The Rochester Anti-Poverty Task Force announced last month by Governor Andrew Cuomo will hold its first meeting in the next few weeks.Â
United Way CEO Peter Carpino gave an overview of the effort during this morning’s meeting of the Finger Lakes Regional Economic Development Council. The task force, he said, will bring together 20 state agencies; some local government, business, and nonprofit leaders; and some people who are impacted by poverty. Rochester Mayor Lovely Warren, County Executive Maggie Brooks, and State Assembly Majority Leader Joe Morelle will be on the task force.
“There is a collective will to do something different,” Carpino said.
The task force grew out of a push by United Way to improve the administration of three evidence-based home visitation programs: Nurse-Family Partnership, Parents as Teachers, and Building Healthy Children. Carpino asked the state for $25 million over five years to fund the programs and create “an integrated, holistic model for the delivery” of them.
Cuomo and his staff saw promise in the idea, Carpino said, but wanted the Rochester community to take a deeper and broader look at child poverty and how it could be addressed, which ultimately led to the task force.
Though it’s still not clear what the task force will do, Carpino did offer some details about the group’s focus at this morning’s meeting. Local leaders will work with state agencies to examine data and identify ways to make state anti-poverty funding more flexible. And the task force will likely look at five areas: jobs; education and middle-skills training; housing; health and nutrition; and safe neighborhoods, Carpino said.
Morelle said that the idea is to use data to identify programs that work and to steer resources to them, that way the investments produce better outcomes at a lower cost.
“The results, the outcome are what’s most important,” Warren said.
The task force has an opportunity to help families climb out of poverty permanently, she said.Â
This article appears in Feb 4-10, 2015.
How can City report this with a straight face?
How long has Morrelle been in office anyway? I don’t remember him EVER taking a courageous position on poverty, minimum wage, child care, affordable housing, gun control, education or other issues that Democrats care about. Everyone in the know–with the exception of this paper, apparently–understands that Morrelle’s getting ready for a bid for Congress and is angling to shore up the base before he’s tapped as Louise’s heir apparent. This task force is just a ploy to create a record where there isn’t one, with the bonus of co-opting Warren’s agenda and pissing off Gantt.
As an added benefit, the task force gives Morrelle a platform for one of his rising stars/cronies– Vinnie Esposito– to talk up poverty too before he announces his bid for County Executive. That was on full display at last week’s Poverty Breakfast at the RBA whose Duffy is getting dangerously cozy with the Morrelle side of the Dem’s civil war. Looking forward to Vinnie putting his money where his mouth is and including some of that poverty rhetoric into the economic development plan. I’m sure the fat cats won’t mind.
Dear friends on the task force: you’ve been played and now you’re on the hook for endless meetings and photo opps that will lead to no change. Be that a lesson, Rochester.
Bandwagons are great. Come up with a “no brainer” idea and everyone will jump on board. But as George O’Connor points out, if this issue was truly in the hearts and minds of politicians, the problem would be solved by now.
But then again, “task force” is simply the illusion that something is being done. In reality it is just more window dressing that politicians put up to temporarily satisfy the public and ultimately hide what is actually going to solve the poverty problem–not much .
As for Joe Morelle as a replacement for Louise Slaughter, we can do better. Louise’s replacement should be female and someone far more dynamic than Joe. Someone fresh and untainted by a career in state politics would be nice.
Totally agree with other comments. Same old same old. People need decent jobs and an education that prepares them to get one. Here we have an education system that does the opposite. It lies by rewarding mediocrity and allows failure on a grand scale. Eventually these students turn to young adults and likely parents, many of whom will depend on the very agencies who depend on this failing cycle. The agencies leading the fight to fix the problem are in business because the problem exist. What would happen if no one needed public assistance?