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Regional Equity – Methods and Measures
OVERVIEW • METHODS AND MEASURES • TARGET COMMUNITIES • DATA AND MAPS
Methods
The MPO Regional Equity Program is composed of three key elements:

Community Outreach


The MPO takes a proactive, grassroots approach to identifying and articulating environmental justice issues in the region. The methods used include:
  • Identifying and connecting with existing and new contacts and sources of information for the planning process
  • Collecting and reporting information on the transportation needs of minority and low-income populations for consideration in MPO planning
  • Encouraging and facilitating participation in the planning process
  • Serving as a conduit to other agencies for ideas on improving transportation
In carrying out these steps, the MPO identifies community contacts who work on or are knowledgeable about issues and needs of the residents of their areas, including those pertaining to transportation. These contacts include social service organizations, community development corporations, regional employment boards, civic groups, business and labor organizations, transportation advocates, environmental groups, and environmental justice and civil rights groups.

The MPO´s process for working with these community organizations consists of:
Gathering Information
Information about the transportation needs of minority and low-income populations is primarily collected through small-group interviews and meetings with community contacts, and through larger MPO focus groups or forums.

The MPO initiates one-on-one or small-group interviews at the offices of representatives of community organizations to discuss transportation needs and burdens. In this way, the MPO facilitates the participation of some of the people who might not otherwise have the time or financial resources to travel to meetings in a central location or to participate in public forums but are best positioned to speak about the transportation needs of low-income and minority residents of environmental justice areas.

During these meetings, the MPO is able to both obtain information about the transportation needs of the area and inform participants about the MPO and the metropolitan planning process. Information and surveys are mailed to community contacts prior to these meetings to help participants prepare. These materials are also sent to those who are unable to schedule time for an interview but could provide information useful to the MPO´s planning process.

The MPO also encourages contacts to participate in all scheduled MPO meetings and forums.
Summarizing Concerns and Issues
The MPO staff interprets, summarizes, and classifies the needs identified by each participant in the outreach process as related to the Transportation Plan, Transportation Improvement Program (TIP), Unified Planning Work Program (UPWP), service planning, or other planning processes. This information, along with copies of the surveys, local transportation and local use maps, and any other notes and information, is compiled in briefing books for review by community representatives and as input to the MPO. The briefing books are also available to interested parties in environmental justice areas.
Ongoing Collaboration with Community Organizations
Communication is ongoing, as the MPO staff keeps community organizations updated with information concerning MPO planning activities and continues to solicit information and views.
Incorporation of Environmental Justice in the Planning Process
The MPO integrates environmental justice concerns into the planning process by sharing input from its outreach work, by using environmental justice as a consideration in its planning documents, and by examining environmental justice issues.

The potential effect of a proposed project on environmental justice areas is a criterion in the project evaluation process for the Transportation Plan and TIP. Projects that are estimated to benefit environmental justice areas receive positive ratings, and projects that may burden these areas receive negative ratings. The MPO considers these ratings when deciding what projects should be listed in the Plan or TIP.
Analysis of the Effects of Planned Transportation Projects
The MPO performs a detailed, system-level analysis of transportation equity in the region by examining existing mobility and accessibility for environmental justice and non-environmental-justice areas. The MPO also examines the effects of the recommended set of projects on each type of area.

The MPO uses performance measures when it performs its analyses. These measures fall into three categories:
  • Accessibility in terms of average transit and highway travel times from environmental justice areas to industrial, retail, and service employment opportunities; health care; and institutions of higher education. In recent work, the analysis of transit travel times included destinations within a 40-minute transit trip, and the analysis of highway travel times included destinations within a 20-minute auto trip. The accessibility analysis also included an examination of the number of destinations within a 40-minute transit trip and a 20-minute auto trip.
  • Mobility and congestion in terms of the average volumes of vehicle-miles traveled in congested conditions and the average door-to-door travel times for both transit and highway trips produced in and attracted to the area.
  • Environmental impact in terms of the volumes of carbon monoxide (CO) emitted per square mile.
The results of the analyses are used to understand how a set of projects might affect the environmental justice areas as compared with the non-environmental-justice areas in the region.

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