Today Senators Samra Brouk (55) and Jeremy Cooney (56) and Assemblymembers Jennifer Lunsford (135), Sarah Clark (136), Demond Meeks (137), and Harry B. Bronson (138) were joined by City of Rochester Mayor Malik Evans and County Executive Adam Bello for a press conference to announce significant investments in Rochester and Monroe County through the State Fiscal Year 2024-25 Enacted Budget. The budget allocates historic funding for GIVE (Gun-Involved Violence Elimination) Aid, education, local government, and public safety, including a landmark investment for anti-poverty initiatives. Awards include:

• Targeted Upstate Anti-Poverty Aid - $25 million earmarked for the City of Rochester and Monroe County
• GIVE (Gun-Involved Violence Elimination) Aid - $72 million, statewide
• Reinstated “Hold Harmless” provision within Foundation Aid
• RCSD Social Emotional/Health and Mental Health Services - $1.2 million
• Increased Aid and Incentives for Municipalities (AIM) funding statewide by $50 million, with $5 million going to Rochester
• ON-RAMP (One Network for Regional Advanced Manufacturing Partnerships) - $200 million

The Greater Rochester Majority Delegation has succeeded in bringing Rochester to parity with neighboring upstate communities Syracuse and Buffalo by securing a total of $30 million dollars to fight poverty. Despite having three of the five poorest zip codes in New York State, Rochester has historically received less AIM funding per capita. This has correlated to higher levels of violence, debilitated communities, and an extreme depth of poverty - the effects of which have been felt city and county-wide.

Governor Hochul pledged $25 million dollars to fund resources and programming to build up Rochester’s poorest neighborhoods, and the Greater Rochester Majority Delegation fought for an additional $5 million in AIM funding. This is the first increase to AIM in 16 years, following a Comptroller’s report released last year which found the funding has not been adjusted to inflation and that there was no set formula to determine AIM amounts. Senator Brouk followed that with her own report which examined the effects these shortfalls have had on Rochester.

Another important anti-poverty initiative is ON-RAMP (One Network for Regional Advanced Manufacturing Partnerships), which identified Rochester as a high-impact strategic location for one of four new workforce development training centers. These centers will provide advanced manufacturing credentials and training opportunities for marginalized and low-income communities to address the growing demand for high-skilled workers in our region. ON-RAMP programming also includes wraparound services to uplift families out of poverty, not just with job placement and employment training, but through partnerships with area nonprofits to offer transportation, childcare, and other critical needs that will bring people into the workforce and support them in having long and fulfilling careers.

The GIVE program will also receive $4.2 million to continue successfully targeting and combating the epidemic of gun violence in the City of Rochester through prevention and suppression strategies. Last year’s investment of $3.12 million was critical to establishing a unit to investigate non-fatal shootings. This unit, composed of eight investigators, is a partnership between the Monroe County DA’s office and RPD. To date, more than 713 illegal guns and 74 ghost guns have been removed from our streets. According to recent data, shooting incidents have declined by more than 30%, firearm related homicides have decreased by 29%, and homicides have seen a 32% decline from last year.

Public Safety:

The budget featured several provisions to support crime reduction, including measures to crackdown on illegal cannabis sales by empowering the Office of Cannabis Management (OCM) to padlock illicit storefronts and enforce against a slew of designated egregious actions, as well as expanding local authority to regulate unlicensed businesses. The enacted budget also implements tax credits of up to $5,000 to help small businesses invest in retail theft prevention.

Community Development & Youth Engagement:

The NYS Network for Youth Success received an additional $119 million to continue providing programs that promote young people’s intellectual, social, emotional, and physical development outside the traditional school day. These programs include those that serve youth in kindergarten through 12th grade, take place in schools and/or in community-based settings, and occur before and after school, during weekends, holidays, and summer breaks, or during the school day through partnerships with community organizations. $3 million will go towards the development of additional programming.

Workforce Development Institute’s (WDI) pre-apprenticeship training institute received $750,000 to continue preparing young people for the workforce in a variety of skilled manufacturing and service fields.

Other community and workforce development programs that received funding are M.A.P.P (Multi-Craft Apprenticeship Preparedness Program) of Rochester and YouthBuild.

Education:

The budget also demonstrated the delegation’s commitment to Monroe County and Rochester City’s public school system by successfully fighting to reinstate the “Hold Harmless” provision, preventing school districts from receiving a cut in Foundation Aid, and increasing the inflation factor to calculate Foundation Aid to 2.8%. The budget approves unfreezing of the Reorganization Incentive Operating Aid to provide increased aid to schools seeking reorganization, which RCSD is currently undergoing. In total the budget provides $35.9 billion in funding to the General Support for Public Schools (GSPS), which will include $24.9 billion in Foundation Aid, a $934.5 million increase over the 2023-24 School Year (SY).

The delegation was also reinstated and increased the School Health Services Grant to fund Social and Emotional Health and Mental Health Services within RCSD. The expiration of federal stimulus dollars left a significant gap in funding for school districts state-wide, reducing critical services to students that address social and emotional health. These mental health challenges hinder students’ academic progress, social interactions and overall well-being in the school environment, placing increased demands on teachers and school professionals.

With the establishment of on-campus mental health facilities students can receive these valuable services on school grounds without disrupting the regular school day.

“I am proud to represent Rochester and Monroe County in Albany, and fight every day for the increased health, wellness and safety of our families,” said Assemblymember Bronson. “This budget season I have worked tirelessly to advocate for funding and programs that will benefit Rochester and Monroe County, and I am thankful to have strong delegation and local government partners advocating alongside me. These historic investments will go far to change the trajectory of Rochester to one of growth, renewal and rejuvenation so we can finally end the epidemic of child poverty and violence that has plagued our community for far too long.”

“A budget is more than just a spending plan, it’s a statement of priorities,” said Rochester Mayor Malik D. Evans. “The FY 2025 New York State Budget makes it clear that the people of Rochester are a high priority and we have the legislators who represent us in Albany to thank for that. I am especially thankful for the additional $25 million included to support anti-poverty initiatives to address the needs of children and families in our poorest neighborhoods. I pledge to put those dollars to good work.”

Senator Cooney said, “For decades, Rochester and Monroe County were short-changed and left behind in budget-after-budget, but this year our Rochester delegation has delivered. From increasing aid to our local governments and supporting our students, to combating poverty and prioritizing public safety, this budget is forward-thinking and aimed at meeting the needs of our communities. I’m proud to have worked alongside my colleagues to get this done and I’m pleased with the strides we made towards making our community a place where everyone is better able to live and thrive.”

Senator Samra Brouk said, “For too long, the Greater Rochester Area has not received fair funding from the state. As a result of our advocacy, this budget works to correct that underinvestment by investing $25 million to directly address concentrated poverty in the City of Rochester and an additional $5 million in AIM funding. Last year, my office released a report that shows the chronic underfunding our Rochester community receives compared to other Upstate cities, and this budget seeks to address that with these additional investments. I look forward to our continued, united advocacy to secure long overdue resources for our region.”

Assemblywoman Jen Lunsford said, “This was a particularly challenging budget year. We entered the year with a substantial budget gap and needed to fend off cuts to critical programs for some of our most vulnerable residents. I am very proud to say that we were successful, not only in preventing most of those cuts, but also expanding funding in several key areas, including early intervention and cost of living increases for direct service providers. We not only fought off cuts to school aid and clean water infrastructure, but we were able to increase funding for higher education, upstate public transit and aid to our local municipalities. The City of Rochester will see $30 Million in funding which can go towards anti- poverty initiatives that will reduce crime, increase access to health services and help our community get training for well-paying jobs that they can turn into careers. These are all positive steps forward that will help our community to continue to grow and thrive.”

Assemblywoman Sarah Clark said, “Today we celebrate a historic moment in the New York State budget, after years of underinvestment, the City of Rochester will finally see an increase in direct funding from the state. As a delegation we fought to ensure Rochester and our greater community would get its fair share to help meet the needs and challenges of our neighbors, to the tune of $30 million. The millions in anti-poverty dollars and new direct aid will help address the systemic root causes of poverty instead of merely its symptoms including programs that offer direct support for families, increased investments into our neighborhoods and more workforce development opportunities. On top of these critical dollars, we were also able to secure higher reimbursement rates for early intervention, fully fund our schools and expand support for students pursuing higher education. Although there is still more work ahead of us, we have some real wins to celebrate this year, and as always, I remain steadfast in my commitment to ensure all our residents have the opportunity to thrive.”

Assemblyman Demond Meeks said, “I am honored to work with my Assembly and Senate colleagues in addressing the needs of the communities we serve. We focused on critical issues such as healthcare, public safety, mental health, education, childcare, and anti-poverty initiatives for Rochester and Monroe County. We were successful in making significant investments and secured historic funding to provide needed resources to create lasting change. In recognizing the strides that we have made; the race is far from over. We made some progress in an effort to combat the housing crisis by passing Good Cause-ish language in the budget yet, housing is a human right, and we have a responsibility as state legislators to make sure that every New Yorker has quality and affordable housing. We committed to fighting for a budget that reflects the needs and values of our community and I look forward to continuing the work with my state colleagues and members of the Greater Rochester Community.”

To view the press conference, please use this link: https://youtu.be/extgl2VnCNM?si=MCSsLhNZrgj7W0o4