RMAPI Model Used in Other Communities to Fight Poverty

By ALEX CRICHTON

WXXI

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Fifteen other communities in the state are using some the principles in the Rochester-Monroe Anti-Poverty Initiative to battle poverty.

The goal of the Empire State Poverty Reduction Initiative is to have those communities model their process after Rochester.

That’s according to Leonard Brock, director of the Rochester-Monroe Anti-Poverty Initiative, or RMAPI.

He says each of those communities will need to take the methodology used here and customize it for their own city.

“What are the leading indicators of poverty in their city, and then from there they will be able to determine what are the appropriate next steps in what they can do to either counter or remove whatever structural barriers that are creating poverty in those communities,” he said.

The city of Utica recently convened its first poverty reduction initiative task force, which included a public forum to better understand the barriers facing those trying to escape poverty.

Brock says any anti-poverty strategy must include the voices of those persons most impacted by poverty.