Community leaders are coming together to discuss how to get central New York families set up for success.
Dozens of people gathered at a summit in Syracuse to help tackle poverty in the community. The event, hosted by FOCUS Greater Syracuse, Inc. and PEACE, Inc., comes in the wake of a community needs assessment released by PEACE, Inc. that shows leaders need to consider holistic “whole family” approaches to solving challenges.
Todd Goehle, the vice president of operations and strategy at PEACE, Inc. said there’s no quick fix.
"In order to empower our communities, we really need to think more critically and hard about what are the range of services that are needed?” said Goehle. “What do we all do in our own space, and how best can we coordinate those services?"
The summit featured national and local experts, including Syracuse Parks and Recreation Commissioner Syeisha Byrd. Byrd said Syracuse has a number of great resources to help, and families can connect to organizations by calling 2-1-1.
“If I call 2-1-1, and I say, 'Look, I have a baby. I need diapers,' they always refer me to the right place,” said Byrd. “So I think it’s really getting our families in the practice of reaching out to 2-1-1 first to navigate those resources. It’s a system that’s already set up for us to use. We just really have to educate folks on how to use it."
Goehle said the whole family summit also helps community members and experts network to find solutions.
"The more information and the more connected we are as a community and as providers, the better we can serve and meet the needs of our community," he said.
With information from the summit, PEACE, Inc. plans to release another report with strategies to help and policy recommendations for local leaders.
