“Connections” is on the road today with a live audience, discussing poverty in Rochester. The Rochester-Monroe Anti-Poverty Initiative (RMAPI) is holding a summit at MCC’s downtown campus, and we’re bringing the show to the event to examine why poverty is so intractable.
12:00: Exploring how local efforts to address poverty have affected families
1:00: Local leaders on the state of poverty in Rochester
In our first hour, we explore different efforts to address poverty. We meet one of the participants in the City of Rochester’s Guaranteed Basic Income program, and a single mother who has advocated on behalf of her family and others when it comes to developing strategies for lifting households out of poverty. We discuss which initiatives have been successful and which have not – in nearly a decade of RMAPI. Our guests:
- Maya Reagan, Rochester resident and GBI recipient
- Evans Buntley, Rochester resident and GBI recipient
- Danielle Jones, parent, licensed mental health counselor, certified birth doula, and member of the Single Female Head of Household Cohort at the Rochester-Monroe Anti-Poverty Initiative
- Rev. Myra Brown, executive director of the Black Community Focus Fund, Inc., and pastor of Spiritus Christi Church
- Ashley Cross, Ed.D., founder and executive director of HOPE585
In our second hour, Rochester Mayor Malik Evans joins us, along with fellow local leaders, to discuss the anti-poverty movement. We also take questions from the live audience. Our guests:
- Mayor Malik Evans, City of Rochester
- Demario Strickland, interim superintendent of the Rochester City School District
- Aqua Porter, executive director of the Rochester-Monroe Anti-Poverty Initiative
- Simeon Banister, president and CEO of the Rochester Area Community Foundation
