
GRANTEE IMPACTS
To date, the fund has granted $1,091,000 to 23 mobility advocate groups working to advance equitable mobility access and use in priority communities. Thus far, grant recipients have reported $2,677,809 in additional leveraged funds, producing a 245.45% return on investment. These impact trends emerged from compiled data from the 16 Round 1 and Round 2 grantees:
5 grantees advocated for building or removing infrastructure to support and healthier, more inclusive communities through multimodal transportation options:
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Boston Cyclists Union added a record 6.5 miles of permanent, protected bike lanes in 2020 through advocacy campaigns.
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San Francisco Bicycle Coalition advocated for the approval of two “quick-build” projects that were constructed in May 2021 and permanently designed streets for increased pedestrian and bicycle safety.
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Transportation Alternatives released an original report on bike parking which sparked robust public discourse. DOT promised to increase bike rack installation to 10,000 additional racks by the end of 2022.
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Move LA successfully pushed the connection of the Rail-to-Rail Project to the LA River (Segment B), which LA Metro approved in August 2022.
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LINK Houston continued a years-long advocacy campaign to stop a Texas Department of Transportation highway expansion project routed through priority communities that would displace thousands of people’s homes and jobs. In 2020, the federal government launched a Civil Rights Act Title VI investigation and Harris County, TX filed a lawsuit against the expansion project in response to continued advocacy campaigns.
7 grantees built or deepened cross-sector, policy-influencing partnerships that resulted in more engaged and active communities:
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East Metro Strong facilitated a data sharing agreement between the local Metro Transit and HourCar that will increase co-marketing efforts.
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Boston Cyclists Union deepened partnerships with both local mobility and priority community groups to align and advance shared interests collaboratively and collectively.
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Propel ATL reached 1,100 individuals via their Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority (MARTA) Army during community events and neighborhood planning meetings throughout the year.
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Coalition for Smarter Growth created a strong partnership with active community members to remain engaged with VDOT and the county for the next phase of the Route 7 bus rapid transit study.
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Seattle Neighborhood Greenways partnered with the Seattle Department of Transportation (SDOT) Human Services Race Equity Change team to address concerns on the aggressive parking ticketing in the Central District.
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Bike East Bay assisted Oakland with development and approval of a new block party permit process and worked with local organizations to pilot the new program with planning and implementation.
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Active Transportation Alliance formed partnerships and alliances with a mobilized group of new-to-transportation partners - such as the Fetal and Infant Mortality Review – who, prior to joining the advocacy committee, had no venue to advocate or connect around transportation justice issues.
4 grantees developed marketing materials for equitable transportation advocacy campaigns to bring stakeholders from engagement to ownership:
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East Metro Strong developed sharable marketing materials to promote the use of local transit and carshare services together.
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Seattle Neighborhood Greenways refreshed communications outputs, including developing a new logo, website, and storytelling videos. They designed wayfinding banners so that people know how to use greenways for commuting.
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Bike East Bay hosted two block parties in the Scoville neighborhood publicly posted descriptions of local multi-modal transportation needs.
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Health by Design designed meeting invites, agendas, slides, and summary reports for a statewide Health Equity Summit and used these during monthly transit partner meetings.
7 grantees campaigned and hosted trainings to advance equitable transportation policies through education:
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Our Streets Minneapolis/ MOVE MN launched a County Streets for People campaign to advance sustainable transportation and reduce vehicle miles traveled.
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San Francisco Bicycle Coalition launched the Tenderloin Community Alternatives to Policing (TLCAP) campaign to engage residents, and to educate and solicit feedback to develop non-police, community-based alternatives to traditional traffic enforcement.
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Transportation Alternatives conducted activist training and organizing to ensure the City did not cancel Open Streets in the winter. Due to advocacy efforts, the City committed to make Open Streets permanent, which secured 100 miles of car-free, multi-use streets.
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East Metro Strong tripled community sign-ups for HourCar, a local nonprofit carshare organization, through the Transit + Carshare campaign.
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Ride New Orleans worked directly with residents and priority groups to develop persuasive messages for decision makers, preparing individuals to directly impact policy as opposed to relying on professional advocates and planners to do this work.
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Coalition for Smarter Growth hosted 9 online trainings on equitable land use policy for transportation and housing.
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Health by Design hosted a statewide Health Equity Summit, which incorporated discussion around many of the priorities of the Equitable Transportation Fund.
7 grantees built coalitions to push crucial mobility access issues:
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Transportation Choices Coalitions built a strong, active coalition across sectors in the State of Washington through 50 virtual convenings that focused on collaborating and mobilizing with common principles and values.
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Our Streets Minneapolis/ Move MN hired staff to initiate a coalition building campaign that centered on co-creation and shared values rather than top-down decision making.
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Propel ATL hosted bi-monthly coalition meetings to advance transit equity advocacy with Propel ATL, Partnership for Southern Equity, MARTA Army, Southern Environmental Law Center, and the Statewide Independent Living Council of Georgia.
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Move LA advanced efforts on bus infrastructure at the local and state levels by building a coalition to support bus shelters and free student transit passes throughout California.
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Active Transportation Alliance defined the governing structure of the coalition more concretely, with two co-chairs, monthly committee meetings, and issue-focused working groups.
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Ride New Orleans created a model for a more inclusive planning process by bringing five diverse community partners in at a key time, ensuring that conversations and outputs would be driven by the needs of actual transit reliant residents.
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Transportation Choices Coalition adapted meeting and notes formatting to accommodate accessibility and ease of use requests from a broad range of partners.
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Boston Cyclists Union expanded safety changes to include two arterials in majority-minority neighborhoods though organizing and feedback from residents.
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San Francisco Bicycle Coalition won approvals for a 20 mph and No Turn on Red policy, which included the recommendations from the TLCAP outreach.
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Transportation Alternatives advocated for the creation of “self-enforcing streets” that rely on street design and automated enforcement, rather than NYPD officers to ensure that systems and infrastructure carry no biases that may lead to police harassment or violence, especially for communities of color.
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Coalition for Smarter Growth won immediate safety fixes, including: reducing travel lane width and creating a hashed shoulder along westbound Route 7 where there is a missing sidewalk connection; adding pedestrian warning signs along Route 7; and reprogramming of the Glenn Caryln Road intersection signal, to give pedestrians more time to cross.
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Active Transportation Alliance convened members of Chicago City Council for a subject-matter hearing in September 2022 with Chicago Transit Authority (CTA) and community leaders. The Advocacy Committee worked with allies to organize and host a press conference before the hearing. This has led to new and sustained public pressure on the agency to be more transparent and accountable in how it’s addressing its safety and service problems.
5 grantees influenced safer streets policies to improve pedestrian safety and bring equity principles into traffic enforcement practices:
PERFORMANCE METRICS
The Equitable Transportation Fund evaluates the impacts of awarded grants through metrics that are specific, measurable, achievable, realistic, and timely. They are designed to provide investment direction for future Equitable Transportation Fund Request for Proposal (RFP) by showing progress against fund goals:
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Goal 1. Free people from the cost and health burdens of carbon-emitting cars by increasing equitable, affordable, and safe access to emission-free transportation options.
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Goal 2. Gap-fill within essential advocacy group operations, especially those led by priority communities.
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Goal 3. Support collaboration that saves money and time in advancing equitable, affordable, safe, and emissions-free mobility within priority communities and across regions.
These metrics capture a variety of data points that are used to tell multiple story lines of impact. Measurement is based on annual assessment of portfolio data collected during final grant reporting.
Fund Goal
Success Metrics
2022
Baseline
2023
Target
Free people from the cost and health burdens of carbon-emitting cars by increasing equitable, affordable, and safe access to emission-free transportation options.
% of grants that work to optimize public transit capacity and safety
% 75
% 77
% of grants that work to support walking, cycling, and other forms of low carbon trips
% 63
% 65
% of grants that pursue recovery funding for public transit
% 38
% 40
% of grants that advance mobility by directly supporting priority communities (1) through subgrants
% 88
% 90
% of grants that integrate climate justice principles into mobility work
% 89
% 91
Gap-fill within essential advocacy group operations, especially those led by communities.
% of grants that focus on community organizing to advance balanced, multimodal mobility in just ways within and across regions mobility
% 94
% 96
% of grants that focus on advocacy campaigns to advance sustainable, equitable mobility
% 83
% 85
% of grants that have follow-on work to create beneficial and sustained local mobility impacts
% 100
%100
Support collaboration that saves money and time in advancing equitable, affordable, safe, and emissions-free mobility within priority communities and across regions.
% of grants that build partnerships with one or more mobility advocate groups within and/or across regions
% 72
% 90
% of grants that partner with one or more priority communities
% 83
% 85