Water for Sudan Sept. 18 2008

Salva Dut will present the story of Water for Sudan on Sept. 18 2008, 7:00 PM at the Dugan Center. A former "Lost Boy" of Sudan, Dut returns to his homeland annually, bringing needed resources to villages. Water for Sudan is a nonprofit organization, founded and led by Salva Dut, that provided villages with wells. Water supply is vital to economic and social development. Dut's efforts have had amazing impact on the villagers, supporting education, food supply and enterprise. This program is free of charge and open to the public.
Call 585-232-7140 for further information.

One City Series Education Forum

On the evening of August 13th, DCF was host to a top notch panel of education advocates, as the third and final session in the One City Series. This was a particularly exciting forum, with the largest attendance among all three sessions. Supt. Brizard provided interesting and candid insight into the current state of RCSD and his vision for strategy and programs ahead. He was flanked by Dan Burns of M&T Bank who serves as our city's Literacy Commission chairperson and by G. Jean Howard, City of Rochester's Chief of Staff and point person for literacy issues. Each panelist brought rich perspective to the discussion. An array of questions was posed to the panelists, ranging from classroom resource and school safety issues, to after school programming, to educational standards, etc. Dr. Al Simone provided expert facilitation/moderation services, ensuring that the opportunity for Q&A was optimal.

We anticipate offering a future One City Series, targeted tentatively for Spring '09, that will focus on further topics of interest to our region's residents. Downtown Community Forum thanks its sponsors and community partners: The City of Rochester, City Councilperson Dana K. Miller, The Community Foundation, Leadership Rochester, The Rochester Red Wings, individual contributors and St. Mary's.

Public Safety Forum generates controversy and ideas

On July 30th, DCF hosted Chief David Moore and D.A. Michael Green at a forum entitled Public Safety: Zero Tolerance and Beyond. Larry Feasel facilitated and provided context for many of the discussions, reaching back into his vast experience in law enforcement. In his opening remarks, Mayor Duffy encouraged those in attendance to present challenging questions and to offer ideas and suggestions for further consideration. During the two hour program, the Chief and the D.A. began by explaining their respective roles in the criminal justice/public safety environment. Many questioners described their personal observations and experiences, offering perspective and advice, along with anecdotal information for follow-up with the Chief and D.A. Green. I was struck by the tone of the evening, which was serious, intentional and respectful - no small feat for such a hot button topic. Our audience of 90 attendees included young and old, diverse races and ethnicities and an assortment of city residents and suburbanites. One group of young people who attended together represented a City of Rochester parks summer program where youth go about the business of searching out and rewarding people who are doing good things around the community. As a reward for good works, they give away tickets to local events and attractions, which are donated for this purpose. What a great way to put positive energy into practice. All in, my "unofficial" count was at least 17 people in attendance who appeared to be under 21 years of age - a great sight for DCF! Several high schoolers put questions to our panelists - so very articulate and, needless to say, plugged into their worlds in a way that adults do not get to experience first hand. Hats off to all who showed up, voiced their opinions and offered what they could to build community in and around Rochester. We also thank the several public officials who attended and heard these messages first-hand. Thanks also to community partners who came, including Josanne Reaves of Leadership Rochester and Ed Doherty of The Community Foundation. Have I mentioned that the Rochester Red Wings provided game tickets as thank you gifts for our panelists? Let's hope that all of us who love baseball get a chance to take in a game this summer.