Employment Transportation: TA for Different Goals

Using math terms in a completely incorrect way, I will say that communities can have parallel goals that intersect. Though we learn in geometry that parallel lines never meet, in real life, completely separate initiatives sometimes have much in common and do in fact get together. Here are two examples of technical assistance resources in which commuter transportation serves two different goals: one, the primary purpose of every person going to work to actually be transported in some way to his or her job, and two, to make sure that our communities contribute to improving the environment and the air that we all breathe.

Getting to Work

Community Transportation Association of America (CTAA)
The Joblinks Employment Transportation Center at CTAA has a webpage devoted to workforce development transportation solutions. The page has examples of communities around the country that use workforce boards, community colleges and other partners to find transportation options for people going to work and school.

Getting to Work While Improving the Air

Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)
EPA's Sustainable Communities Building Blocks Program is seeking letters of interest, due Feb. 23, 2011, to choose 20 communities for technical assistance:

geared toward communities that are relatively new to implementing sustainable communities development approaches but that have a basic understanding of the livability principles and how they apply locally. Appropriate Sustainable Communities Building Blocks Program communities recognize that they have development challenges and are trying to kick-start the conversation about how to address a specific local issue.

Some of the tools the program will be offering involve commuter transportation, complete streets, zoning, and greenhouse gas reduction.

The TA provided will take place "over the course of one day, with minimal upfront preparation and no formal follow-up." Meetings with community stakeholders will be the avenue for the TA.

[Union Station in LA flanked by buses.]

Communities that send in letters of interest to EPA, whether selected or not, and are interested in commuter transportation as a way of addressing environmental problems, should check out Joblinks and other TA resources in the Technical Assistance Provider Network.