In a first-of-its-kind study, Transportation Equity Network (TEN) surveyed how states are doing at creating job opportunities in infrastructure for women and minorities. They found some notable bright spots, but a lot more work to be done. As TEN points out in their release, infrastructure investment continues to present an untapped opportunity for job creation [...]

Sidewalkers Originally uploaded by Transportation for America to Flickr. Photo by the Safe Routes to School National Partnership Transportation is what connects us all to the things we need each day, making life possible. But the decisions we’ve made about where and how to spend our transportation dollars have extended that opportunity to some people [...]

The room was packed and the energy palpable at yesterday’s launch of the Equity Caucus at Transportation for America. Three members of Congress – Barbara Lee of California, Corrine Brown of Florida and keynote speaker Elijah Cummings of Maryland – joined a diverse crowd of advocates for equity from a variety of backgrounds and organizations.

America should a place where everyone has access to opportunity, where everyone can get to work or a grocery store without breaking the bank or enduring long, brutal commutes. Everyone should have access to a variety of transportation options. The air should be clean and the streets safe for everyone, no matter their zip code, income level or skin color. Isn’t America supposed to be the land of opportunity? Today, Transportation for America is proud to join the nation’s leading civil rights, community development, racial justice, economic justice, faith-based, health, housing, labor, environmental justice, tribal, and transportation organizations to launch the Equity Caucus at Transportation for America.

We’re facing an epidemic of childhood obesity, and this could very well be a generation of children who live shorter, less healthy lives than their parents. A healthier transportation system for America’s kids requires change in federal policy. But change will remain out of our grasp without a sense of urgency from everyday people on the ground. So where’s the meeting point between policymakers in Washington and citizens in their neighborhoods?

In the midst of discouraging news from hundreds of transit agencies across the country facing difficult choices in the midst of budget crises (see our map), we bring some encouraging news from Mississippi, and an update to a story we’ve covered previously in this guest post.

Despite featuring organizations from a wide range of backgrounds, this month’s Social and Economic Equity Caucus yielded a great deal of agreement on policy. The event, sponsored jointly by Transportation for American and Policy Link, brought a mix of labor, faith-based, environmental, civil rights, health and other groups to Washington to address the need for [...]

Dozens of doctors and health professionals from around the country flooded the capital this week to educate Congress about the link between transportation policy and health. Co-hosted by the American Public Health Association, PolicyLink and others, the Transportation for America Health Summit incorporated both a policy briefing and individual meetings with lawmakers to highlight the connection between health and transportation. The briefing, titled “Get Moving! Mobilizing for a Healthier Transportation System” showcased four high level experts on health and transportation including a youth wellness advocate and Transportation for America Director James Corless.

A new report from Transportation for America and the Transportation Equity Network takes a closer look at the cuts that public transportation agencies across the country are facing and how they’ve have impacted the people in those communities. Stranded at the Station: The Impact of the Financial Crisis in Public Transportation is the first systematic analysis of the issue, and the story is not a pretty one.

Financial crisis and federal stimulus have slowed the push to privatize infrastructure. (New York Times) A new study looks how to address equity concerns in congestion pricing. (Environmental Defense Fund) Michigan Governor Jennifer Granholm suggests that old car factories to be retooled to make trains, while the state cuts 137 transportation projects because of lack [...]