Rochester Mayor Lovely Warren is releasing more details about the recent study done on the city’s efforts to address poverty.
It was compiled for the city as part of the IBM Smarter Cities Challenge. The report provides 13 recommendations to help support the goal of reducing poverty in Rochester by 50 percent over the next 15 years.
The analysis concludes there’s an urgent need for the city to transform its approach. It says that one of the community’s challenges is that its social programs provide a wide array of services, but are highly fragmented, which causes gaps in service delivery.
The report is designed to help support The Rochester-Monroe Anti-Poverty Initiative.
Among the recommendations in the study by the IBM team is that the city create “Urban Villages,” which would be neighborhoods that attract people from different demographic groups. Those urban villages would be designed to be places that people want to move to, and offer a range of services.
The Smarter Cities report also says that Rochester has a provider system that is often program-oriented, rather than outcome-focused, creating a cycle that is more reactive rather than developing strategies to prevent issues from arising.
Mayor Warren says the IBM team has provided the city with “valuable guidance” and Assembly Majority Leader Joe Morelle says the report underscores the need for fundamental changes on how the various agencies collaborate to serve individuals and families.
The full report can be found at: : www.cityofrochester.gov/innovation
