announcements Archives - Transportation For America

Transportation for America’s long-tenured director tapped to lead the Sacramento Area Council of Governments

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
September 21, 2016

T4America’s James Corless will depart in 2017 to lead Sacramento’s pioneering metropolitan planning agency

James Corless headshot WASHINGTON, DC — After more than eight years as the director of Transportation for America, the only national non-profit coalition dedicated to smart, homegrown, locally-driven transportation solutions, James Corless has been selected by the Sacramento Area Council of Governments (SACOG) to become the agency’s new chief executive officer beginning in the spring of 2017.

James Corless will replace Mike McKeever as CEO, who is retiring at the end of this year after a long career helping SACOG become one of the most forward-looking metropolitan planning agencies in the country.

Upon his appointment, Corless made this statement:

I am honored to be given the opportunity to lead SACOG into its next chapter. From its work strengthening rural communities and preserving agricultural land to the progress promoting more walkable, transit-oriented, and compact development through the Sacramento Region Blueprint, on the ground success can be seen across the region. SACOG’s leadership and role as convener and collaborator is going to be critical in the years ahead in order to promote economic prosperity, innovation, and a high quality of life that will benefit each and every resident of the region.

James Corless has served as director of T4America since January 2009, steering the organization through numerous changes over the years and producing significant accomplishments. Since 2013, Corless has been the primary force behind building T4America’s strong national network of civic, elected, and business leaders who understand that smart, strategic investments in infrastructure are crucial for attracting economic development.

Under his leadership, T4America created an ongoing series of training academies aimed at helping local leaders of all stripes make their ambitious transportation plans a reality, helped launch the national Smart Cities Collaborative for municipalities looking to use technology to improve mobility options, and found ways to train and encourage dozens of regional planning agencies across the United States to implement data-driven decision-making to improve transparency and get more bang for the buck.

“While we will certainly miss James and the valuable leadership he has provided to this organization over the years, he built an incredibly strong foundation and catalyzed a movement of local leaders working hard to change the status quo; a movement that will long outlast his time at T4A,” said Geoff Anderson, president and CEO of Smart Growth America, of which T4America is a program. “He recruited passionate, talented people to come and work for us, and worked to show scores of state, metro and local agencies smarter ways to spend their transportation dollars. All of which makes it no surprise that an organization like SACOG with a terrific reputation of people-first planning would come looking for a leader like James.”

Corless will stay on as director of T4America through March 2017. We’ll be sharing additional information about his replacement over the coming months.

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Transportation for America is an alliance of elected, business and civic leaders from communities across the country, united to ensure that states and the federal government step up to invest in smart, homegrown, locally-driven transportation solutions — because these are the investments that hold the key to our future economic prosperity.

For any California-based inquiries, please contact Monica Hernández at SACOG
916-599-4568 / MHernandez@sacog.org

Now Hiring: Communications Intern (paid)

Transportation for America is hiring a paid Communications Intern to produce and write compelling stories and content, help manage our website and social media channels; and contribute to our grassroots advocacy and media work focusing on smart investments in transportation.

The intern will join a small, dynamic communications team at T4America (and Smart Growth America) that forms the outward face of Transportation for America’s work. This is an opportunity that features a great deal of responsibility, direct collaboration with our supporters and valuable hands-on experience.

Position description

The ideal intern is an exceptional writer and editor who is plugged-in to news and developments about transportation funding and policy at the federal, state and local level, and can perform and synthesize research on a range of related issues. The successful candidate will be able to use all these skills to create engaging content (i.e. longer reported pieces and blog posts) for Transportation for America’s website and a range of other on- and off-line outlets.

Our interns are dependable team players who can perform regular duties when asked, but also proactive self-starters who can offer and implement new ideas for how to make the team’s work even better. Interns will be writing assigned posts and longer stories, but will also be counted upon to do enterprising work on producing story ideas to pitch to the rest of the team.

The intern’s primary responsibilities include:

Managing and maintaining our social media channels on a daily basis, predominantly Twitter and Facebook.
Reporting and writing original newsy content for our blog and longer-form profiles of local regions and leaders making innovative investments in transportation, including doing interviews with local leaders or advocates for background and quotes.
Writing, posting and managing content on our WordPress-powered website.
Writing, formatting and sending HTML emails to our members and supporters, including a bi-weekly newsletter.
Tracking new developments in federal, state and local transportation policy that are worth emulating and sharing with others on staff and beyond.
Assisting with our outreach to reporters and bloggers; and
Providing general communications support for the organization and our allies.

Requirements

All T4America internships require a self-motivated, detail-oriented person with excellent writing, oral communication and organizational skills, as well as the ability to think creatively and work independently with minimal supervision. Candidates should have a strong interest in economic development, transportation, smart growth or related areas.

In addition, the Communications Intern should have a working understanding of HTML and CSS; familiarity with (web) content and customer relationship management tools (WordPress is our CMS and Salsa is our CRM for grassroots email list and advocacy work); and a solid understanding of organizational social media protocol. Knowledge of Adobe Creative Suite (Photoshop and/or InDesign or Illustrator) for light graphics support a plus.

Candidates should have at least a bachelor’s degree and all candidates should be highly computer literate.

Compensation, location and time frame

The position is full time (40 hours per week) and requires a six-month commitment. Some former interns have joined our full-time staff. Transportation for America interns receive a stipend of $1,500 per month. This position is based in our offices in Washington, DC and will be starting around mid-October.

To apply

Please send these materials to info@t4america.org with “Communications Intern” in the subject line:

A short cover letter that includes a 50-word description of the assets you would bring to this position
A current resume with references
Two recent writing samples (500 words or less.)

Applications will be accepted immediately on a rolling basis until the position is filled.

Equal Opportunity Employment

Equal opportunity and having a diverse staff are fundamental principles at Transportation for America. Employment and promotional opportunities are based upon individual capabilities and qualifications without regard to race, color, religion, gender, pregnancy, sexual orientation/preference, age, national origin, marital status, citizenship, disability, veteran status or any other protected characteristic as established under law.

About Transportation for America

T4America is an alliance of elected, business and civic leaders from communities across the country who are united to ensure that states and the federal government step up to invest in smart, homegrown, locally-driven transportation solutions. Learn more at https://t4america.org

Join T4A’s Beth Osborne in Portland and Seattle next week for talks on transportation and economic development

Beth Osborne, Transportation for America’s senior policy advisor, is making three stops in the Pacific Northwest soon to discuss how investing in transportation can help drive economic development.

The three sessions will focus on how we can plan and develop our roads, transit systems and freight networks to bring the best possible economic returns. You will learn how regions across the country have made investment decisions and the results they achieved with regard to economic development and competitiveness.

Beth Osborne brings five year’s experience from US DOT, including serving as Acting Assistant Secretary for Transportation Policy, and a national perspective on prospects for improvements to transportation policy and funding. Sign up today. T4America members should have already received a promo code for discounted registration.

Find out more about each session and register with the links below.

Updated news on the transportation bill outline release

After much back-and-forth on times and dates today, we think this information is pretty solid: Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Chairman James Oberstar is holding an invitation-only press conference Wednesday, June 17th at 11 a.m. to talk with invited media outlets about the white paper and outline for the upcoming transportation bill.

24 hours later, on Thursday, June 18th at 11 a.m., he’s going to hold an open press conference (we’ll be there) to do the same thing all over again with everyone else.

We have heard that Chairman Oberstar is releasing a 12-page paper and a 100-page outline of the bill over the next two days and it’s likely that at least one of those — probably the shorter white paper — will be released Wednesday at 11 a.m for the first briefing.

As always, check in with our Twitter feed @T4America for the most up-to-the-minute news.

T4 America to testify on Capitol Hill this afternoon

PlatformLaunch3 Originally uploaded by Transportation for America

T4 America Campaign Director James Corless at our platform launch back in February.

Transportation for America will be on Capitol Hill today testifying before the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation about “The Future of National Surface Transportation Policy.” You can stream it live on the Committee’s website.

Campaign director James Corless, along with Anne Canby of the Surface Transportation Policy Partnership and a founding member of T4 America, will be testifying this afternoon at 2:30 p.m. EDT.

We’ll post the full testimony from each speaker later this afternoon following the hearing. James will be discussing how our current transportation policy lacks a unified, coherent purpose — hampering our national prosperity and preventing us from addressing critical national issues like congestion relief, energy security, reducing emissions, and making transportation affordable for all Americans.

Transportation investments are our nation’s best tool to improve our economic competitiveness; reduce energy usage and curb greenhouse gas emissions; provide good paying green jobs; increase economic opportunity; and improve quality of life for all Americans. The upcoming rewrite of our federal transportation law represents a once in a lifetime opportunity to develop a new national transportation vision and leave behind a legacy for our children and grandchildren.

Unfortunately, our nation lacks a cohesive national surface transportation policy, and consequently, cannot adequately address many of our transportation challenges — let alone address other pressing national issues.

Check back later this afternoon for their full testimony if you’d like to read it, or watch it live.

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