The Joblinks Employment Transportation Center, a program of the Community Transportation Association of America, recently selected seven community teams to participate in its 2012-2013 Job Access Mobility Institute — and Greater Mercer TMA was one of the seven selected to participate in the Institute’s inaugural class!
The Job Access Mobility Institute is comprised of these seven teams from around the country who are developing transportation solutions to overcome a employment-related mobility issues in their area. Greater Mercer TMA pulled together a team of local organizations to work on issues facing the Route 130 corridor and its surrounding warehouse district in Mercer County.
The team will be headed by GMTMA but comprised of key members from throughout the community, including the Mercer County Planning Department; the Mercer Regional Chamber of Commerce and Robbinsville Township (who will each lend economic development specialists to the cause); social service organization Rise of Hightstown; and Mercer County Community College will lend its workforce development expertise. The wide range of backgrounds, experiences, and perspectives of the group members combined with each organization’s strong history of collaborative solution-oriented work will make for an exceptional Institute team.
According to the press release, “teams were chosen based on their commitment and readiness to engage in an innovative design approach to solving an identified job access mobility issue in their community. The winners emerged from a competitive field of applications.”
Over the next several months, the seven teams will:
• Undertake community research on job access issues
• Apply their research in choosing a priority job access need
• Convene a one-day workshop to engage the broader community in the team’s efforts
• Attend the 3.5-day Job Access Mobility Summit (November 27-30, 2012) in Arlington, Virginia. During this summit, teams will attend learning forums and, as teams, brainstorm solutions and create an action plan for implementing them.
• Return home to field test and implement their project
GMTMA has worked on employment transportation solutions since its inception in 1984 and has more recently begun to address the personal mobility issues facing Mercer County’s residents — specifically, the transportation issues faced by the county’s traditionally transportation-disadvantaged populations. With its upcoming Institute work and previously awarded FTA New Freedom Grant, the TMA is excited to keep innovating in the emerging field of mobility management.
Learn more about the Joblinks Employment Transportation Center at www.solutionstogetthere.org.