The Rochester-Monroe Anti-Poverty Initiative (RMAPI) has been awarded $750,000 in state funding to continue its work.
More specifically, the funding will allow the local organization to expand its operations, integrate more thoroughly with areas of desired impact and implement steps to uplift people out of poverty.
Aqua Porter, RMAPI’s executive director said the funding represents, “a significant investment for the future of our community as we work to break the cycle of poverty by shifting power to enable upward mobility for individuals and families.”
“The state of New York has been a steadfast partner since RMAPI’s inception close to a decade ago, and we continue to work closely with our local delegation to advocate for higher wages, for investments in families, for a more affordable and accessible housing system and an end of policies that make it a crime to be poor,” she added.
The funding announcement was made by state Assemblymember Harry Bronson and the Greater Rochester Majority State Delegation.
“RMAPI has created a collective impact to provide an achievable framework to build an economy that works for everyone,” Bronson said. “RMAPI’s work has made a critical impact in uplifting marginalized communities and represents a robust, achievable framework for transforming opportunity into a path forward so that all families and individuals have the resources to succeed.”
Founded in 2015, RMAPI is a coalition of individuals and organizations working together to tackle the systematic root causes that create and perpetuate poverty in Rochester.
In 2023, RMAPI unveiled its Unity Agenda as a roadmap for the community to address poverty in a comprehensive way and evolve beyond a single-point definition of poverty to focus on creating Upward Mobility.
The organization has long pushed for minimum wage increases, challenging local businesses to raise wages to $15 per hour in 2021.
As a result, more than 110 employers made a commitment to wage enhancements through RMAPI’s Level Up Champions initiative, moving more than 12,000 people to $15 per hour or more in the years before the state’s minimum wage increase went into effect.
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