ROC the Future Alliance

Rochester parents are speaking out! 🗣️📢    As more students switched to homeschooling or private schools during the pandemic, public schools around the nation faced sharp declines in enrollment and are being shut down. Children need stable learning environments. In Rochester, NY, eleven RCSD schools will be shut down this upcoming school year- what happens to the students? See the report--> https://lnkd.in/eep7tVYm   Thanks to this incredibly impactful article published by ProPublica, Rochester parent voices made it into The New Yorker Magazine and NPR’s “All Things Considered” podcast. This is a huge testament to parent leaders like Janice Kpor and Chrissy Miller and the organizing work of Carmen Torres, Parent Leadership Manager at The Children’s Agenda👏‼️️    📰READ the article for free at https://lnkd.in/ee_jXw4t 🎧LISTEN on NPR https://lnkd.in/eSTHFSkU

RMAPI is pleased to announce that Roxana Siaca and Brian Lewis have been selected to serve as co-chairs for the Policy Working Group. They will join Larry Marx, CEO of The Children’s Agenda, as co-chairs of the working group. Roxana has served on RMAPI’s Community Advisory Council and as a member of the Policy Working Group. She also serves as Campaign Organizer for the Worker Justice Center of Western New York, where she supports low-wage immigrant workers whose marginalization stems in large part from their vulnerability to deportation and the injustices of our immigration legal system. As the mother of two, a SUNY graduate, and a proud member of the Latinx community, Roxana has been empowered by her lived experience to challenge the status quo and advocate for systemic change in the Rochester community and beyond. She brings an understanding of policy issues together with a commitment to community building, dismantling systems of oppression, and redistributing power. Brian has been a member of RMAPI’s Policy Working Group and Steering Committee and serves as Executive Director at Roc the Future Alliance. Through this work, he leads collaborative efforts with parents, youth and partners across the Rochester community to transform systems and improve cradle to career outcomes. Brian has also organized and curated many community symposiums including Arts Advocacy: Youth in the System - a conference that brought together students, thought leaders, politicians and court-involved youth to galvanize support for Raise the Age legislation. Brian received a B.A from Eugene Lang College, the New School for Liberal Arts and an M.A with a concentration in Urban Education from the CUNY Graduate Center. RMAPI extends our thanks to Bill Destler, who served as co-chair of the Policy Working Group for seven years and has been a member of RMAPI since its inception in 2015. RMAPI is grateful to Bill for his hard work and service to our community by advocating for policy priorities that increase upward mobility.