[New York] Rochester's mayor reaching out to surburbs to fight child poverty

from WHEC

Rochester's child poverty rate ranks 1st in the state and 11th in the country. Mayor Bob Duffy hopes people in the suburbs can help change that. On Tuesday, the mayor and Rochester City School superintendent, Dr. Manuel Rivera spoke to a crowd of more than 200 suburban neighbors. Mayor Duffy says that the meeting was about opening the eyes and ears of those who live in the suburbs and hopefully getting their help in trying to reinvent Rochester.

Mayor Duffy knows he faces hundreds of challenges in turning the city around. “We lead the state in poverty rates, we lead the state in jobs lost,” Duffy said. On Monday he accomplished one of those challenges when he told suburbs about the poverty in the city. “Certainly the mayor is a part of that, he has certainly reached out to the suburbs,” said Mike Nolan of the Church of Transfiguration.

The Jewish Community Federation played host to Monday’s event. It's a new program called "Headliners", which is meant to help keep those in the suburbs in the loop as to what's happening just miles from home. “It's so easy for people not to do that, not to see what's going on around them. To just drive around the inner loop and not see what's going on in the city,” Larry Fine of the JCF said.

The mayor says Rochester leads the state in poverty. So how can people who live in the suburbs help? Mayor Duffy says it happens one step at a time. “It's not done with a glitzy program, it's not done with some new innovation. It's done by focusing on fundamental's and basics,” Duffy explained. One example is Rochester's new Clean Sweep Program. It's spring-cleaning aimed at instilling a new sense of pride in those living in the city's more poverty stricken areas. “I believe that we can turn things around in this city drastically, if we all work together and focus on those basics,” Nolan said. Mayor Duffy says that it is key to work together for the greater good. A message Rochester's faith community seems to understand. “There's never been a greater suburban area that has survived without a city center, and if we let Rochester die everything dies around it,” Nolan said.

Dr. Rivera also spoke Monday night about a project called the Children's Zone, which will be a brick and mortar location open 24/7 to address a number of needs involving poverty and education. The planning process is expected to begin this spring.