About the commission

In August of 2015, the Franklin and Marshall College Floyd Institute for Public Policy published the report "Lancaster Prospers? An Analysis of Census Data on Economic Opportunities and Outcomes" highlighting that while incomes had gone up in the downtown, they had gone down in all of the surrounding census tracts.  This data analysis prompted Mayor J. Richard Gray of Lancaster to create the Mayor's Commission to Combat Poverty.  The Commission, comprised of 11 volunteer Commissioners and 48 volunteer work group members, was provided with the following charge to:

• Conduct a thorough examination of the factors that contribute to high levels of poverty in the City of Lancaster in order to increased our understanding of the realities, challenges, and multiple dimensions of poverty in our community. 
• Recommend policies and practices that can be adopted by government, the business community, service providers, advocates, and individuals to help reduce poverty in our community. 
• Produce an Action Plan that includes specific action steps, priorities, and measurable poverty reduction goals, with a timeline for reaching those goals. 

COMMISSIONERS

DAN JURMAN, CHAIR
Community Action Partnership of Lancaster

JENNIFER KOPPEL
Lancaster County Coalition to End Homelessness

JESSICA KING
ASSETS

CARLOS GRAUPERA
Spanish American Civil Association

DR. DAMARIS RAU
School District of Lancaster

MARLYN BARBOSA
Spanish American Civic Association

TOM BALDRIGE
Lancaster Chamber of Commerce and Industry

SUE SUTER
United Way of Lancaster County

MARTIN DEES
Lancaster NAACP

JESUS CONDOR
Habitat for Humanity

OLLIE JONES
Carter MacRae (Retired)