Report: Rochester tops 'extreme poverty' list

This is not the kind of national list that Rochester-area residents hope to top.

Rochester now has more people living at less than half the federal poverty level than any other similarly-sized city in the U.S., says a report released Thursday by the Rochester Area Community Foundation and its ACT Rochester initiative.

For a family of four, that means getting by on less than $11,925 a year — conditions that the report described as "extreme poverty."

Another unfortunate distinction: Rochester is now the only city of its size where slightly more than half of children live in poverty, according to the report.

Only three major U.S. cities have higher child poverty rates — Detroit, Cleveland and Dayton, Ohio.

Thursday's report was an update to the foundation's major 2013 analysis of poverty in the Rochester area. It compares census data from 2011 to 2013. Overall, the analysis shows that the depth and concentration of poverty in this region remains steady or is getting worse, depending on the measure used.

The report's backers hope the latest figures can help continue a community conversation about understanding and tackling a problem that affects the entire region, not just the city and the poor, said foundation President and CEO Jennifer Leonard.

Greater Rochester has much to offer, from arts and culture to vibrant colleges and universities, but the success of any region usually hinges on its center city, Leonard said.

"When a significant and growing part of your region is not sharing in those benefits, it can erode the value of the entire metropolitan area," she said.

The report should be a call to action for community leaders to rally around short- and long-term goals to ease poverty, from expanding child care subsidies for working parents to improving the K-12 education system, said James Norman, president and CEO of Action for a Better Community.

"Until there is some organized attack on the problem — organized differently than what we're currently doing — we can't expect the numbers to just go backwards," he said.

The report cites several other sobering indicators of local poverty:

In Rochester, 16.2 percent of people live in extreme poverty, compared to 15.1 percent in Buffalo.

The city's overall poverty rate rose from 2011 to 2013, from 31 percent to 33 percent.

Among the cities that anchor the top 75 major metropolitan areas in the nation, Rochester ranks fifth poorest.

Rochester ranks second only to Hartford, Connecticut, among similarly-sized cities for its poverty rate among families headed by women, or 36.5 percent.

Poverty in Rochester is high for all racial and ethnic groups, but more prevalent among African-Americans, at 40 percent, and Hispanics, at 44 percent, when compared to whites, at 23 percent.

Hilda Rosario Escher, president and CEO of the Ibero-American Action League, said she has seen an uptick in families leaving a rocky economy in Puerto Rico for Rochester. But once here, many struggle with the language and to find work, which is one factor behind the Hispanic poverty rate, she said.

"You will continue seeing that trend," she predicted.

In a statement, city spokeswoman Jessica Alaimo said the statistics were startling. Mayor Lovely Warren's administration is trying to use a "holistic approach" that empowers residents to lift themselves out of poverty and into self-sufficiency, she said.

"Unfortunately, any approach is going to take time, but with our community's commitment to trying new, innovative ideas and approaches, we will begin to stem the tide," Alaimo said.

Alaimo noted the city recently began a partnership with the Bloomberg Philanthropies to develop innovative strategies to fight poverty.

One piece of that project could be promising, Leonard said — setting up new service industry businesses that employ city residents and are cooperatively owned by them. It could be one piece of making sure that economic development creates not only high-tech jobs, but opportunities for low-income people, too, she said.

As alarming as the figures are, there are other possible solutions, said Ed Doherty, retired vice president for the community foundation and the report's author. They include workforce development and creating more housing options for poor people outside the city, he said.

"There are no simple answers to it, but I think the message is that the conversations that have been going on need to continue, and we really could use some urgency around addressing this issue," Doherty said.

DRILEY@DemocratandChronicle.com

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