Syracuse’s Salvation Army welcomes a new executive director at a time when central New York is taking aim at the issue of chronic poverty.
Linda Lopez has worked in the human services field for more than 30 years in central New York. And she has seen how chronic poverty can be invasive.
"I’ve been doing human service long enough in this community to know that there were individuals that I served when I worked for other agencies, I’ve seen their children, I’ve seen their grandchildren. So I’ve seen families in this community that have lived generationally lives of poverty.”
Lopez says the Salvation Army is first and foremost an emergency agency for the poor. But she expects it will join a local movement trying to make a dent in poverty. She says it’s an issue that can’t be handled piecemeal, but needs a comprehensive effort.
"The community, at different times, has created different strategies that probably weren’t quite enough. They probably needed to be pulled together, needed to have a more multi-faceted approach. And I think this is our community’s moment to see if we can really do this,” said Lopez.
In particular, she points to Greater Syracuse HOPE, a local anti-poverty initiative, born of a study released last year that showed Syracuse with the highest rate of extreme poverty among minorities in the country.
