ACT Rochester: New Leadership and Updated Data

After a period of quiet, we’re excited to share that ACT Rochester’s director is back, and has enhanced the community indicators website that local decision-makers use to better understand our region.

Miranda Santillo joined Rochester Area Community Foundation as Director of ACT Rochester in the summer of 2025. Before joining our team, Miranda spent nearly a decade working at the intersection of research, policy, and community engagement. Most recently, her work was focused on financial well-being and equity at the Urban Institute.

As a Rochester native, she says it’s been a joy to return home and step into this role.

Miranda recently returned from maternity leave after welcoming her first child. “Becoming a parent has made this work feel even more personal,” she says. “Like many people across our region, I’m thinking about the opportunities, resources, and community conditions that help families thrive.”

For over 15 years, ACT Rochester has served as a trusted source of data and information about the issues shaping communities across our region. The initiative exists to provide timely, reliable, and easy-to-use data and insights to inform local conversations and decision-making.

“Like many people across our region, I’m thinking about the opportunities, resources, and community conditions that help families thrive.”

— Miranda Santillo-McCormick, ACT Director

What’s New at ACT Rochester

ACT Rochester updated its community indicators website. These indicators help community leaders, organizations, and researchers better understand the well-being of our region.

This update includes:

• The addition of the latest (2024) Census data;  

• Reorganized indicators categories aligned with the leading national framework on upward mobility; and

• Redesigned data visualizations that make it easier to explore and compare outcomes across the region.

For each indicator, you’ll now be able to:

• Compare geographies or demographic groups through charts;

• Track changes over time with trend views; and

• Explore local patterns through maps that show how indicators vary across communities.

Where We’re Heading

ACT Rochester is evolving from a data dashboard to a hub for data, research, and community learning. Our goal is to help inform decision-making, resource allocation, and effective policy and program design to advance opportunity and well-being throughout the eight-county region.

Subscribe to updates directly from ACT Rochester — we’ll have much more to share in the year ahead.