Leonard Brock, director of the Rochester-Monroe County Anti-Poverty Initiative, says he knows there’s a risk that people will lose patience with the effort, even though he’s warned since the group’s 2015 beginning that it will be a long haul.
“I hear all the time in the community, which is interesting, ‘Leonard, what are you doing with the $500 million?'” Brock says. “I think some of the impatience comes because people just assume I’m sitting on money that we haven’t done anything with yet. They have the wrong impression.”
The state awarded Upstate New York $500 million in late 2015, but that’s for projects and initiatives over the entire Finger Lakes area. It’s unclear how much will go to the anti-poverty group’s work, but certainly nowhere near $500 million.
The group is getting ready to start its first program, and Brock says he hopes that helps convince the community that the initiative is hard at work.
An adult mentoring program will get underway in the group’s three pilot neighborhoods: Beechwood, Marketview Heights, and EMMA (East Main, Mustard, and Atlantic Avenue) before the end of the year. To shake out any bugs, it will start with about 25 families, and quickly move to its stated goal of serving 300 families, Brock says.
“People have to see that we’re doing something,” he says. “They have to see that families are being impacted. We have to get going.”
The anti-poverty group’s overall goal is to cut poverty in Rochester in half over 15 years.
The mentors will help the working poor overcome barriers to employment such as lack of child care or transportation, help them find living-wage jobs, and then provide coaching to help them keep the job. The mentoring relationship will last as long as the family needs it, Brock says.
“It’s kind of hard to predict, but we’re willing and able to spend as much time as needed to help the family move toward self-sufficiency,” he says.
The mentors, who will likely have backgrounds in human services or education, will also help underemployed people find better jobs, he says.
The group is recruiting families with the help of neighborhood groups, churches, barbershops, and other people and organizations, he says.
The anti-poverty group is working with the Catholic Family Center, Action for a Better Community, and Community Place on the mentoring program. The latter two groups are hiring the mentors and working on other aspects of that part of the program, while the Catholic Family Center is building a peer mentoring network, Brock says.
The two years and three months of the mentoring program will cost about $2.9 million, he says. The anti-poverty group has $1.5 million from the state, and the rest from private donors, including Wegmans and ESL.
It’s important for people to understand that this initiative isn’t about one group fighting poverty, Brock says. It’s about people and organizations coming together to better use resources to improve the lives of the working poor, and that lifts up the entire community, he says.
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This article appears in Nov 30 – Dec 6, 2016.
Dear Dr. Brock, Good luck with your RMAPI program. I see you are making great progress.
Are there any new public meetings planned where i can attend?
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Again, I suggest that you focus on MOTIVATION and consider WHY TRY and EASY buttons.
When are we going to start LISTENING to one another?
http://www.SavingSchools.org
Eric Maloney’s 1 step process to raise an individual from poverty:
1. Drive them to their local military recruiting station.
Yes, it really is that easy to get out of poverty… Try putting some effort in to bettering your life instead of whining, and you’ll be shocked what you can accomplish.
While to a degree I agree with your suggestion Eric – not everyone is suited for a life in the military. After reading about Father Gregory from LA in today’s City (12/14/16) I would suggest that Dr. Brock take a long hard look at what is working there and seeing how to apply that here.
Any yes – some people should be open to the military option. If applicable.
“not everyone is suited for a life in the military. “
I hear you on that one. Routine, standards, and expectations are hard for people that have never experienced routine, standards, or expectations. But the benefits are there for people who want to put in the effort that is needed. They’ll build confidence, teamwork ability, and self-worth while in basic. They’ll learn a job skill that is applicable to the outside world after basic. The entire time they’re in, they receive free medical, and live for free on base, or receive a hefty addition to their paycheck every month for off base living. They can even eat for free at the base chow hall if they so choose. Aside from that, you have the opportunity to get stationed in places you’d never experience in life otherwise. I got a nice taste of Europe and all it had to offer for the 3 years I lived over there.
The only downside to it is the raging alcoholism so many of us are introduced to when we join. But ‘eh, compared to the raging heroin epidemic (and honestly, alcoholism almost on pace with the military) in the civilian world, it’s not that bad.
1 in 4 women face severe and persistent sexual harassment and gender discrimination in the military. Maybe that is the kind of training Eric is referencing…
Rajesh, source? And while we’re at it, what’s the % for the civilian world? BTW, nice profile pic of America’s poster boy for mental retardation from CTE.
“RTI International, a North Carolina research firm, conducted a Web-based survey of 5,446 women ages 18 to 25 and got a 42 percent response rate. It found that 19 percent of women said they had experienced an attempted or completed sexual assault since entering college which could mean over a single year for freshmen and over four years for seniors.”
Jeez, looks like females shouldn’t go to college either…. What’s acceptable for women to do to get out of poverty in Rajesh’s world?
“The TUC said its study showed that the problem was worse for younger women, with almost two-thirds of 18 to 24-year-olds saying they have suffered sexual harassment at work.
A survey of 1,500 women found that a third had been subjected to unwelcome jokes, while one in four received sex-related comments about their body or clothes.
One in four had been touched and one in eight said someone had tried to kiss them.”
Damn, looks like they can’t even work in the normal world…. Whatever is a female to do Rajesh?
Got called to the ER and didn’t get a chance to tie this up before I left…. Anyhow, with all this sexual assault occurring in the military, college, and civilian workforce, I thought maybe it be best that a female stay poor and just make sandwiches in the kitchen, but then, ooops:
“14%-25% of women are sexually assaulted by
intimate partners during their relationship.”
https://www.ncadv.org/files/Domestic%20Vio…