Our Purpose
Achieving Community Targets Rochester (ACT Rochester) is a data initiative of Rochester Area Community Foundation that uses community indicators, research expertise, and narrative to improve the culture of decision-making and establish a more equitable, inclusive, and vital 8-county region.
Our 8-county region includes Genesee, Livingston, Monroe, Ontario, Orleans, Seneca, Wayne, and Yates counties.
ACT Rochester focus areas align with the grantmaking goals of Rochester Area Community Foundation, outlined here.
Our History
On June 9, 2009, Rochester Area Community Foundation and United Way unveiled ACT Rochester, an unprecedented joint effort to help the region identify and respond to our most critical issues.
ACT Rochester was modeled after the best community indicator programs in Boston, Toronto, and other cities with the idea that these programs enhance collaboration, knowledge, focus, and progress toward community goals, and improve policy and fiscal decisions.
Since 2020
Since 2020, ACT Rochester has grown and developed alongside our ever-changing world. Despite the cancelation of our 9th annual report card event due to the COVID-19 pandemic, ACT was able to release numerous reports in 2020, including the Regional Report Card and County summaries, as well as an update to our Hard Facts report, a discussion of race and ethnicity in our region.
In 2021, we began our participation in ROC the Day, which has become an annual effort for our organization. Our Report Card Event in 2021 featured a virtual conversation that highlighted the importance of Inclusive Recovery in our region, an area of discussion that remains important to ACT today (see the Inclusive Recovery narrative page and dashboard).
In 2022, we were able to return to gathering in-person as we celebrated our 10th annual Report Card Event. On July 1st, 2022, Ann Johnson, ACT Rochester’s director for 12 years, retired and Dr. Meg Norris stepped into the role of Executive Director in August. ACT Staff and Committee identified and established the 4 C’s as a framework for ACT’s work in the age of information.
In 2023, ACT’s team was expanded to include administrative support, and an RFP was released for technical support building our data dashboard. Work commenced in January 2024 with Parsons TKO and Soucier Design for website and dashboard creation.
Our team will continue to improve the culture of decision making throughout our region by committing ourselves to the Four C’s framework, hosting data workshops for our community, and by continuing the conversation about the intersections between data, interrogative thinking, and constant curiosity.