Strength in Diversity: The Association Puts Plans into Action

The Association is pursuing transit equity, both within the industry and to further social and racial justice in broader society.

By Arianna Smith
Managing Editor
Transit California

In 2021, the Association formally and unequivocally stated its institutional commitment to racial equity and social justice, bringing the concepts forward through a landmark report that became a guiding principle for its short- and long-term planning:

"Racial Equity and Social Justice are principles that communities across California value and hold up as critical elements of our society," the Task Force for an Inclusive, Diverse, and Equitable Association (IDEA) wrote in its final report. "Equity in the provision of transportation and the concept of mobility as a human right are at the core of public transit and the mission the California Transit Association's member organizations embrace and seek to advance."

The IDEA Task Force was Chaired by Beverly Greene, then of the Alameda-Contra Costa Transit District (now of the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Agency), and Vice-Chaired by Alva Carrasco then of WSP (now of Burns Engineering), both longtime leaders and participants on several Association committees. They were supported on the Task Force by fifteen representatives of Association member agencies from across California who specialize in customer advocacy, civil rights, government affairs, transportation planning, and more.

The following year, the Association's Executive Committee and other leadership incorporated the findings and recommendations of the report into its five-year Strategic Plan to guide Association activities from 2023-2028.

"The creation and work of the IDEA Task Force was critical for the Association to undertake at a time when the Association, as well as our own organizations were having important conversations about racism. These discussions focused on how we would confront institutional racism and how the history of racism impacted transportation decisionmaking. For the Association, the focus was on how to ensure that it had an action-based approach to changing how engagement in our work is informed and how decisions are made," said Kate Breen in early 2024. She served as the Association's Executive Committee Chair during the Task Force's work and report development.

She continued, "The recommendations included in the report align with the fundamental goals of the Association's adopted Strategic Plan, which is key to ensuring that these recommendations are not separate and unto themselves but rather embedded in all the Association's work."

Now over a year into implementing the current Strategic Plan, and more than three years since adoption of the IDEA Task Force Report, Association leadership and member agencies are centering transit equity in their plans and actions. They are also continuously reflecting on what is working and what isn't, as well as proactively working to improve existing processes and introduce new processes when necessary.

Why the Association Centers Transit Equity in its Work

The Association's member agencies serve communities in one of the nation's seven majority-minority states. No single ethnic group makes up more than 50% of California's population, and amongst Californians over 5 years old, 44% speak a language other than English at home.

In California, the need to address a lack of equity is particularly urgent: people of color are more likely to rely on transit for certain activities than white people, but that reliance comes with lower, slower access to jobs and healthcare. According to the TransitCenter's Transit Equity Dashboard that analyzed data across six US metropolitan areas, "In every region, people of color are more likely to commute by transit than white people are, but far more jobs are accessible by driving than by transit." In 2021, the Dashboard reported that "[on] a weekend morning in Los Angeles, it takes nearly four times longer to reach the nearest hospital or urgent care facility using transit than using a car," and for the Bay Area, "job access for Latinx residents shrinks by more than a third if the rider can't afford fares on 'premium' transit service like commuter rail."

"Transportation is a critical link within the broader community infrastructure, and we can and should dedicate time and resources to engaging in the larger societal struggle against injustice," the 2021 IDEA Task Force report affirmed on behalf of the Association. "We also acknowledge that transportation infrastructure and mobility services have a history that includes discrimination, displacement, the dividing of communities, and the unequal distribution of benefits and impacts."

Additionally, transit equity goes beyond passengers served: it extends to employment within the transit industry.

"Public transit agencies function best when the diversity of their workforce represents the communities that they serve," explained a 2024 research brief for a San Jose State University study on workforce diversity. However, "the transit workforce is not particularly representative of the US labor force in terms of either sex or race/ethnicity."

Transit Equity as a Central Component of the Association's Work

The IDEA Task Force identified "opportunities to center racial justice, inclusion, diversity, and equity within the Association's policy positions, advocacy endeavors, educational offerings, and governance structure." After identifying those opportunities over the course of 17 months of work, the Task Force released the 2021 report that delineated recommendations for action by Association staff and membership.

Ultimately, the IDEA Task Force provided recommendations for action in each of the three primary areas of the Association's work: advocacy, member services, and organizational management and development.

Advocacy

Thanks to the report recommendations, the Association's advocacy program now conducts a formal equity analysis when reviewing legislative proposals under consideration for the State Legislative and Federal Legislative Programs The Association also includes policy goals related to racial and social justice, transportation equity, and the furtherance of workforce equity, and it is continuing to work to build relationships with racial and social justice, and transportation equity organizations.

In 2023, the Association put the IDEA Task Force's advocacy goal for equity into practice by strongly supporting and advising on SB 434 (Min), successful legislation sponsored by the advocacy group Stop AAPI Hate. The new law requires California's ten public transit systems with the most annual unlinked passenger trips to collect and publish survey data on riders' demographic information and experiences with safety. That data will inform efforts to improve rider safety and reduce harassment on public transit.

"No Californian should feel unsafe commuting from one place to the next. Period. As we rebuild and reimagine a post-pandemic world, improving public transit should top our list of priorities," said Senator Dave Min (D-Irvine), author of the measure, after it passed a key vote in 2023. "A majority of women, elderly, LGBTQ+, and disabled Californians experience street harassment or worse while using public transit. It's time we step up and give public transit providers the tools necessary to keep all passengers safe."

In 2024, a large share of the advocacy efforts have gone toward securing committed budget funds so that agencies can build the infrastructure projects that provide new or more transit service to underserved areas, provide local transit jobs and training, and provide improved customer experiences.

Member Services

The report recommended that the Association take several important steps to prioritize racial and social justice, transportation equity, and workforce equity in the Association's educational content offerings, particularly at the Spring Legislative Conference and the Annual Fall Conference & Expo, online Association news content including Transit California, and webinar offerings.

Beginning in 2023, to broaden and enhance the diversity of conference programming, the Programming and Conference Committee invited members and transit industry interest groups to submit concurrent session proposals, rather than the committee alone developing the sessions. Ultimately, 11 sessions out of 20 were fully or partly developed from these external submissions. Amongst the 5 topical tracks for these sessions, each track had multiple sessions that specifically focused on diversity, equity, and inclusion. In addition to the concurrent sessions, the 2023 conference hosted the well-received plenary panel, "Power in Diversity: Building a Better Future Together," which featured representatives from WTS International, Latinos in Transit, and the Conference of Minority Transit Officials to discuss how more diverse organizations are more innovative and responsive toward constituents.

In order to host inclusive and diverse panel discussions, panel topics, as well as speakers, are specifically composed to reflect the state's and the industry's diversity race/ethnicity, country of origin, gender, sexuality, disability, age, life experience, industry experience, operator size/geographic location/communities and individuals served, and more.

To broaden and enhance the diversity of conference attendees, the Association is expanding marketing and outreach efforts, offering tiered pricing for organizations, and has established privately-funded scholarships for students and early-career professionals in transit who might not otherwise attend.

Organizational Management and Development

Shortly after the issuance of the report, the Association amended its Strategic Plan for 2023-2028's Core Values and Member Services sections to explicitly state support for a commitment "to racial and social justice, transportation equity, the furtherance of workforce equity; and inclusion, diversity, and equity." The Association also now explicitly prioritizes Association members' staff from diverse backgrounds to participate on all standing committees.

Always Improving, Always Doing Better

Critically, the Association acknowledges that the work for a more inclusive, diverse, and equitable Association - and transit industry at large - is not a "one-and-done" change in processes and practices. Accountability practices and ongoing oversight are built into the follow-up on each of the recommendations, including an oversight body that meets quarterly.

While Association staff, leadership and membership has already implemented or begun to implement most of the report's recommendations, it will continue to evaluate and refine actions that come ever closer to achieving true transit equity.

"Our members work in the public transit industry to help make California a better place. To get Californians to school, work, errands, or entertainment easily, safely, and affordably. To help our fellow Californians go about their day without polluting neighborhoods or contributing to the climate change crisis," said Michael Pimentel, Executive Director of the Association. "We care about the lives of our co-workers and our passengers, and centering transit equity in our work is key to our mission of public service."

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