FEATURED NEWS

Tuesday. community members rallied against proposed cuts to SNAP benefits.

President Donald Trump wants to make major changes to SNAP, the federal food stamp program that thousands of local families rely on to feed themselves and their children. 

Proud to join Congressman Joe Morelle, Julia Tedesco from Foodlink, Jerome Underwood from RMAPI and many other community leaders calling upon President Trump to rescind proposed Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) changes. As TCA’s Larry Marx said, " Every parent knows that hunger, meal uncertainty & inadequate nutrition deeply harms…

ROC The Future is giving big recommendations for parents. They urge parents to take a step back, take a breath and get your mind ready for back to school. It’s the first step to be in the right mindset according to the initiative. 

Our policy director, Pete Nabozny, discusses the impact of possible Trump administration changes to the SNAP benefit program. The result, according to the administration, will be the removal of more than three million people from the program.

Women of color make significantly less than white, non-Latino men over the course of their careers

The city has ended the public comment period for its first comprehensive plan since Bill Johnson was mayor in the 1990s.  Since Rochester 2034 was announced in the spring, people have had a lot to say about it.  The proposal will be released Sept. 9. The Planning Board will take further comment…

In New York State, black women earn 65 cents for every dollar a non-Hispanic white male makes doing similar work. A local group is trying to change that.

A new statewide coalition that launched Thursday, Raising New York, seeks to tackle the social, emotional, economic and educational inequities among the state's youngest residents.

The Trump administration recently issued a proposed rule that would remove food assistance from millions of Americans by making them ineligible to receive Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits (formerly known as “food stamps”). Pete Nabozny, Director of Policy for The Children's Agenda, explains what it may mean for children…

As a collective, ROC the Future’s focus is to help each child reach his or her full potential. The nonprofit alliance works to promote alignment and focus of community resources to improve outcomes for kids in Rochester. Anchored by the Children’s Agenda, ROC the Future consists of a board of…

Heartbreak still lingers in the community after last week’s tragic accident at Tim Hortons on University Avenue where a little boy died after he fell into a grease trap. His story is highlighting the need for more child care options in the area.

While a child's death has focused attention on the lack of regulations for outdoor grease traps, it has also generated discussion about a continuing problem in the Rochester area: the lack of quality, affordable child care.

The Rochester Early Childhood Education Center attributes parent involvement to much of its success.

How will Monroe County’s decision to lower child care co-pays change what working families will have to pay for child care? Pete Nabozny, Director of Policy for The Children's Agenda, explains what it may mean to you.

Reducing the County’s requirement to pay 35% of income above poverty down to 25% is an important step in the right direction of affordability and quality care.

Monroe County Executive Cheryl Dinolfo says she’s reducing the fee that some low-income families pay for child care, from 35% to 25%.

Monroe County Executive Cheryl Dinolfo says she’s reducing the fee that some low-income families pay for child care.

With only about one in four youngsters in the Rochester City School District who participated in the lunch program during the school year taking advantage of free meals in the summer, the adults in charge of linking kids and food are looking for new approaches.

After 2 years, how is the “First 1000 Days on Medicaid Initiative” shaping up?

New York is one of the richest states in the nation, but a new report shows the state’s children are not sharing in that wealth. The 2019 KIDS COUNT Data Book ranks New York 42nd in the nation for the economic well-being of its children.

Even as preschool special education providers began inking contracts with Monroe County this week, the county has continued to clarify what those contracts mean.

Advocates are demanding Monroe County Executive Cheryl Dinolfo to keep her promise to thousands of children in the county in need of Pre-school Special Education Services.

Advocates for children with disabilities packed the Monroe County Legislature tonight over the funding crisis in preschool special education. 

Families and advocates confronted leaders Tuesday night over preschool special education service rates in Monroe County.

We call on County Executive Cheryl Dinolfo to instruct the Monroe County Department of Health to publish a new Preschool Special Education rate structure that establishes a 15% increase in reimbursement for all services across the board, regardless of whether they are provided in a one-to-one or group setting.

When Monroe County Executive Cheryl Dinolfo announced she was proposing a 15% "across-the-board" increase in reimbursement rates for preschool special education, providers and advocates hailed it as a significant step toward fixing a broken system. Two months later, they read the fine print.

Brigit Hurley, TCA Advocacy Director was awarded the Excellence in Social Justice Award by the New York State Council of Churches at their annual dinner.

The Children’s Agenda is seeking stories to help to address provider shortages within the Early Intervention and Preschool Special Education systems across New York State.

The Children’s Agenda annually reviews the Rochester City School District’s budget in an effort to give parents and the public a more transparent and analytical look at how the administration is planning to spend hundreds of millions of dollars each year.

When the Rochester City School District Interim Superintendent announced his proposed budget it included a number of cuts district wide. Since then, it’s a topic that has been on the mind of many parents, students and community members.

The Children's Agenda released its break down of the 2019-2020 Rochester City School District budget before Thursday's hearing. Their recommendation was transparency.

Parents and advocates for special education students in Monroe County celebrated Tuesday. That's because Monroe County lawmakers voted to increase reimbursement rates for preschool special education service providers.

Which school districts are making progress on problems like Rochester’s, and how?

The Rochester school district's budget has been a target of the district's critics for years. The district, they say, has plenty of money, but its officials don't know how to manage it.

Legislation submitted by Monroe County Executive Cheryl Dinolfo would see a 15 percent increase - across the board - for County-set reimbursements for Preschool Special Education service providers. 

A landmark community report in 2014 drew attention to that problem and helped set in motion a series of reforms. Now, nearly five years later, the results are coming in.