In the first meeting of the Rochester Anti-Poverty Task Force, members of the community provided a context justifying the existence of such a coalition. Leaders of institutions throughout the city, private and public, volunteer and for-profit, brought up some of the ugliest attributes of the city and laid out the barriers to prosperity faced by a third of Rochester residents every day.
Opening remarks by Lieutenant Governor Kathy Hochul, Majority Leader Joe Morelle, Mayor Lovely Warren, and County Executive Maggie Brooks emphasized their intent to seize the opportunity to end poverty in Rochester, an idea that seems that much closer because of this initiative.
Hochul says the role of the Governor's office in the initiative is not to presume to know all the answers, but to get those who do in a room together.
"We are not here to make decisions about the Rochester community. We are here as an incubator of ideas."
Morelle laid out his goals for the task force, including better outcomes for those in poverty, better experience for those navigating the system, and lower costs. Brooks also wants to try to drive down costs, and says the pathways that are supposed to lead out of poverty often end up trapping people within the system.
"There are things that are working and making a difference, and there are things we need to let go."
Mayor Warren did not focus on cost or efficiency. Warren says poverty is not an issue of dollars and percents, but of people.
"I believe that by working together we can really change things for the people and we can look at it as not just a number."
Working together was a common refrain among the many different speakers at the meeting.
The task force says there are five key drivers enabling families to move out of poverty. In the hierarchy of needs, members identified education and training, jobs, housing, health and nutrition, and safe neighborhoods as the foundation on which successful families and communities are built. Work groups will be built up around these five key areas, as well as one for systems design and one for public policy.
Representatives from each group outlined core, systemic issues preventing Rochester residents from lifting themselves out of poverty. Amid the facts, figures, and statistics, personal stories of suffering and triumph drove home both the daunting task ahead for the coalition and the importance of addressing it.
Ambika Howell, a former RCSD student, spoke about how going back to school to changed the trajectory of her life.
"The critical and life-changing element for me was really getting the support from my wonderful professors. They seemed to take the time and care about what I wanted."
Devren Purdie says without his mentor, Nina, he doesn't think he would have been able to succeed.
"It's not that I was doing bad in high school, but I didn't really have a sense of vision of where I wanted to be. So with Nina's help over the next couple years I was able to gain that vision."
Fred Daniel says that, though he himself is struggling with homelessness, working at the Asbury Methodist Church Dining Center gives him purpose and provides him with community support.
"And that's what keeps me grounded is by doing that every morning. I just do what I do. I survive, but it takes people, getting along, being able to help each other. We can't do it by ourselves."
Penelope Andrews says she sometimes goes hungry to help feed her children and buy medicine for her daughter.
"You do go hungry. As of right now, I have to wait to the fifth of the month to get my food stamps. I'm hungry, my daughter's hungry, I'm scraping up my little bit of cash for my car to get back and forth to work to make sure that she's fed. I'll take a risk and starve, long as my daughter's fed, that's all that matters."
Cindy Castro says the choice between moving her family to a neighborhood with gun violence or a neighborhood with sex offenders is not a choice.
"We bounced around trying to find a safe zone for us. It's kind of hard to find a safe zone when you have a community that does not work together.
Peter Carpino of United Way of Rochester says this initiative carries with it time limits, in order to ensure that it does not become top heavy and ineffective. He says in the next two weeks, the task force will select members of a steering committee, who's responsibilities will include acting as a liaison between the task force and the Governor, selecting chairs of the work groups, reviewing strategies, and tracking and measuring progress.
After fully formed, each work group will be aligned with a state agency and charged with inventorying their resources and identifying causes of cyclical poverty. The work groups will hold two community listening sessions in which residents will be able to provide input.
Work groups will be responsible for developing 3-4 strategies, Carpino says within months.
Carpino also announced the launching of the Anti-Poverty Task Initiative website, where people can go for more information as well as to get involved themselves.
You can see an extended interview with Lt. Governor Hochul here.
