RAPID, Common Ground Health, and ROC The Future Alliance partnership

Community served

Common Ground Health and ROC the Future Alliance are co-leading this project on behalf of the communities in Rochester, New York. The City of Rochester is located within Monroe County in New York State, where one in four families live below the federal poverty level, including half of those under age 18. 

Common Ground Health is the health planning agency for Rochester and the nine-county Finger Lakes region of New York. ROC the Future Alliance promotes the alignment of institutions and community resources to improve the academic achievement of Rochester’s children. 

Priorities and goals

The organizations aim to improve educational and health outcomes for children and families in Rochester by fostering a coalition of parents, systems partners, and community organizations. This includes ensuring equitable learning opportunities, increasing high school graduation rates, and empowering parents and youth as leaders in decision-making and community engagement. Efforts also focus on addressing health inequities by collecting and analyzing regional health data, identifying trends, and spearheading initiatives to improve physical and mental well-being, particularly for young children, while partnering with local businesses and organizations to drive positive change.

Engaging families

There is a need for comprehensive, timely, and representative data that captures the voices of parents with infants and young children in the City of Rochester. In 2024, the RAPID Survey Project began collaborating with Common Ground Health and ROC The Future Alliance to fill this need by collecting and analyzing data that will help inform and drive systems change work over the next decade. 

Data and insights

Common Ground Health and ROC the Future Alliance plan to use data and parent voices to inform community decision-making around how to best invest time and resources toward improving the lives of children ages birth-5 and their families. Relatedly, they will use this data to support the community’s local and state advocacy efforts to create policies, systems, environments, and resources that young children and their families in Rochester need to thrive.