Four years after being instituted, Strive2Thrive continues to make strides in helping to eliminate poverty in the Albany area.

Some of the accomplishments of the program, as well as its graduates, were acknowledged at the most recent Albany Area Chamber of Commerce Rise n’ Shine breakfast at the Hilton Garden Inn on Tuesday.

The program was founded in 2009 — at least in part — due to Albany’s standings in Forbes Magazine at the time as one of the poorest metro areas in the country with the purpose of pulling area families out of poverty, which has been done with the help of officials from dozens of businesses and institutions as well as roughly 100 “allies” who have worked directly with the program’s enrollees to help give them a hand-up.

“We can’t give up,” said Cynthia George, one of program’s co-founders. “Poverty is a huge issue, a bigger issue that some of us want to realize. We can all talk about the things we don’t like (about Albany), but if we work together, great things can happen — and great things are happening.”

Read More