The Rural Outreach Center (ROC) in East Aurora, a nonprofit organization dedicated to assisting, empowering and elevating the impoverished rural population in southern Erie County and surrounding areas, received a SOPHi Award for Community Impact on Oct. 13 from the Population Health Collaborative. The awards ceremony was held at Buffalo RiverWorks.

The Spotlight on Population Health (SOPHi) event is an annual celebration of organizations across the eight counties of Western New York that focus on population health. Through the awards ceremony, Population Health Collaborative hopes to educate the local community about the great work being done around the region and possibly create new collaborations.

Services provided by the ROC focus on children, education and job creation and work to assist, empower and elevate program participants out of poverty. The ROC provides a holistic approach to the needs and challenges of the rural poor as they work toward self-sufficiency through social work support and emergency assistance. For more information on the Rural Outreach Center, located at 730 Olean Road, please visit www.theroc.co or call 240-2220. You can also follow the organization on Facebook for frequent updates.

For more information on the Population Health Collaborative and the SOPHi Awards, please visit www.p2wny.org.