Rochester has ranked near the top of surveys that look at the most impoverished cities in America. And now, another upstate city is also dealing with pockets of extreme poverty.
The study by a Rutgers University professor and a progressive think tank called The Century Foundation says that Syracuse has the highest rate of extreme poverty concentrated among blacks and Hispanics in the nation’s 100 largest metropolitan areas. Rochester is not far behind. In terms of poverty among black people, we rank at number 4, and among Hispanics at number 6.
The study by Professor Paul Jargowsky is called "The Architecture of Segregation, “ and he talks about policies that encourage the development of public housing in poor city neighborhoods, rather than the suburbs.
Jarkowsky says that to address the root causes of issues like urban violence, police-community tensions and racism, these underlying issues must be understood.
A Syracuse housing official tells Syracuse.com that city officials there are disturbed by the report’s findings, and says that a lot of the problems have to be dealt with at the state and federal level.
Rochester has been the focus of an anti-poverty effort that is being backed by state government. It began earlier this year.
