Alliance Supports Anti-Poverty Efforts in Central New York
Initiative Aims to Address Poverty in Five County Region as Outlined in the “CNY Rising” Plan – The Region’s Comprehensive Strategy to Revitalize Communities and Grow the Economy
Governor Andrew M. Cuomo recently announced 22 projects have been selected to be funded through the $30 million Alliance for Economic Inclusion anti-poverty initiative in Central New York. Founded in 2017, the AEI is comprised of a group of 24 community leaders from within the five counties of Central New York who were chosen to represent the diversity of governments, businesses, schools and economic opportunities and challenges as identified by the community. Onondaga County will administer the project funding upfront and then will be reimbursed by the state. Funding for the first round of the initiative totals $6.9 million, with the opportunity for the chosen projects to earn further funding in subsequent years.
“New York will continue to empower communities, creating and expanding economic opportunity in every corner of this great state,” Governor Cuomo said. “These projects address the needs of this region’s most vulnerable communities, producing meaningful change and helping all of Central New York continue to rise.”
The AEI is being funded through the successful CNY Rising Upstate Revitalization Initiative plan submitted by the Central New York Regional Economic Development Council, which was tasked with addressing poverty in Cayuga, Cortland, Madison, Oswego and Onondaga Counties. Estimates based on 2016 population data show 14.9 percent or 112,020 of Central New York residents live in poverty. The poverty rate is significantly higher in more populated centers such as the City of Syracuse.
Urban CNY has assembled the following information:
The $30 million for anti-poverty efforts through the AEI will complement $20 million the state has already awarded for the New York State Syracuse Promise Scholarship Fund which will provide scholarships to Syracuse city school graduates.
The awarded projects cover a broad range of issues and are broken into six categories: Early-Childhood Education, Transportation, Workforce Development, Post-Secondary Education, Neighborhood Revitalization, and Access to Startup Funding. More than half of the projects awarded focus on workforce development which remains a significant barrier to moving people out of poverty. Last fall, the council released a request for proposals to the five-county region and received a total of 92 responses. A second Requests for Proposals for the initiative will be issued later this year. (Click on link below for list of all awardees and their monetary amounts.)
For awardee information including funding amount for each recipient click on Alliance for Economic Inclusion Summary of Allocation Committee Recommendations this is a complete list including budget details of the 22 chosen projects.
According to Andrew Trombley of the Onondaga County Executives Office,The selected projects are as follows:
Peace Inc.
Childcare Solutions
- All of Onondaga County
PEACE, Inc. and partner organization Child Care Solutions offer to increase the number of trained practitioners in early childhood education settings throughout Onondaga County. Successful participants will be prepared to start registered home child care business or accept teacher aide positions in Head Start/Early Head Start. Project activities will remove barriers to career pathways in child care and early education by providing vocational training, start-up funds for materials, and coaching and technical assistance. These activities will help unlicensed caregivers to meet health and safety standards, fulfill state registration requirements for Family Day Care Homes, and/or complete education requirements for early childhood professional credentials and become part of a professional community of child care providers.
Providence Services
Shuttle to Work
- All of Onondaga County
Transportation has been the missing link for most people to escape poverty and to fully benefit from many Workforce Development programs. This proposal fills that gap and we anticipate an increased rate of successful outcomes from the candidates we service with the Shuttle To Work program. The shuttles can operate 24 hours a day, 7 days a week as needed. Providence Services is the only organization with a successful Ride To Work Pilot and Shuttle to Work program. Our Program was recommended in the SMTC WorkLink study on assessing transportation options for Low-Income Workers. Our research and operations have provided us with the expertise and experience necessary to confidently operate a larger Shuttle to Work program. $5.00 per rider for up to 6 riders per van.
Partners in Learning
Diversity in Early Education and Care
- All of Onondaga County
The goal of the Diversity in Early Education and Care project is to increase the number of trained, culturally and linguistically diverse practitioners in early childhood education settings throughout Onondaga County. Project activities will remove barriers to career pathways in child care and early education by providing English language and vocational training, start-up funds for materials, and coaching and technical assistance. These activities will help unlicensed caregivers meet health and safety standards, fulfill state registration requirements for Family Day Care Homes, and/or complete educational requirements for early childhood professional credentials, and become part of a professional community of child care providers.
Work Train – United Way of CNY
Work Train, sponsored by United Way of CNY
- All of Onondaga County
Proposes the AEI Work Train Expansion project for the purpose of increasing job access along career pathways for un- and underemployed residents in Onondaga, Cayuga, and Oswego Counties in the health care and tech industries.
Literacy Coalition of Oswego
Imagination Library for Oswego County
- Oswego County
This proposal represents a plan to develop literacy skills of all children, especially economically disadvantaged children from birth to age 5 by replicating the Imagination Library program. The current costs of enrolling a child in Imagination Library is $25 per child per year to have a quality age appropriate book delivered to their home each month. Pilot in one area and then expand.
Women’s Opportunity Center and Jubilee Homes
LEADS CNY/Build to Work Leadership, Employment & Development skills South Side,
- Syracuse
This program will teach the needed skills for individuals to seek, gain and keep employment, starting at the entry-level, in the retail industry. Typical positions that would be presented in training include: cashier/clerk, back office support, inventory, warehouse, and more. The WOC and JHS would provide intensive case management to help participants address their barriers to employment that include but are not limited to: lack of skills, transportation, criminal history, child care, education referrals and more.
Oswego County Opportunities, Inc.
SCORE Oswego County
- Oswego County
The SCORE Oswego County project is a comprehensive Workforce Development program that includes care management supports to assist participants with achieving educational and career success goals to decrease the number of Oswego County residents living in poverty. SCORE is a collaboration between Oswego County Opportunities, Inc. (OCO) and the Center for Career & Community Education (CCCE) and will deliver services throughout communities in Oswego County, including utilizing a mobile unit, which will allow OCO and CCCE staff the ability to make services in the more isolated rural areas of the county accessible for low income people who lack access to transportation.
Cortland County Community Action Program
Cortland County Getting Ahead Program
- Cortland County
Our two year project addresses the needs of employers, low income job seekers, and the people who work on helping people gain and keep employment. The project will use evidence-based strategies to help low income people develop and practice work-related competencies, work with employers to improve on-the-job retention, provide new training for counselors and job coaches, and improve the overall career development process in our county.
On Point for College
Alleviating Poverty through Pathways to College and Careers
- Oswego ,Cayuga, Cortland, RISE (Onondaga)
This proposal will scale up our college access and success services through pilot outreach projects across the Central New York region at sites in three additional counties—Oswego, Cayuga, and Cortland. Services will continue to be provided to students in Onondaga County who come to On Point through our main office or through outreach sites in Syracuse. An additional expansion of comprehensive services, including College Access, Success, and Career Services to refugee students in Onondaga County will be a result of a partnership with RISE (Refugee and Immigrant Self- Empowerment) – Partnership also with MercyWorks.
Cayuga/ Seneca Community Action Agency, Inc.
Employment Pathways Program
- Cayuga County
Employment Pathways is a workforce development program designed to connect people in poverty to career path opportunities within regional growth industries. The Employment Pathways Program will increase career and technical opportunities among the low-income population, increase the number of low-income adults graduating from college, increase the number of students matriculating to higher education, increase underemployed and unemployed individuals placed in jobs, increase access to transportation and child care, and improve the overall health and well-being of participants.
Catholic Charities of Onondaga County
Culinary Arts for Self-Sufficiency 2.0
- Syracuse
Catholic Charities is proposing to expand its Culinary Arts for Self-Sufficiency program which currently provides employability training, culinary training, and employment services to adults living in generational poverty. Replicable to other counties
Hack Upstate, LLC
Careers in Code: A coding bootcamp for Syracuse Women and Minorities
- Syracuse City Onondaga County
Hack Upstate will create career pathways in software development for women and minorities from distressed communities by providing them with real world technical skills required by local employers. We will create and provide access to opportunities for those in concentrated areas of extreme poverty, while providing local employers with a coding bootcamp service that will help them fill talent gaps and foster growth.
Syracuse Northeast Community Center
Career and Job Opportunity Program
- Syracuse City
The six (6) Syracuse community centers of Dunbar, Huntington, Northeast, Spanish Action League, Syracuse Community Connections (Southwest Community Center), and Westcott seek to implement a Supported Employment Program that operates within each of the centers. The Supported Employment Program will consist of dedicated staff at each of the six-member community centers to work directly with participants’ of each center, both internally and externally, to provide career coaching. The program will provide both hard and soft skills essential for gainful employment.
The Jewish Home of Central New York
Elder Care Residency
- Syracuse – Nottingham High
The Jewish Home of Central New York proposes to develop and deliver a career and job opportunity program for area high school students through a residency program at the Home. This program will provide students the opportunity to explore employment in health care in the nursing home, residential elder care setting before graduation. This will not only help reduce the stigma and clear any wrong assumptions of the rewards of caring for the older adult and open the doors to employment in a continuum of care campus in their community, but it will increase their knowledge of the various roles in the job rich health care industry. — Partner with Nottingham
Home Headquarters
CNY Lease Purchase Program
- Auburn, Fulton, Oswego and Syracuse
Home HeadQuarter’s proposed Lease-Purchase program will provide the funding needed to purchase 30 vacant residential properties in transitional neighborhoods, rehabilitate them to correct health, safety, and code concerns and make them available for lease with the option to buy to low income residents. The Lease-Purchase program will focus on the cities of Auburn, Fulton, Oswego and Syracuse, and their inner-ring suburbs.
Oswego County Opportunities, Inc.
Oswego Regional Poverty Reduction Collaborative
- Pulaski, City of Oswego, Oswego County
This project will synthesize the several disparate efforts through a Collective Impact model that encompasses a shared vision and goals, shared measures, strong partnerships and the use of data to guide decisions to address and reduce poverty across the Oswego County region.
Hillside Work Scholarship Connection
Expansion of Workforce Development Program
- Syracuse
This proposal requests funding for sustainable expansion of Hillside’s workforce development program. This will allow us to serve an additional 150 8th graders and expand the College & Career Prep partnership with SUNY OCC. This proposal includes a $1.5M request for capital improvements to Phoenix Center that the Allocations Committee did not recommend for funding.
Cooperative Federal Credit Union
Business Opportunity Fund: Economic Inclusion through Increased Capital
- Syracuse, Oswego, Fulton, Lyncourt, Mattydale
This proposal requests funding for micro-business loans to grow business ownership. This will create a Startup Loan Fund and loan decision will be based on character lending principles. There will be an AEI member on the loan committee.
Syracuse Brick House (Syracuse Behavioral Healthcare)
CASAC Trainee Certification Program
- Onondaga and Oswego County
The goal of this project is to provide job training for people in Central New York to become Credentialed Alcoholism and Substance Abuse Counselors (CASACs) and Certified Recovery Peer Advocates (CRPAs). Syracuse Brick House, Inc., d/b/a Syracuse Behavioral Healthcare (SBH) has a Training Institute that is able to provide comprehensive training in both of these professions. These funds will provide job training for up to 300 people and increased access to care.
Early Childhood Alliance
Parent-Child Home Program
- Onondaga and Cayuga County
The Parent-Child Home Program is a comprehensive approach to get children ready for school, on track for educational success, and career ready. The PHCP home visiting component provides two years of twice-weekly 30 minute visits to families with children between ages of 16 months to 4 years.
Responsive to Our Community, Inc (with partners)
The Triple Win Proposal
- Madison-2018
The goals of this proposal are to 1. refurbish vacant and dilapidated buildings in all 5 counties in partnership with the local land banks and municipalities; 2. conduct DOL Nationally Certified On-The- Job Construction Job Training for underemployed veterans and their family members; 3. provide Survivor Support for the homeless, domestic violence survivors and their children, and very low-income residents by supplying sustainable, safe, and affordable housing. There will be an AEI member on their board.
Language Interpretation and Translation Center
New American Empowerment
- Onondaga County
Establish a center for Language Translation and Interpreters. The center will be self-sustaining after the second year of funding. The goal is to train 20 certified LTIs.
One year Budgeted – $ 6,966,609
Five year Budgeted – $13,734,385
Projects were awarded to each of the five counties and were distributed as follows Cayuga – one; Cortland -one; Madison – one; Onondaga – ten; and Oswego -three. There were also six projects that combined multiple counties. The percent of money distributed corresponds with the total number of people living in poverty in each county.
Alliance for Economic Inclusion Committee
- The $30 million for anti-poverty efforts through the AEI will complement $20 million the state has already awarded for the New York State Syracuse Promise Scholarship Fund which will provide scholarships to Syracuse city school graduates.
According to Empire State Development President, CEO & Commissioner Howard Zemsky, “Access to economic opportunity for all requires a robust system of partners and solutions. The Alliance for Economic Inclusion will support and help affected communities to work together, ensuring that everyone in the region has a solid path towards prosperity.”
Local Leadership Praise Selections
CNYREDC Co-Chairs SUNY Upstate Medical Center President Dr. Danielle Laraque-Arena and Randy Wolken, President & CEO of the Manufacturers Association of Central New York said, “Fighting poverty is a top priority for the Regional Economic Development Council. Through the Alliance for Economic inclusion the council and area partners are working to ensure that economic revitalization initiatives will benefit every family in every county throughout the region, creating solid opportunities for all.”
Onondaga County Executive Joanie Mahoney stated, “This collaborative effort will work to create significant change in the region and offer real solutions to the problems that poverty presents. I am grateful to Governor Cuomo for his continued partnership on this important issue and Onondaga County is proud to be a leading in this effort.”
Followed by Syracuse Mayor Ben Walsh who said, “Alliance for Economic Inclusion funding helps the City of Syracuse, Onondaga County and our community partners undertake the complex and broad efforts needed to address poverty. These programs give real people in Syracuse and throughout the State help in lifting themselves out of poverty. As a community, we can’t do this work alone, so we appreciate Governor Cuomo’s consistent support for the people of Syracuse.”
Some Groups and Organizations Express Concern as it relates to African-American Anti-Poverty and Empowerment Issues
According to sources that wish to remain anonymous, several organizations within the African-American Community have complained about not being selected. One source has gone as far as saying that, “many Black groups and organizations are froze out in this process of picking winners and losers in the funding competition.”
Another is an organization that has proven their ability by producing tangible projects, transforming an entire commercial district which has their local resident community wondering out loud, “Is there a method as to how these funds get to the African American community, a community that’s in most need of this assistance?” A total of 92 applications were received by the Alliance for Economic Inclusion.
What Was Emphasized in this round of Funding?
- An analysis appears to indicate large amounts of funding for Employment Preperation, especially for those who are young. Job coaching at neighborhood based centers. Training programs for specific industries such as healthcare, drug rehabilitation counselor training and computer coding.
- The 6.9 million provides additional support for an employment safety net, creating various portals through which those seeking employment would have a variety of options.
- The State’s $500 million investment claimed it would incentivize private business to invest well over $2.5 billion – and the region’s plan, as submitted, projects up to 5,900 new jobs. More information is available here.
No one can argue against one dime of funding being dispersed to these 22 groups, all of them presented winning proposals.
All Proposals Were Reviewed
A person interviewed with knowledge of the selection process pushed back, “People need to sharpen their pencils and come up with proposals that create jobs. I’ve seen the proposals and i have to tell you, some were lacking in the appropriate documentation for a fund-able plan to assist with the elimination of poverty.” There was also the emphasis on the possibility of funding in future rounds. “We’re in the early part of this process, those 22 proposals funded were deemed an important step leading to employment opportunities for people living in these impacted communities.”
What is CNY Rising?
“CNY Rising,” the region’s comprehensive blueprint to generate robust economic growth and community development. The State has already invested more than $4.7 billion in the region since 2012 to lay the groundwork for the plan – capitalizing on global market opportunities, strengthening entrepreneurship and creating an inclusive economy. Today, unemployment is down to the lowest levels since before the Great Recession; personal and corporate income taxes are down; and businesses are choosing places like Syracuse, Oswego and Auburn as a destination to grow and invest in.
Now, the region is accelerating Central NY Rising with a $500 million State investment through the Upstate Revitalization Initiative, announced by Governor Cuomo in December 2015. The State’s $500 million investment will incentivize private business to invest well over $2.5 billion – and the region’s plan, as submitted, projects up to 5,900 new jobs. More information is available here.
