Executive director of Rural Outreach Center to speak at Erie County Poverty Forum
Frank Cerny, executive director of the Rural Outreach Center in East Aurora, will be among several speakers taking part in a Poverty Forum from 10 a.m. to noon Friday, Dec. 15, in Room 403 of Hayes Hall on the UB South Campus. The event will be presented by the Erie County Poverty Committee.
The purpose of the Poverty Forum is to release the 2017 Erie County Poverty Committee Report of Recommendations. The committee is chaired by Rev. Kinzer Pointer, pastor of Agape Fellowship Baptist Church. In addition to Cerny, other members include Dr. Henry Louis Taylor, founding director of the Center for Urban Studies at the University at Buffalo; Anna Falicov, Esq., assistant corporation counsel for the City of Buffalo; Dr. Myron Glick, MD, chief medical officer of Jericho Road Community Health Center; Dr. Yvonne S. Minor-Ragan, president & CEO at YMRagan Consulting, LLC; and Marlies A. Wesolowski, executive director of the Lt. Col. Matt Urban Human Services Center in Buffalo.
“The Erie County Poverty Committee is concerned that the conditions that our fellow citizens are living under are deteriorating and that we could, with minimal effort, improve those conditions,” says Rev. Pointer. “We look forward to the forum as an opportunity to share our findings, highlight our recommendations, and inspire each citizen to action for a better Erie County community.”
Speakers and topics will include:
• 10 a.m., Welcome & Acknowledgements, Kinzer Pointer
• 10:15 a.m., Rural Poverty, Frank Cerny
• 10:30 a.m., Education/Early Childhood Education, Marie Cannon and Yvonne Minor-Ragan
• 10:45 a.m., Youth & Diversity in Employment, Marlies Wesolowski
• 11 a.m., Living Wage, Anna Falicov
• 11:15 a.m., Housing & Neighborhood Environment, Henry Taylor
• 11:35 a.m., Public Health, Myron Glick
• 11:45 a.m., Closing/Call to Action, Kinzer Pointer
Those interested in attending the Poverty Forum should email [email protected] or call 858-8679.
Located at 730 Olean Road in East Aurora, the Rural Outreach Center is a nonprofit organization offering a wide variety of social services for those living in Western New York’s rural communities. For more information, please follow the Rural Outreach Center on Facebook at www.facebook.com/TheRuralOutreachCenter.
