Opportunities for Communities - Funding, Health, Coordination

Federal Transit Administration
FTA rolls out a new webpage devoted to MAP-21 information, including illustrative apportionment data for several programs. 

National Transit Institute
Get some chocolates, coffee and a cushy pillow because NTI is putting courses online and posting archived webinars. These audio and video offerings include understanding the FTA and its programs, livability in transportation, and the National Transit Database 2010 Census updates, among others. NTI is currently maintains a webpage with all online offerings.

[Notice for a community bus in the Cotswolds area of England. The bus goes to supermarkets and the notice assures shoppers there will be "enough time to do your shopping."]

National Conference of State Legislatures
NCSL issues its quarterly Transportation Coordination Quarterly Newsletter with news about new statutory mandates and lapsing ones regarding state coordinating councils, and state laws relating to transportation for welfare recipients and older adults. "A task force was established in Connecticut to study how the state can encourage aging in place, which includes an examination of infrastructure and transportation improvements."

Community Transportation Association of America
CTAA's Joblinks program is accepting applications for the Job Access Mobility Institute, a multi-month, team-based research, design, and implementation process in which teams will develop and test a transportation service that solves a key challenge of their constituents. This opportunity will bring together community participants from the transportation, employment and training, and business sectors to solve mobility challenges. Applications are due by Aug. 24, 2012.

[Train decked out in Union Jack flag motif in London's Paddington Station.]

Health Impact Project
The Health Impact Project, which promotes the use of Health Impacts Assessments (HIAs) in public decision making has a funding opportunity "to support two types of health impact assessment (HIA) initiatives: 1) HIA demonstration projects that inform a specific decision ...; and 2) HIA program grants to enable organizations with previous HIA experience to conduct HIAs and develop sustainable, self-supporting HIA programs at the local, state, or tribal level." According to the Project, "HIA uses a practical approach that brings together scientific data, health expertise and public input to identify the potential health effects of a new proposal and to build in recommendations that minimize risks and capitalize on opportunities to improve health." The Health Impact Project is a collaboration of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the Pew Charitable Trusts. Proposals are due Sept. 28. 2012.

HIAs in transportation include coordinated transportation (Madison County, NY), expansion of bus routes (Indiana), and employer-sponsored transit subsidies (Tennessee). A map of HIAs across the U.S. has many more. You can view all projects or restrict the map to projects relating only to particular sectors, such as transportation or the built environment, among others.

Local Opportunities for Transit and Alternative Transportation

The American Public Health Association has a Transportation and Health Toolkit, which will help those interested and involved with transportation alternatives to explain and advocate for the public health benefits of transit and other community transportation, as well as zero-emission modes. The toolkit offers fact sheets linking public health to transportation choices in a community, outreach materials to the press, advice for dealing with local leaders, and archived webinar and factual material about public health consequences of the local transportation network.

Six Chosen Cities

Investing in Community Change reports that the Administration has selected six pilot cities for a new initiative. The Administration explains that it is encouraging local partnerships and empowerment.

Strong Cities, Strong Communities is a new interagency pilot initiative that aims to strengthen neighborhoods, towns, cities and regions around the country by strengthening the capacity of local governments to develop and execute their economic vision and strategies. Strong Cities, Strong Communities bolsters local governments by providing necessary technical assistance and access to federal agency expertise, and creating new public and private sector partnerships.

The six city pilot locations are:

Chester, PA - the Community Solutions Team will help Mayor Butler diversify the local economy, support small business development and revitalize the downtown.
Cleveland, OH - Strong Cities, Strong Communities will support Mayor Jackson in his efforts to coordinate workforce and economic development and to maximize the economic potential of the Cleveland Port.
Detroit, MI - the Community Solutions Team will partner with Mayor Bing and Governor Snyder to increase coordination and alignment on workforce and economic development issues, and to leverage U.S. DOT's investments in High Speed Rail and the Woodward Avenue light rail project to spur economic revitalization in the downtown corridor.
Fresno, CA - Mayor Swearengin and the Community Solutions Team will work to capitalize on the coming high-speed rail station to improve the downtown area, and will also build on a successful neighborhood development program.
Memphis, TN - Strong Cities, Strong Communities will partner with Mayor Wharton and his team to pursue his vision to strengthen the education system and attract new industries.
New Orleans, LA - Mayor Landrieu and the Communities Solutions Team will work to integrate existing federal resources to improve the delivery of health services, manage public safety and rebuild public infrastructure.

Potential for Transit and Mobility

The highlighted text shows just a few places where there is potential for transit and other mobility components to larger development and revitalization projects.

And here is more from Ray LaHood, the Secretary of Transportation, about how the pilot programs will be conducted.

Earlier this week, Deputy Secretary [of Transportation] John Porcari traveled to Memphis to announce that as part of this new initiative, the Obama Administration will send five full-time federal staff people to Memphis. Their job will be to listen to local leaders, learn what they need from the federal government, and help them secure that assistance or expertise. And the Obama Administration will also work with private partners to create a fellowship program that will connect new graduates looking for jobs with city governments looking for well-trained professionals.

This seems like the kind of technical assistance that many in our network are involved in, with perhaps an opportunity for networking with those new graduates to teach them about the link between a quality transportation network and a thriving town, small city, big city, and a metropolitan area.

[Central Park South with buses during morning rush hour.]

Within Our Network

One example of transportation technical assistance is Joblinks' list of case studies on its homepage. The list, with brief descriptions, gives visitors a good idea of the range of employment transportation programs, with links to detailed information.

Examples of planning in non-auto transportation are featured on NADO's Ruraltransportation.org among the Excellence Award Winners. The 2011 winners include planning for a Safe Routes to School program, sidewalks, bicycling, a volunteer driver initiative, and transit development.

Within our network, there are new events, initiatives, and even great website redevelopment. Feel free to send an email to Sheryl Gross-Glaser (grossglaser@ctaa.org) with information about your technical assistance center's great work.

[Morning taxi exodus from Central Park.]

Postscript: I promise to take transit pictures outside of New York during my travels this summer. I should have taken a photograph of one of the express buses I rode on while in the city, but I was in a rush to and from Queens.

All About Coordination

Two instances of coordination at the federal level caught my attention. One involves the Administration's current focus on the benefits of its livability initiative for rural America and the other involves the efforts of public health advocates to work with transportation organizations to combat widespread public health problems.

An important aspect of coordination is maintaining the momentum of working with partners over long periods. One of our TA centers is addressing that issue in an upcoming audio conference described below.


USDA Program Features Sustainability Partners

The Community Transportation Association of America (CTAA) participated in the Department of Agriculture's (USDA) roundtable yesterday to discuss livability in rural areas. Among the topics covered was the need for connectivity between rural and urban communities. The roundtable also focused on preserving small town main streets, protecting agriculture and expanding transportation options. Deputy secretaries from DOT and HUD addressed the participants.

Connecting Transportation Options to Health

In September, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) Childhood Obesity program is starting a webinar series devoted to the connection between transportation policy and the obesity-health issue.

Sept. 9 - "Ready Set Go: Transportation Reauthorization"
Recommendations on how to ensure that investments in transportation are made equitably, so that all children and families have access to safe, reliable, affordable transportation options that encourage healthy, active lifestyles.

Sept. 23 - "Hide and Seek: Where is Your School and How Do You Get There?"
Safe routes to school and school siting guidelines within the framework of broader sustainable community development.

Oct. 7 - "On the Go: Complete Streets and Public Transportation"
Strategies for effective advocacy and implementation of complete streets policies and advice for ensuring that access to public transportation and active living opportunities are equitably provided to all communities.

Oct. 21 - "Feet to the Streets: Alternatives to Motorized Transportation"
Strategies for creating opportunities that encourage non-motorized transportation, particularly walking and biking.

Maintaining Momentum

Easter Seals Project ACTION (ESPA) is having an audio conference, Sustaining Coalition Efforts for Improving Accessible Transportation on Sept. 28. As part of the series Promising Practices and Solutions in Accessible Transportation, ESPA will address re-energizing members to maintain interest and enthusiasm, recognizing small steps toward long-term success, replacing members who move on to other jobs and activities, and reaching consensus among diverse partners.