Research, advocacy, & policy
Dear Friend of Equiticity,
I am writing here to share a sincere "happy holidays" greeting with you and our Equiticity community.
As the holiday season is among us and Giving Tuesday is next Tuesday, December 3, I am also writing to ask you to consider donating to Equiticity's End of Year Fundraising Campaign.
Imagine a world where racial equity, mobility justice, and environmental justice are operationalized at the federal level and in cities and states across the US.
Short of our dream being a reality today, here is the stark truth for racially marginalized communities in our country:
Many people consider it challenging to find reliable public transit to get to work every day.
The spatial mismatch forces many people to endure relatively long commute times.
Concerns around various types of violence (interpersonal, vehicular, and police) shape people's transportation mode choice.
Too many people experience an egregious level of pretextual stops conducted by the Chicago Police Department and police departments across our country.
Poor air quality in Black and Brown neighborhoods contribute to a range of public health inequities.
Racially marginalized people have difficulties travelling to important destinations proven to improve life outcomes, including locations related to health care, education, job centers, civic engagement, recreation, and quality grocery stores.
Many Black and Brown people feel compelled to own a car because transit and other forms of active transportation are not considered safe or otherwise viable transportation options.
The above represent a few of the transportation and environmental inequities disproportionately impacting Black, Brown, and Indigenous communities across our country.
Your donation to Equiticity will support cutting-edge racial equity and racial justice strategies across policy areas and industry sectors.
Equiticity works in partnership on several research, advocacy, and technical assistance projects centering community voices:
Free2Move Coalition: A collaboration among Black and Brown community-based organizations in Chicago aiming to create an equitable traffic safety system that prioritizes racial equity and mobility justice, particularly for those most impacted by discriminatory policing practices. The coalition advances racial equity by fostering direct dialogue with policymakers, influencing policy efforts to end pretextual stops, and reducing harmful police interactions.
Equitable Community Engagement – Cultivating Accountability Through Meaningful Public Engagement: A national, collaborative research project led by the Center for Neighborhood Technology that focuses on developing a manual that provides practical strategies, processes, methods, and procedures for understanding and establishing meaningful public engagement in transportation decision-making, emphasizing the engagement of vulnerable communities.
MIT Bus Service Project - Improving Access to the Illinois Medical District for Low-Income Workers and Patients: A 3-year project, led by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Transit Lab and the MIT Mobility Initiative, designed to test new approaches to bus service that will improve access to the Illinois Medical District for low-income workers and patients. The project will test different forms of bus service in areas that are beyond a reasonable walk to a bus stop, including the testing of a temporary pilot of a fully on-demand bus service. These pilot experiments will help CTA and the project team learn more about how new approaches and technologies can help improve access for transit riders.
Black Perspectives on Transit Research: Led by the University of Illinois Chicago, the project aims to create a more positive public transit experience for Black Chicagoans. The project focuses on the unique travel patterns, needs, and priorities of Black public transit riders in Chicago, particularly within the North Lawndale neighborhood on the Westside of Chicago. Through facilitating virtual focus groups, a hybrid town hall, and gathering qualitative data through interviews, surveys, videos, and photography, the project seeks to highlight barriers to positive transit experiences and generate actionable policy recommendations to improve transit for a racially marginalized community.
USDOT Thriving Communities Program Team: Equiticity is a member of a USDOT Thriving Communities Program team, led by Main Street America, serving 20 rural and indigenous communities across the US. This national project provides technical assistance and capacity-building support to under-resourced communities adversely impacted by a range of environmental, climate, public health, and transportation inequities. The project matches local government agencies and their local community partners with technical assistance and capacity building providers. The project is designed to develop and implement transportation and community revitalization projects that enhance mobility, reduce pollution, and accelerate development.
Richmond Park Equity Project (RichPEP): Led by Rich City Rides in Richmond, California, RichPEP is a collaborative effort to identify sources of park inequities in Richmond, explore strategies and actions for solving these park inequities, and propose policy recommendations that are ideal for Richmond. RichPEP is a Black and Brown resident-led movement that will focus on long-term, systemic solutions resulting in getting needed park-related projects built and programs funded. The project seeks sustainable solutions to improve park access, funding, and prioritization.
The above projects represent a sample of the work Equiticity is doing in Chicago and cities across our country to improve life outcomes for racially marginalized communities through policy, research, advocacy, and technical assistance.
Please help transform our society, by donating to our end-of-year fundraising campaign: Equiticity - The Next Chapter.
Thank you and happy holidays.
Warm regards,
Oboi
Olatunji Oboi Reed
President & CEO, Equiticity
