Rochester's Community Engagement Response Team begins new initiative in Southeast Rochester

Jan. 27—ROCHESTER — The Community Engagement Response Team is expanding its footprint and making targeted efforts at improving the lives of Rochester residents with the upcoming opening of a community resource center in a southwest apartment complex.

CERT has rented an apartment at Edgewood Apartments. In that space, CERT and other partners will provide tutoring, conflict resolution and mediation as well as a space for residents to connect with resources like resume building, assistance in applying for needed benefits and resolving tenant-management issues.

"The need is there because that's probably one of the most impoverished neighborhoods in Rochester. We can see the disparities from the school district, from the criminal justice system," said Pastor Andre Crockett. "We know wherever poverty is at, crime follows. We believe that if we provide the resources that (are) needed at Edgewood and in the surrounding community, that we can really reduce the crime."

The new space also comes with the creation of a new CERT position — community housing liaison, which had been filed by Charles CJ Jackson. It has not officially opened but CERT is still providing services in the interim, like they have been since a shooting in October 2021 started the initiative.

As police responded to the scene that October night, so did community liaison Bud Whitehorn.

Whitehorn said that while on scene, he heard from tenants who were targets of the incident that they could lose their housing as a result. So the following week, Whitehorn stepped in to help advocate for the tenants and help find a solution that kept them in their homes and helped management address a larger issue of the culture at the property.

To change the culture, Whitehorn said CERT would work to bridge the gap between tenants and the landlord, as well as take steps to address some of the issues facing the community.

"We believe that wherever there is poverty and despair, that there will be crime that follows," Whitehorn said. "The solution to that was to provide resources and access to resources, and also programming to solve the crime problem and shift that culture and give the tenants the training and the resources needed to become a better tenant. And also to fight the poverty level they are currently in."

While it is likely still too early to draw conclusions on the effectiveness of CERT's presence — the community center hasn't even opened yet — Rochester Police Capt. Jeff Stilwell said they believe the community-building work will continue to prevent minor incidents from escalating and decrease the demand for police response over time.

"With the time saved on enforcement and keeping the peace, we intend on partnering with CERT to create opportunities for RPD to engage the neighborhood in positive encounters to increase trust and understanding," Stilwell said in an email to the Post Bulletin.

Whether because of the outreach or the cold weather, police have had no assault, disorderly conduct or dispute calls to the buildings since CERT began its work in the area, according to Stilwell.

"These are the types of calls we have typically seen in the area," Stilwell wrote in an email. "They also can lead to escalating tension and violence in the neighborhood, such as the shooting in the fall."

Whitehorn said that in the last four months, he's seen tenants become more engaged and take ownership of the complex in ways as simple as cleaning up trash.

"That was our ultimate goal. We identified that if the tenant feels some type of ownership in the apartment complex, then they will invest in keeping it safe and also keeping it clean," he said.

Cornerstone Management Services, which manages the Edgewood Apartments, declined to comment for this article.

Whitehorn said the group wants to begin at the Edgewood Apartments and eventually spread to other areas of the city through other collaborations.

While this new effort is concentrated in one area, it is likely to have impacts throughout the community.

"I think that if you plant a seed and you water that seed, that seed starts to grow into a tree. And you know, that tree has many branches," Jackson said of the potential wide-reach of CERT's work at Edgewood Apartments. "So if that tree branches out to different communities, it will be more fruitful."