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Governor Wants To Replicate Rochester Anti-Poverty Initiative Across Upstate

@LtGovHochulNY

Governor Andrew Cuomo on Sunday unveiled another part of his 2016 agenda on Sunday, and this one involves a $25 million dollar program designed to combat poverty across Upstate NY.

The program, called the "Empire State Poverty Reduction Initiative," is modeled on the Rochester-Monroe Anti-Poverty Initiative. The state has already allocated several million dollars to the Rochester effort, and the announcement on Sunday does not mention any additional money for Rochester.

Instead, this program names 10 cities which Cuomo's office says were selected based on the concentration of poverty in their communities. They include Syracuse, Binghamton, Oneonta, Buffalo, Utica, Elmira, Jamestown, Oswego, Troy and Albany.

Cuomo says the program brings together state and local government, non-profit and business groups to come up with solutions to increase social mobility in those communities.

The announcement on Sunday was made by Lt. Governor Kathy Hochul at a church in Buffalo.

Randy Gorbman is WXXI's director of news and public affairs. Randy manages the day-to-day operations of WXXI News on radio, television, and online.