Local, state and federal officials participated in a walking tour of a northeast Rochester neighborhood, then they learned more about the Rochester-Monroe Anti-Poverty Initiative during a roundtable discussion.
It was a bi-partisan tour.
Rochester Mayor Lovely Warren, Assembly Majority Leader Joe Morelle, Monroe County Executive Cheryl Dinolfo and Congressman Tom Reed, and several others took part in the event. Warren and Morelle are Democrats, Dinolfo and Reed are Republicans.
Mayor Warren says she was thankful to have Congressman Reed here to see some of the progress Rochester has made in the fight against poverty.
"Telling him about the initiatives that we have going on in this neighborhood so they can see what's happening and also be able to take that back to Washington see if we can get some support for revitalizing this neighborhood," she said.
Executive Director of the North East Area Development, George Moses, lead the tour.
He says the theme was commonality of values...
"We may be from different places but the values are still the same. But along with those values we gotta have opportunities," he said.
Congressman Reed says the anti-poverty agenda in the House of Representatives takes a new and better approach to a problem he says can be conquered.
"Looking at the front line, what's working, what doesn't work, and how can we change our policies going forward, because the status quo is not addressing this issue. And I care deeply about these people that are in poverty and are trapped in poverty, and we need a different way to get things done," he said.
Today's event also included a roundtable discussion on the impact the Rochester-Monroe Anti-Poverty Initiative has had on the area.