Todd Ranous

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Senior Matcher, Homefinding, Monroe County Department of Human Services

Years in current role: 13

What do you enjoy most about your position in your company and/or your role in the community?

I enjoy working with foster parents and foster children. Nothing compares to the feeling when you are able to help a youth return home, achieve permanency, or prepare them to live independently in the community. I worked with administration to make LGBTQ+ training mandatory for staff and foster parents. When the Out Alliance closed, I was encouraged to put together a work group of service providers to discuss what services there are in the community for LGBTQ+ youth and their families. I also sit on the Monroe County Pride Committee, The ROC Pride Picnic Committee, and am involved in a work group to bring back the Big Queer Prom. I enjoy going to festivals, community events, and pride events to recruit LGBTQ+ foster parents and staff for Monroe County Department of Human Services.

What is one thing you hope to accomplish before the end of the year?

While sitting on the Big Queer Prom Committee it became apparent that the older members of the community would like to have a prom. So I hope to put together a work group to do an inter-generational prom for members of the community. The prom would be open to members of the community from 18 years old through to our wonderful senior community.

What is the biggest challenge you’ve had to overcome in your career?

I was unsure of how to come out, so it took a while for me to be honest about my identity. I thought I could lose my family, my job, and as a gay man I thought people would question my work with youth. I have seen friends lose their family and their jobs when they came out. After coming out I was able to be free of the fear of people’s reaction to me being a part of the queer community. It gave me the freedom to pursue my passion of assisting the LGBTQ+ community through developing foster/adoptive families, and by helping people to find employment with Monroe County. If you would like to get more information about becoming a foster parent, or a career with Monroe County please follow these links: https://www.monroefostercare.org/info-session/, or https://www.monroecounty.gov/hr-apply.

What are your favorite things about the Rochester area?

Rochester is an ethnically diverse community. We have a plethora of restaurants that give us the chance to sample authentic dishes from around the world. Rochester has a great night life if you want to gout out to dance, see a Broadway or comedy show. There are so many talented artists here and you can go and see art in galleries, restaurants and coffee shops. Rochester, as well as the outlying towns, have many family activities and events that are free of cost. Lastly, the best part of Rochester is the amount of services that are available to all of the community; we are so fortunate to have such a charitable and giving community.

What do you see as the biggest challenges facing Rochester?

I think that the challenges we are facing in Rochester are poverty, crime, racism, antisemitism, and the rise in hatred towards the LGBTQ+ community. While there are many people within the greater Rochester area who are open minded and embrace the diversity of our wonderful community, there are others who feel that the only people that have rights are the people who pray the way they do, look the way they do or think the way they do. To them everybody else is wrong. I personally feel like we need to embrace and lift everyone up, and not just those who are like me. We need to get to a space where we embrace people’s differences. I believe when we do that, we will be able to see how much we are all alike. Maybe then we can build stronger communities together.

This profile is part of Rochester Business Journal's Power List for LGBTQ+ Business Leaders for 2023. Information used in this profile was sourced from the honoree. View the full list at rbj.net.