In early 2015, the City of Rochester and Monroe County launched a collaborative, data-driven initiative to reduce poverty in the region by 50 percent by 2030. My vantage point at PathStone, and my experience promoting race equity and diversity, yielded unique insight into the three key themes to emerge from the Anti-Poverty Initiative’s workshops: addressing structural racism; addressing poverty-induced trauma; and building and supporting the community.

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As CEO of PathStone Corporation, I had the privilege of serving as co-chair of the Initiative's Housing Workshop, which produced four bold and audacious recommendations designed to increase access to safe, affordable housing and reduce barriers that limit housing choices. Among those recommendations was the creation of a cross-cultural and cross-socio-economic effort to dismantle the thoughts, attitudes and behaviors that exclude those who live in poverty from access to quality, safe, equitable and affordable housing.

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To that end, I lent support to initiating and developing the Champions of Diversity curriculum, a program to bridge gaps between suburban communities and poverty-stricken neighborhoods – and to empower stakeholders to pursue solutions to the social and economic equities that beset our region.

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The Champion of Diversity curriculum has evolved to become the framework of the Anti-Racist Curriculum Project, now known as Our Local History at CCSI, to heighten awareness of systemic discrimination and how companies can take bold, inspired measures to redress history for a brighter future.