Rochester’s New Normal: Poverty, Trauma and Toxic Role Models

Among comparable-size cities, Rochester continues to be among the worst in poverty and childhood poverty. One out of three Rochester residents lives in poverty, and more than half of all Rochester children under 18 years of age live below the poverty level.
Each second a teen spends in poverty, the probability increases that he or she will be negatively impacted by one of poverty’s horrific effects:

• Substandard housing
  
• Food scarcity
  
• Living in a single-parent household
  
• Drugs, gangs & violence
  
• Substance abuse by a household member
  
• Physical or sexual abuse by a household member

...But We Are Fighting Back

The Champion Academy helps urban teens in poverty overcome their traumatic experiences and use them as fuel to drive their improvement as students, citizens and future professionals.