The latest report card from the community group ACT Rochester on how the Greater Rochester region is doing shows gains in some areas, and ongoing struggles in places you might expect them.
The annual survey looks at quality of life in the region, comparing this area against New York State as a whole, and it also looks at how various parts of the local community are trending.
As you might expect from ongoing discussions in recent months, poverty is one of the areas where big challenges remain. ACT Rochester Director Ann Johnson says that issue most severely impacts parts of the city of Rochester, and the latest numbers were not encouraging.
“Our children and poverty rate went from 50 percent last year to 52 percent this year, that’s again, in the city and then our poverty rate for general population in the city has gone from 31 to 33 percent.”
On the plus side, Johnson says there are indications of improvement in the local economy, particularly when you consider the state’s recent announcement about $500 million for an economic initiative and the promise of jobs through the eventual build-out of a photonics industry.
Johnson says there are some very positive moves being made that could eventually benefit the local economy.
“We have huge initiatives like the Rochester-Monroe anti-poverty initiative, we’ve got the upstate reinvestment money coming in, photonics. I truly believe it’s up to us to mess up this opportunity to truly leap forward.”
In terms of community engagement, the report from ACT Rochester found that local residents are registered to vote and turn out to vote at higher rates than the state as a whole.
