Senator Kirsten Gillibrand and Rochester Mayor Lovely Warren on Friday heard from some area teens on Friday about problems they are facing, everything from broken homes, to violence, to a variety of issues caused by poverty.
They met at the Teen Empowerment Center on Genesee Street, and heard from youth organizers about how the center has helped them focus their lives and help other teens along the way.
Gillibrand hopes to help the center get preferred status when applying for federal grants, and even though the New York Democrat will be in the minority in the Senate next year, she doesn't feel that should be a problem.
"It's not a Democratic issue it's not a Republican issue, all our kids need the support they need to thrive, and so, wherever your city is, whether it's Upstate New York, whether it's anywhere in the Midwest, the south, or the far west, our kids need help and they need support and they need access to education and opportunities and programs like this really work."
Among the teens speaking at the session was Shantera Randle, who appreciates what the empowerment center has helped her accomplish.
"I’m coming into teen empowerment from a broken home, living in poverty. On the east side growing up, you're surrounded by violence, your surrounded by death, and it changed the whole way I look at myself, how I look at my peers."
Mayor Lovely Warren also came to the workshop with Gillibrand. Rochester will submit an application to the federal government to designate Rochester as a "Promise Zone," which is a White House initiative to bring federal and private investment to 20 high poverty communities across the country.
