First hour: Puerto Rico's struggles are impacting New York
Second hour: ROC the Future releases its 2015 report card
Puerto Rico is in trouble, and thousands of Puerto Ricans are moving to the U.S. mainland. Puerto Rico's population has fallen 4.7 percent since 2010; New York is one of the largest homes for the migrants. The island is one tenth the size of California, yet it has nearly half the debt California has. So what next? New York Assemblyman Marcos Crespo is the chairman of our state's Puerto Rican / Hispanic Task Force. He'll travel to the island next month, but first, he joins us on Connections.
In our second hour: There's a new report card for how kids are doing in our community. From prenatal care, to pre-K offerings, to attendance rates, to college readiness, we're getting a new look at how our children are faring. The report comes from ROC the Future, which has been aiming to improve academic achievement for kids in the city of Rochester. The grades show plenty of room for improvement, but how? Our guests in studio:
Jackie Campbell, ROC the Future Alliance Director
Erika Rosenberg, principal with the Center for Governmental Research CGR
Dr. Leonard Brock, former ROC the Future Alliance Director and current head of the Rochester-Monroe Anti-Poverty Initiative