NEWS

Few know about anti-poverty initiative, poll says

Patti Singer
@PattiSingerRoc
  • 91% support initiative's goal of reducing poverty by 50 percent over the next 15 years.
  • 74% of African-Americans believe the "deck is stacked against" people of color.
Leonard Brock, executive director of the Rochester-Monroe Anti-Poverty Initiative.

Stop four people on the street and ask whether they’re familiar with a community-wide effort to deal with Rochester’s intractable poverty and three are going to shrug.

The one who has at least heard of the Rochester-Monroe Anti-Poverty Initiative might not be able to talk much about it.

“I’ve heard of it but I don’t know what they’re up to,” said James Wilson, a 32-year-old city resident. “I don’t have much knowledge of it.”

Of the 823 Monroe County residents who participated in the Unite Rochester poll, only 22 percent said they were very or somewhat familiar with the Rochester-Monroe Anti-Poverty Initiative, which was announced last January but didn’t start in earnest until June.

[Quiz: Race In Our Community]

The percentage of people who’d heard about RMAPI was slightly higher in the city than in the rest of county. Overall, more black people were familiar with RMAPI than Hispanics or white people. But even among people of color, who are more likely to live in concentrations of poverty, half to three-quarters said they had little or no knowledge of the collaboration of health, education, business, health and government leaders and volunteers.

“The RMAPI appears to have its work cut out,” according to a survey fact sheet.

The man in charge agreed.

“It confirms and validates what I always knew about the initiative in general, that it’s going to require a significant amount of work,” said RMAPI director Leonard Brock. “I want the initiative to be framed as something we’re all doing. … I don’t want people to think the initiative is going to be the answer to poverty. I want people to identify themselves as part of the solution.”

Among other findings:

  • 72 percent agreed that despite traditional anti-poverty approaches, the region has a “devastating and accelerating poverty crisis.” The percentage was slightly higher in the city, and slightly higher among black respondents than among white or Hispanic respondents.
  • 91 percent agreed with the RMAPI goal of reducing poverty by 50 percent over the next 15 years. The result was virtually consistent among city and suburban respondents and across demographic lines.

“I have no idea how they think they’re going to accomplish it,” said Disa Baylis, a 46-year-old city artist who supported the goal.

Asked what it would take to get the message out, she said, “I’m pretty savvy online, but I don’t remember seeing any way to find the information casually.”

Brock said RMAPI was developing and would be publicizing a set of principles to guide the community effort.

Two survey questions focused on key aspects of the RMAPI approach.

Respondents were asked to what level they agree that “the deck is stacked against” people of color because of policies and practices that permeate society. They also were asked to react to the statement that living in poverty is so stressful that it affects how poor people make decisions. RMAPI refers to the concepts as structural racism and poverty-induced trauma.

“I was really impressed that those two things were connected in the survey because not everybody wants to make those connections, that it’s not just a race thing,” said Zora Gussow, 25, who lives in the city. “It also has to do with economic status and how those things combine to make it so much more difficult.”

New poll shows growing awareness of racial divide

Among all respondents, 44 percent agreed with the statement about structural racism. The rate was 74 percent among African Americans, 44 percent among Hispanics and 39 percent among whites.

Regarding poverty-induced trauma, 54 percent of all respondents agreed with the statement. The rate was 80 percent among African-Americans, 77 percent among Hispanics and 50 percent among whites.

Dan Zanni, 64, of Greece, disagreed that policies and practices worked against people of color.

“They have the same opportunity that Caucasians have, but they have to put their mind to it,” he said. “If you want to dig yourself out, you’re going to dig yourself out. But if you’re in the system, if you’re generations upon generations in the system, why would you want to?”

As for the effect of trauma, he said, “We’ve all been in stressful situations, we’ve all learned or had the gumption. No matter how far down in the barrel you are, you look up and there’s always that little itty-bitty glimmer of hope. That’s what you strive for.”

Gussow, who is white, said Rochester still has segregated communities. “There are a lot of white people who don’t regularly interact with people from different races or a different socioeconomic background as them. It’s just that much harder to understand the realities when you don’t experience them.”

James Wilson of Rochester

Wilson, who is African-American, said he had not experienced structural racism, but he said his mother and others have. Of the people of color who agreed the deck was stacked, Wilson wondered whether they had graduated high school and gone to college or trade school.

“Sometimes people can make excuses for their own situations because they didn’t apply themselves,” said Wilson, a nurse. “Did you try to learn something to better yourself or did you use being back as an excuse to fit your agenda of I don’t have to go to school? You have to put the work in.”

PSINGER@Gannett.com

Poll shows wide support for charter schools

About this poll 

The Democrat and Chronicle worked with the Rochester Area Community Foundation to commission a poll of Monroe County residents on racial opinions. Siena College Research Institute conducted the survey Dec. 13-23, polling 823 residents across the county. The results have a margin of error of plus or minus 3.4 percentage points. The data was statistically adjusted by age, gender, and race/ethnicity to ensure representativeness. 

The poll was an update to a 2012 poll about similar quality-of-life, racial and ethnic issues. 

The Rochester Area Community Foundation funded the poll with a grant. 

About Unite Rochester

The Unite Rochester series, which includes news articles and a separate but parallel Editorial Board project, focuses on our community's diversity with a special emphasis on finding ways to overcome the obstacles that divide us. Participate — and find previous installments of Unite Rochester — on our site, on Facebook or on Twitter (including the hashtag #uniteroc).