Establishing Citywide Children’s Cabinet in Rochester

Rochester has built a strong foundation for improving outcomes for children and families through sustained cross‑sector collaboration and a nationally recognized cradle‑to‑career partnership. The City of Rochester and ROC the Future will partner with FUSE to establish a Children’s Cabinet that further strengthens coordination across systems and advances shared outcomes for children and families. The FUSE Executive Fellow will design and operationalize this governance structure to align city agencies, community partners, and data systems.

Ultimately, this work will build sustainable capacity for coordinated, data‑driven action that improves outcomes and reduces disparities for Rochester’s children.

Fellowship Dates:
October 26, 2026 – October 22, 2027

Salary: Executive Fellows are FUSE employees and receive an annual salary of $95,000. Fellows can also access various health, dental, and vision insurance benefits. This amount is not representative of market‑rate salaries for the experienced professionals in our program but is intended as compensation for a year of public service.

FUSE is a national nonprofit dedicated to increasing the capacity of local governments to work more effectively for communities. We embed private sector executives in city and county agencies to lead projects that improve public services and accelerate systems change. Since 2012, FUSE has led over 400 projects in 58 governments across 26 states, impacting a total population equivalent to 1 in 10 Americans.

When designing each fellowship project, FUSE works closely with government partners and community stakeholders to define a scope of work that will achieve substantive progress toward high‑priority local needs. Projects address today’s most pressing challenges and opportunities, including affordable housing, economic mobility, climate resilience, public safety, infrastructure, technology, and more.

FUSE conducts a full executive search for each individual project to ensure that the selected candidate has at least 15 years of professional experience, the required competencies for the role, and deep connections to the community being served.

Executive Fellows are embedded in government agencies working with senior leaders for at least one year of full‑time work. Prospective responsibilities may include thorough data analytics and research, developing enhanced operations and financial models, building change management and strategic planning processes, and/or building broad coalitions to support project implementation efforts. Executive Fellows are data‑driven and results‑oriented and able to effectively manage complex projects.

They build strong relationships with a broad array of stakeholders, foster alignment within and across various layers of government, and build partnerships between governments and communities.

Throughout the fellowships, Executive Fellows receive training, coaching, and professional support to help achieve their project goals.

Rochester has made meaningful progress toward improving outcomes for children and families through strong partnerships and a mature cradle‑to‑career backbone organization in ROC the Future. However, persistent fragmentation across systems continues to limit impact. Key sectors, including housing, public safety, business, and early childhood, are not consistently integrated into a unified decision‑making structure, and coordination often depends on informal relationships rather than institutionalized processes.

These challenges disproportionately affect Black and Latino children and families, contributing to persistent disparities in educational attainment, economic mobility, and overall well‑being.

The City and ROC the…