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Citizen Action of New York, a grassroots political organization, has launched an Economic Justice Committee in Rochester focused on addressing systemic poverty and economic inequality.
An economic justice agenda has been at the forefront for Citizen Action as 2023 five-year estimates from the U.S. Census indicate more than a quarter of Rochester’s residents live below the federal poverty line. Of those, nearly half live in severe poverty, determined when individuals fall below 50 percent of the poverty line.
While more than twice the U.S. poverty rate, the city’s rate has declined from a peak of nearly 34 percent in 2014 and is lower than at any time in more than a decade.
A report released by City Council vice president LaShay Harris puts Rochester’s child poverty rate in 2022 at 42 percent, more than double that of the state and country. Community outreach from the report reaches a conclusion the committee holds fundamental: that poverty is a policy choice and can be eliminated.
Led by activist Jalil Muntaqim, the group meets every Tuesday to discuss plans of action. Current areas of focus include:
■ petitioning City Council to introduce an ordinance that calculates affordable housing costs based on a local city median income, as opposed to the area median income defined by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development;
■ expanding funding and access to housing vouchers for low-income renters and first-time homeowners;
■ advocating for a minimum wage of $22 to $25 an hour; and
■ establishing a public bank in Rochester that would reinvest local dollars into low-income communities and small businesses.
“Our goal and objective is to actually establish tangible, material, substantial, and institutional change,” says Muntaqim. “That’s the only way we can make things really happen here in Rochester.”
The committee differs from other advocacy groups in its prioritization of external engagement. Recent member discussions have included community input, whether through programming and education on specific issues or directly aligning campaign efforts with the experiences of those most affected by poverty.
“Even when (other organizations) have the community at the table, it’s very performative (and) extractive,” observes Roxanna Siaca, a committee member. “You want to put the emphasis on not just having (the community) at the table, but really having them in the leadership position.”
At a 2024 forum on the intersectionality of poverty, Muntaqim and other speakers touched on the ways different individuals may be united in their own experiences—that while the severity of poverty may be felt individually, that impact is rooted in a single system that burdens them.
“How best should we galvanize greater unity and uniformity in building a movement to end poverty in Rochester?” says Muntaqim. “That means power. We have to build power. Power to enforce our community, and power to enforce our elected officials.”
While the group says it has connections with and support from members of City Council, it has focused on building ties with the community. When asked what an ideal Rochester looks like, given the committee’s work, he had each member of the committee provide their outlook on how they envision the city’s future.
Member responses included:
■ Louis Castle: “I think of communities that are fed. I think of communities that have safe spaces. I think of leaders that are heard but also listen, and I think of a more connected Rochester.”
■ Ralph Carter: “The ability to enjoy the fruits of your labor. Not only the pursuit of happiness, but actually (having) happiness because you’re able to feed your family.”
■ Sarah Elizabeth Shapley: “I want to see people flourishing and not just surviving and trying to make it through their day. I want to see all of the flourishing and all of the ideas that come with that.”
Members pointed to a history of activism and progressivism within Rochester that grounds their belief that a successful campaign is within reach. As members look to survey the community and canvass in support of their agenda, Muntaqim looks to the future of the committee with faith.
“Thirteen people made this country. Don’t tell me we can’t do it,” he says. “It doesn’t take that many people. We just have to commit to it. We have to be organized to change the world.”
Narm Nathan is a Rochester Beacon contributing writer and a member of the Oasis Project’s inaugural cohort.
The Beacon welcomes comments and letters from readers who adhere to our comment policy including use of their full, real name. See “Leave a Reply” below to discuss on this post. Comments of a general nature may be submitted to the Letters page by emailing [email protected].
The Democrat Party has lost its way. I was an enthusiastic member until the party platform lost it’s way on many issues many years ago. The City of Rochester’s poverty level is one the results of Democrat party rule. I’m not a Republican yet, but that party may be the answer to solving poverty with Supply Side economics. Trump’s current economic plan may be the answer. The City of Rochester, Monroe County, and New York State’s controlling party should take note because what they’re doing isn’t working.
Unfortunately, the thoughts of increasing base pay would put folks out of work is ludicrous when considering the majority of wage laborers in Rochester are receiving poverty wages, surviving with two or three jobs. It is not an issue of finding work, it is an issue of find work that provide a living wage, a wage that is index against inflation to ensure sustainable income! The only ones opposing providing workers a living wage are the businesses that are exploiting workers, reaping profits from low wage workers. I suspect the comment about is represents one of those businesses who wants to keep things business as usual!
While the goals of this group are to be applauded, they’re also unachievable in the Age of Trump. Our efforts must be directed toward trying to hold on to what federal benefits and dollars NYS and Rochester currently receive rather than blue skying what we’d like to see but never will until Democrats are back in control.
My most outstanding observations and thoughts are bulleted below:
Those whom I work closest with are focused on attempts to reduce (in concrete, significant, measurable permanent ways) – individual, institutional, and structural racism within the decrepit public education system, which will result in the likelihood that more of our students will be able to acquire sound education, which will help them escape poverty.
While our focus is anti-racism, especially, and particularly as it relates to public education, we do respect the anti-poverty work that Brother Jalil and others are doing, and hope that we will be able to build deep-seated, mutually-supportive, collaborative working relationships with them.
“A report ( https://www.cityofrochester.gov/sites/default/files/2025-03/Report_Compiled%20-%20web_0.pdf ) released by City Council vice president LaShay Harris puts Rochester’s child poverty rate in 2022 at 42 percent, more than double that of the state and country.” When we look at the “race/ethnicity breakdown” of the statistics, they bear witness to what we already know, e.g., that the overall numbers and percentages of folks in this thoroughly racist, white-supremacist-based city, like many, if not most others across this thoroughly racist, white-supremacist-based State and Nation – are Black folks: Rochester falls into 2nd worst place for black people to live ( https://www.rochesterfirst.com/video/rochester-falls-into-2nd-worst-place-for-black-people-to-live/ ).
Like members of the organization discussed here, I believe “that poverty is a policy choice and can be [severely reduced, if not] eliminated” altogether. I also believe, and I know that a main reason why more progress has NOT been made relative to reduction/elimination of decades and centuries- old abject poverty is due to unwillingness to seriously address underlying individual, institutional, and structural racism, which drives lack of will. In other words, there’s no doubt in my mind that if anywhere near the largest numbers and percentages of white folks in localities (not cumulative on a national level), but in respective localities – were white folks – local, regional, and national responses would be much different, and there definitely would be more of a sense and reality of URGENCY!
I would be most interested in hearing more (in detail, specifically) about the “history of activism and progressivism within Rochester [that] members pointed to.”
The Struggle ( https://www.blackpast.org/african-american-history/1857-frederick-douglass-if-there-no-struggle-there-no-progress/ ) Continues…
The actual minimum wage is always $0. Setting a high official minimum wage prices low-productivity workers out of the market, particularly teenagers and young adults who are just getting started. Grocery stores will leave carts in the parking lot; burger joints will replace counter staff with electronic kiosks. When the price of pizza goes up, people will buy fewer at restaurants and eat more at home.
A high minimum wage sounds compassionate, but it helps some by hurting others. Look at the loss of fast food jobs in California and Seattle due to the recent increases in minimum wages there. Poverty won’t be solved by putting more people out of work, but by helping new workers to find jobs and giving both new and existing workers the skills to become more productive and thereby earn more.