This Tuesday, the 9th Grade Rights & Responsibilities class welcomed Ann Johnson to class as a guest presenter. Ann is the Director of ACT Rochester and has held the position since 2009.She has also been involved with several organizations, including Facing Race and Embracing Equity; Rochester’s racial equity initiative, Rochester Women’s Giving Circle, Monroe County Juvenile Justice Council, Rochester Women’s Network, Asbury First United Methodist Church, and Pittsford-Mendon High School’s Families Advocating for Music Education.

Her visit to class was to talk about advocacy and the special report on poverty ACT Rochester published last year.  The Rights and Responsibilities class studies topics such as power relationships, community values, and the July 1964 Rochester riots/rebellion.  The culminating project of this required class is an advocacy project in which students pick a topic, organization, or person that they want to advocate for and then complete an action that gives voice to its needs.  Ann Johnson explained what advocacy means to her, discussed some of the statistics in the report, and touched on some of the inequities that exist in the Greater Rochester area.