In 2021, The Levine Center To End Hate, in partnership with Causewave Community Partners, launched Rochester’s first city-wide State of Hate survey to better understand where—and among whom—hate was being experienced. That inaugural study captured a broad cross-section of Rochester’s residents, establishing a critical baseline for tracking trends in bias, discrimination, and hate-based aggression across identities, communities, and lived experiences.

This year, we partnered once again with Causewave to conduct our second State of Hate in Rochester survey. The findings reveal an urgent reality: multiple manifestations of hate are rising locally, mirroring national and state-wide trends. Incidents of bias across New York have surged, and many Rochester-area residents— particularly members of minority and faith communities—report feeling increasingly unsafe or marginalized. Yet amid this troubling data lies a powerful source of hope: a growing public determination, especially among young people,to confront hate through education, empathy, and civic action.