Secretary of Transportation Recognizes Technical Assistance Center

None other than Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood recognizes our partner Easter Seals Project ACTION (ESPA) in his Fastlane blog yesterday afternoon. There's even a photograph of the whole ESPA crew with the Secretary, Doug Birnie, Erik Weber, and Judy Shanley.

LaHood thanked ESPA for its work "to make our communities more livable for the 54 million Americans with disabilities." He discussed the October 2009 ESPA Youth with Disabilities Transportation Roundtable, which resulted in a plan to address:

five core challenges that need to be solved to increase transportation options for youth with disabilities:

* Share information about transportation resources with youth.
* Train youth to use public transportation.
* Expand limited public transportation service on nights and weekends.
* Include student and school transportation issues in local transportation planning.
* Help planners learn about the family of transportation services, eligibility criteria, and funding streams available.

To read the Secretary's post about ESPA, visit http://fastlane.dot.gov/2010/06/earlier-today-i-blogged-about-older-americans-and-livability-now-as-we-approach-the-20th-anniversary-of-the-americans-with.html.