August, Mobility and Access Coalition (MAC) Agenda and Newsletter

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Collaborating for Equitable Transportation Options to
Empower People of All Ages & Abilities

 Monthly Newsletter

Mobility & Access Coalition meetings are virtual, 2nd Monday of the Month

July 11, 2:00-3:45 p.m. 

To Register in Advance: boco.org/MACMeeting

Welcome & Introductions 

Updates 

  • Transportation Sales Tax Extension Ballot Measure
  • Access-a-Ride Lunch and Learn
  • Lyons Flyer Service
  • Zero Fare for Better Air 
  • Peak to Peak Transportation Survey
  • Lunch and Learn: ACL Disability Etiquette on Sep 9
  • Mobility and Access for All Ages and Abilities Plan Adoption
  • Other Organization Updates

RTD Transit Police 

  • RTD Transit Police, ADA Training, and RTD Security Measures by Patrick Meester

DRCOG Human Services Transportation Set Aside

  • Matthew Helfant 

Outreach Inventory

  • Angel Bond

10th Anniversary MAC Celebration

  • Emcee, Driver Recognition

Lunch and Learn Schedule 

  • Brainstorming

Conclusion

Events

Throughout August
Zero Fare for Better Air, RTD

August 11
Coffee Chat for Zero Fare for Better Air at Downtown Boulder Station, RTD

August 13
Veteran Community Conversation, Area Agency on Aging

August 17
Veteran Community Conversation, Area Agency on Aging

August 18
Veteran Community Conversation, Area Agency on Aging

August 20
Motorcycle Show, Cultivate

August 24
Downtown Superior Summertime Ride-Along: August 2022 Walk-and-Learn: All About RTD Transit, Commuting Solutions

September 15
Fall Employee Transportation Coordinator Meeting, Boulder Transportation Connections

It is Boulder County policy to make county programs, meetings, activities, and services accessible to individuals with disabilities, according to the Americans with Disabilities Act. If you need special assistance, contact the ADA Coordinator at 303-441-3525 at least 72 hours before the scheduled event.

Human Stories

RTD Zero Fare for Better Air Events


Coffee Chats

Ride free on RTD for all of August 2022! During the entire month of August, RTD will be offering zero fares across its system as part of the Zero Fare for Better Air initiative, including bus, rail paratransit, and microtransit to encourage the public to ride RTD services.

Community coffee chats will also be occurring throughout the month at various RTD stations to allow the public to ask questions to RTD staff and the RTD Transit Police. See the schedule for coffee chats throughout all of August in various locations here.


Boulder County Area Agency on Aging Community Input for Veterans


area agency on aging

The Boulder County Area Agency on Aging is seeking community input to identify priorities for veterans. The Veterans Service Officers are hosting in-person and virtual community conversation meetings in August to identify needs including housing, mental and behavioral health supports, transportation, and beyond. Veterans, their spouses, survivors, and dependent are welcome to join the conversations. Registration is required for the meetings, and meetings will be recorded for transcription purposes. For more information please contact Lindsay Neville with Boulder County Area Agency on Aging at lneville@bouldercounty.org 

Meetings are at the following times: 

Monday, August 13: 5:30 - 7:00PM, register on Zoom here.

Wednesday, August 17, 12:00PM - 1:30PM, register on Zoom here.

Thursday, August 18, 10:00AM - 11:30AM, Izaak Walton Clubhouse (18 South Sunset, Longmont, CO 80501), register here


Service in the Peak to Peak Survey


Peak to Peak

The Peak to Peak region has the opportunity to utilize the old Gold Hill paratransit bus through grants from CDOT, Via, EFAA, and Boulder County. This survey is getting more information on what service could be provided to the region between Central City to Lyons including Jamestown, Bark, Raymond/Riverside, Allenspark, Gold Hill, Ward, Nederland, Wondervu, Pinecliffe, and Rollinsville. The survey will help establish service events and understand other uses for the bus.

Take the survey by clicking here. A printable version of the survey is here.


Mobility and Access for All Ages and Abilities Plan Adopted


https://www.bouldercounty.org/departments/transportation/mobility-and-access-for-all-ages-and-abilities/

The Boulder County Board of Commissioners adopted the Mobility and Access for All Ages and Abilities Plan on Thursday, July 28. This plan is the first of it's kind aiming to expand transportation access for Boulder County's most vulnerable residents, including creating more accessible roads and bus stops, expanding travel to youth and families, expanding affordable transit, investing in projects to invest in recruiting and retaining bus drivers, and more.

We would like to congratulate Angel Bond and Cammie Edson on their hard work on this plan as well as a thank you to all of the Mobility and Access Coalition members who put thoughtful time and effort into ensuring that this plan could be adopted. We couldn't have done it without you! 
The plan can be viewed at: https://boco.org/MAAAA


CPWD, Beyond Vision, and M4A Visually Impaired & Blind Workshops


Mobility for All Horizontal Graphic

Boulder County Mobility for All hosts workshops to help community members learn how to use smartphone-based transportation applications. We would like to host a series of interactive feedback sessions with people who are visually impaired and/or blind to critically evaluate our workshops to make them more accessible to low-vision folks. Lunch and transportation support such as Uber or Lyft credits or bus passes are included a well as a $50 gift card at the end of the inclusive planning process.

We would love to get your thoughts on who would be a good fit for this planning process:

  • Who: People with low vision, vision impairment, and blindness or people who work closely with the visually impaired and blind community.
  • What: Volunteer to participate in interactive feedback sessions to create low vision accessible workshop.
  • When: Meet monthly for 2 hours between July and December 2022
  • Where: Center for People with Disabilities, 1675 Range Street, Boulder, CO 80301

Please let us know if you or anyone you work with would be a good fit. If you would like to attend these workshops, please contact Angel Bond (abond@bouldercounty.org) or Chloe Grant (cgrant@bouldercounty.org) for more


Boulder County Worthy Cause Grant


Boulder County Logo

The Boulder County Commissioners are seeking Requests for Funding from qualified nonprofit human service agencies and housing authorities for the 2023 allocation of Worthy Cause funds from 2017 County Ballot Issue 1A "Worthy Cause 0.05% Countywide Sales and Use Tax Extension."

Learn more about how the grant is funded and how to apply for the grant here. Applications Due August 19. 


Get Involved
www.walk2connect.com

Movie Showing: This Is [Not] Who We Are, a documentary film exploring the gap between Boulder's self image of inclusivity and equity and the more complex lived experiences of Black residents historically and contemporary, is being shown at the Chautauqua Auditorium on August 25th. Buy tickets to see the film here.

Disability Programming: The Colorado Cross-Disability Coalition (CCDC) is hosting a short-term program providing Denver residents with a diagnosed mobility and/or cognitive disability with free opportunities to explore local outdoor spaces. Click here for more information.

Travel Training: Take a trip with DRMAC on one of their four Getting There Travel Training 101 trainings this month while RTD is free! DRMAC is offering sessions on August 17, 22, 23, and 31 to help community members learn how to take RTD buses safely. Read more about DRMAC's travel training options offered throughout the year here.

Donate: Via is to expand their mobility services into Metro Denver as the number of clients they serve in the area has doubled in 2021. Via is asking for increased support to expand their transit to more people. Donate here.

MAC Member Social Media Survey: We are asking that all MAC members fill out a survey to help Mobility for All inventory our MAC Member's social media and newsletter assets and willingness to coordinate outreach events to enable us to collaborate more effectively. Please take this survey to help us establish which outreach methods are accessible to distribute transportation related information.


Opportunities Learn and Grow
Webinar without text

Podcast: Navigating Mobility Justice with Naomi Doerner, MUP, who discusses how to help planners navigate mobility justice initiatives to address systemic inequalities and barriers in transportation.

Seminars: Transit Planning 4 All has created a virtual roundtable series discussing the communication, partnership, engagement strategies, and success of inclusive transportation planning. 

Grant Opportunities

1. USDOT Safe Streets and Roads for All (SS4A) Grant Program is now open to all metropolitan planning organizations, counties, cities, towns, transit agencies, federally recognized Tribal governments, and multijurisdictional groups.. Apply by September 15, 2022 to be considered for funding. 

2. The Strengthening Mobility and Revolutionizing Transportation (SMART) Grant Program funded by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law is open to eligible public sector agencies to conduct demonstration projects to advance technology to improve transportation efficiency and safety. Notice of funding opportunities will open during September 2022.

3. The Reconnecting Communities Pilot Discretionary Grant Program funded by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law is the first ever grant program to help reconnect communities that have been previously cut off from economic opportunities by transportation infrastructure to restore communities through removal, mitigation, or replacement of eligible transportation infrastructure. Apply by October 13, 2022 to be considered for funding.

Job Opportunities:

Want to have a meaningful career giving back to your community? Many of our amazing community partners are hiring for positions that help connect people with transportation resources or provide transportation services. Check out the opportunities today!

  1. City of Boulder: Transportation Maintenance Senior Project Manager, Communications Program Manager (Transportation & Mobility/Utilities), and Transportation Senior Planner
  2. Boulder County: Bilingual Human Services Caseworker 
  3. City of Longmont: Senior Services Manager 
  4. Cultivate: Outreach Specialist
  5. RTD: Civil Rights Specialist (Bilingual Preferred)
  6. RTD: Multiple Open Positions with Signing Bonuses!
  7. Via Mobility Services: Bus, Paratransit, and Volunteer Driver Positions
  8. Boulder Valley School District: Bus Drivers
  9. St. Vrain School District: Bus Drivers
In the News
Image Multimodal Options
MAC Divider

Biking: How Colorado plans to spend $12 million in new funding on an e-bike program, Colorado Sun

Gas Prices: High Gas Prices Are Reviving Up This Online Anti-Car Movement, CNET

RTD Opinion: Group sends letter objecting to bus service reductions by RTD, Boulder Daily Camera

Free Transit: The State of America's Free Transit Systems, Planetzine

Equity: Equity and exclusion issues in cashless fare payment systems for public transportation, Science Direct

Ridehailing: How the ride-sharing revolution failed passengers with disabilities, The Verge

Accessibility: Uber settles with Justice Department on complaint it violated the Americans with Disabilities Act, Smart Cities Dive, Smart Cities Dive

CO 119: How the CO 119 Diagonal is Becoming a Vision of Sustainable, Safe Transportation, Commuting Solutions

Equity: Equity in Transportation: What Could It Look Like? National Center for Mobility Management

Disability Rights: Airline Passengers with Disability Bill of Rights, U.S. Department of Transportation

Affordable Housing: Steamboat is asking voters to tax Airbnb's to pay for affordable housing. Will it work? CPR News

RTD: RTD's board OKs bus network overhaul that will put focus on the city, away from the suburbs, CPR News

How To Ride RTD Safely This August: Gonna give public transit a try during free-fare August? Here are some tips for a smooth ride, CPR News

 


Learn about mobility options and resources in our region: 

Boulder County Mobility and Access Coalition's Vision is an equitable transportation network that empowers people of all ages and abilities to move in and beyond the Boulder County community.