership and ability to bring people together has resulted in real, meaningful change – time and time again.

A member of Elim Christian Fellowship, Ms. Geter and her husband, Edwin, reside in the Hamlin Park neighborhood.