Session Organizer: Ned Wight, Unitarian Universalist Veatch Program at Shelter Rock

"A second stimulus package"…. "Hundreds of billions of dollars"….Will it make things worse or better for our communities? Transportation is the largest item in the federal budget after defense and the largest item in household budgets after housing. Congress will soon be debating transportation reauthorization funding involving hundreds of billions of dollars. Our transportation options and investments—or the lack of them—impact the most fundamental aspects of our lives: where we live, where we work, where we study, what opportunities we can access, how we form communities. By transforming American transportation policy and funding, we can transform America. The Transportation Equity Network is a network of hundreds of community organizations committed to linking local, state and federal policy to ensure racial equity and to create sustainable and healthy communities. Using the example of the Central Corridor Light Rail Project in St. Paul, Minnesota and the transit and transportation issue in Buffalo, New York, community organizers will demonstrate how national campaign strategy can leverage local power to win concrete victories for transportation equity. This work involves publicly accountable implementation, an evolution in the sophistication of organizing, and multi layered at the city, county, regional, state and Federal levels.

Presenters:
Don Chen, Ford Foundation (invited) (Moderator)
Doran Schrantz, ISAIAH
Luisa Pacheco, VOICE Buffalo
Jonathan Sage-Martinson, CCFC (invited)