Mobility is a basic human right and is the first step towards independence and autonomy. People who do not have the freedom of driving a car deserve the same mobility independence as someone who does drive.

We live in a city where the main focus of transportation is driving a car, however, there are many transportation options available. Finding the appropriate form of transportation for each individual is only half the battle, the other half is breaking the attitudinal barrier. Many people, both with and without disabilities, have fears of the unknown.

When I worked as a travel trainer, I encountered a lot of fear, not only from the person with the disability, but from family, caregivers and others anxious to protect them. Many people with disabilities who are dependent on others for assistance, will often adopt the fears of those around them.

After training consumers, I see an increase in their confidence and self-esteem. But then they go home and that feeling of empowerment fades when subjected to the doubts of those who surround them. So, I quickly learned the necessity of calming the fears of everyone involved with a consumer.

When clients meet me for the first time and see I have a disability, they ask how I get around. After I explain that I take different forms of public transportation, they are inspired to learn about their own opportunities. I started using public transportation when I was a teen-ager determined not to be saddled to my parents’ house.

When I was 18, I wanted to meet friends at the mall, but my mom could not take me. I got mad and said, “Fine, I am going to take the bus.” My mom told me, “Ok, go for it.” I rolled my wheelchair to the corner and waited for the bus. This was a good first step because the mall was only one mile from our house. My parents were scared, but they knew they had to let me do it. I was also scared, but when I got off the bus I felt free and independent. I want to give that same feeling to people who may feel trapped by their fears or lack of information

Q: Christina, what is your role in the organization?
A: I oversee all residential programs in the Los Angeles county, adult day program in Chatsworth, and all of PathPoint’s services in the Antelope Valley.

Q: What is the mission of Pathpoint?
A: Our Mission is to provide comprehensive training and support services that empower people with disabilities or disadvantages to live and work as valued members of our communities.

Q: Do you have an example of a challenge you’ve faced?
A: Edwards AFB has an initiative to hire more people with disabilities; however, they have had difficulty figuring out how to get individuals to the base that struggle with transportation challenges. This has made it very difficult to help very qualified candidates that just so happen to have disabilities become employed within the base. Due to homeland security measures and clearance to get onto the base, public transportation isn’t able to bring people to and from work at the base.

Q: How would MMP be of service to your organization?
A: It would be very challenging but if transportation services could be expanded to include the base from the gate to the location of the job site (which in some cases is up to 5 miles) then they would be able to employ more individuals with disabilities.

Congratulations to PathPoint for being named the Best Managed Nonprofit of the Year Award! At an award banquet hosted by the San Fernando Valley Business Times on May 12, 2010, PathPoint Los Angeles was honored as the Best Managed Nonprofit of the Year.

Secondly, we are solidly transitioning into our role as the source for transportation information. This past May we presented a Mobility Management panel discussion with a distinguished group of experts including: John Adams, Work Source, Diego Ramirez, Metro, Nicole Leiva, ACCESS, Nicole Maguire, R&D Travel Trainer, Shawna Lubs, Tierra del Sol and Dina Garcia, Public Transportation Advocate. (See another article for Dina’s perspective on Mobility Management.) We plan to hold additional forums in upcoming months and it is our goal to engage the community even more in our discussions and plans.

At MMP we have steadfastly committed ourselves to building avenues of communication so that we can best serve the community with transportation options. To help communicate our services, we’ve recently produced a brochure and website containing valuable links to transportation service providers. Check out page 4 for a sneak peak and contact information or visit our website.

Laura Moreno, Project Manager, MMP

A: JARC stands for Job Access Reverse Commute this program gets qualified individuals transportation options to jobs.

Q: How do I qualify for this service?

A: If you are a senior, low income or disabled individual that is trying to receive transportation to get back to work, you will qualify under this program.

Q: Who will schedule my transportation needs?

A: This is a referral service, Mobility Management Partners will provide you with transportation options available in the San Fernando Valley catchment area and will send you the transportation application that best suits your needs.

See MMP Services for additional information and links to transportation resources.

Federal transit law, as amended by SAFETEA-LU, requires projects funded from the JARC Program and the New Freedom program to be derived from a locally developed Coordinated Public Transit–Human Services Transportation Plan (the “Coordinated Plan”) beginning with the 2007 federal fiscal year. The goal of the JARC program is to improve access to transportation services to employment and employment related activities for welfare recipients and eligible low-income individuals and to transport residents of urbanized areas and non-urbanized areas to suburban employment opportunities.

Toward this goal, the FTA provides financial assistance for transportation services planned, designed, and carried out to meet the transportation needs of eligible low-income individuals, and of reverse commuters regardless of income.

JARC Program Performance Measures

Eligible projects are those that support the development and maintenance of transportation services designed to transport low-income individuals to and from jobs and activities related to their employment and to support reverse commute projects. They may include, but are not limited to capital, planning, and operating assistance to support new or expanded transportation services. The funds may be used for such activities as service extensions, guaranteed rides home, shuttle services, and ride-sharing activities.

The Coordinated Public Transit–Human Services Transportation Plan

The Coordinated Public Transit-Human Plan for Los Angeles County was formally adopted by the Metro Board of Directors in January 2008. This plan, which complies with the requirements of SAFETA-LU and will be updated every three to four years, establishes the overall goals for providing transportation services to disadvantaged and disabled groups, including the target populations of the JARC and New Freedom programs. It was developed in consultation with stakeholder groups, including management and staff of human and social service organizations and their clients, public transit agencies, and local and regional agencies. The plan includes four elements:

• An assessment of available transportation service providers, both private and public;
• An assessment of the transportation needs of disadvantaged individuals who may be elderly, disabled, and/or low-income;
• A listing of strategies to address assessed transportation needs and gaps in service; and,
• A priority listing of projects to be implemented based on available resources and feasibility for implementing specific
• strategies identified.

The plan also identifies four goals/ funding categories: coordination infrastructure, building capacity, information portals, and coordination policies and is available here.

Funding Availability for Competitive Selection Process

During the four-year period 2006-2009, SAFETEA-LU provided about $36.3 million to the areas in Los Angeles County located within the urbanized areas of Los Angeles-Santa Ana- Long Beach (UZA 2) and Lancaster-Palmdale (UZA 123) to fund eligible JARC and New Freedom projects and programs from competitive solicitations for proposals.

As the Designated Recipient of JARC and New Freedom funds, Metro conducted its first solicitation for proposals in 2007 and the second solicitation in 2008. As a result, Metro prepared and submitted grants to FTA on behalf of the sub-recipients and obligated about $10.8 million in JARC funds and $7.6 million in New Freedom funds.

Develop a pilot brokerage program in a limited geographic area, to demonstrate the viability of a single entity to screen, qualify, and assign human service agency clients to the most cost-effective options, and establish a reporting and evaluation program to assess the effectiveness of implementing such brokerage programs on a wider scale.

Finally, while both projects will require extraordinary effort and the cooperation of many stake-holders in order to be successful, I’m confident that the MMP team is up to the challenge.

Travel economically and safely. Call 1 888 667 7003 for options.

The 500K mobility management project in the San Fernando Valley is unique in that the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority required all proposals selected for funding to be derived from The Locally Developed, Coordinated Public Transit – Human Services Transportation Plan for Los Angeles County.

The Action Plan calls for the establishment of a “culture of coordination” throughout the county and “gradually building the capacity of public transit and human service agencies to develop and implement coordinated projects, plans and programs” which will result in improved service. The MMP proposal was designed to address two of the strategies that the Action Plan called for immediate implementation:

• The implementation of a Travel Training Program for human service agency staff and clients and expands the services required by the Americans with Disabilities Act.
• Development of a data collection process designed to assist human service agencies establish a reliable trip counting procedure and data collection process.

Charles Devlin, Executive Director, MMP

Spring is here and MMP is taking on the energy of the season; we’re ready to start anew, to revitalize our goals and our commitment to excellent service.

Looking at the glass as half full, we view the economic downturn as an opportunity for our company to make the transition from transportation managers to mobility management specialists. We are now creating enhanced transportation options for our customers that are safe, cost-effective and creatively implemented.

We understand that mobility management is key to our future because of its significant fiscal impact to the provision of transportation services.

For the community we serve, mobility management instills the spirit of independence to our participants as it fosters purpose and meaning and complete integration into the community at large.