Easter Seals Project ACTION - Review

Spring 2011 • Volume 23 • Number 1 • www.projectaction.org

The Official

The Official Newsletter Official Newsletter Newsletter Newsletter of Newsletter Easter of of Easter of Easter Easter Seals Easter Seals Seals Project Project Project Project Ac Project Ac Project AcTiTiT ONON

Mobility Management Independent Living Coaches Program ...1

Directions and Perspectives ...2

Transportation and Health & Wellness Connection ...3

About the Newsletter ...3

ESPA Online Dialogues ...4

June is ESPA’s Paratransit Month ...5

ATCI 2011 Teams Selected ...5

NYC Public Schools Celebrate 50 Years of Travel Training ...6

Accessible Pathways & Livable Communities Pocket Guide ....6

Paratransit Remains Essential—Online Dialogue Results...7

Latest Research in Accessible Transportation ...8

New Spanish Bookmarks and ESPA Pocket Guide Available ....8

ESPA Hosts Audio Conference on Accessibility in the Livable Communities Movement ...9

Telecommunication Accessibility ...9

Ask Project ACTION ...10

Events Calendar ...12

Mobility Management Conference ...12

IN THIS ISSUE

Mobility Management Independent Living

Coaches Program

Participants of the Mobility Management Independent Living Coaches Training Review Meeting September 8–9, 2010 in Washington, D.C.

The Mobility Management Independent Living Coaches program is a joint demonstration program of Easter Seals Project ACTION, the Association of Programs for Rural Independent Living and the National Council on Independent Living. Funded by the Federal Transit Administration, this demonstration program began in 2010 and continues through December 2011.

The purpose of the program is to create a network of independent living coaches—people with disabilities who are experienced in person-directed services—who are available to support mobility managers that serve

people with disabilities and who work closely with disability and human service organizations.

Coaches look forward to supporting mobility managers interested in learning more about how they can integrate independent living philosophy and person-directed service delivery into their work. Mobility managers are welcome to contact an independent living coach from their own FTA region listed below. Coaches are equipped with information and resources that will support mobility managers as they work to increase accessible transportation options for the people they serve. Please contact Karen Wolf-Branigin at ESPA, (800) 659-6428 or [email protected] for information about the program and Kathy Hatch, APRIL, (864) 670-9283 or [email protected] for information about the independent living coach network.

Region I: Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont,

Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut Stacy Hart, Boston Center for Independent Living, Tel: (617) 338-6665 ext. 232, Email: [email protected]

Region II: New Jersey, New York, Virgin Islands

Marc Moldé, DAWN Center for Independent Living, Inc., Tel: (888) 383-3296, Email: [email protected]

(continued on page 11)

Directions and Perspectives—Mary Leary

Challenges and Opportunities

Steering Committee. The overwhelming message we re-ceived was how challenging the current environment is for both public transit providers and their riders. Every transit

organization is seeking creative ways to trim costs while striving to enhance customer service. ESPA is here to assist with our materials, activities, training events and techni-cal assistance. In this newsletter, you will find information on new resourc-es, such as our Accessible Pathways & Livable Communities Pocket Guide, new projects, the latest from our training initiatives, updates on research from a number of our part-ners and findings from our open government project.

Also provided are the findings from an online dia-logue on paratransit services we held to learn more about the state of paratransit services today and what is needed to address current service challenges. The messages we received were familiar: coordinate ser-vice, focus on the fundamentals and improve operation-al excellence, leverage partnerships, plan for funding problems, and create livable communities. One major theme was to focus on the synergies in serving the transportation needs of people living with disabilities and the transportation needs of older adults.

Perhaps this is where an opportunity lies within these daily challenges—to leverage common ground between different communities. In our work, people tell us that trans-portation services are the essential link to living lives of spontaneity in the community—especially for people who may not drive or have access to a car. In reaching out to nontraditional partners, we may also find new communi-ties of practice to help address the shortage of resources for older adults and people with disabilities. One commu-nity of practice that is beginning to pay more attention to transportation and mobility is the healthcare system.

The Centers for Disease Control note a startling statis-tic—chronic disease accounts for 75% of healthcare costs. Healthcare providers are finding that people who remain more mobile also experience improved health and well-ness. A network of public health and aging researchers called the Healthy Aging Network (HAN), which is funded by the CDC, is examining, among other topics, mobility

within the context of health and wellness for older adults. We are fortunate that three of the universities involved in this project bid on a health and transportation research initiative co-funded by ESPA and the National Center on Senior Transportation. We are indebted to our partners, the American Medical Association and Logisticare, for their support of this project.

We hope the healthcare community’s increased attention on the importance of access to transportation resources for people with disabilities and older adults will create more coordination between the healthcare and public transportation systems. Perhaps the research will find that access to transportation has a positive impact on a person’s quality of life, and/or perhaps we will find evidence of a direct positive relationship between access to transportation choices and health and wellness—a relationship that may help drive down the costs of chronic care. Whatever the result, it is clear that many people think there is great promise in furthering our understanding of the linkage between health and wellness and transpor-tation services.

Other areas of opportunity include using technol-ogy to improve safety, enhance civic engagement and improve access. New techniques hold promise for im-proving the maintenance of accessibility-enhancing in-frastructure, such as elevators. Cutting edge wayfinding devices make crossing streets safer for people who are blind or have visual impairments. In our April distance learning events we highlighted some of these advances in wayfinding technologies. In our e-newsletters, we are also striving to highlight promising research from the Transportation Research Board, the National Insti-tute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research and the National Science Foundation Engineering Research Centers like the Quality of Life Technology Center. So, if you are not receiving our Extra e-newsletter, please go on our website and opt in!

Every person can make a difference in their community. We will continue to promote the idea and shared

understanding that, as Chris Hart, one of our NSC members noted, in fact, “We are one community.” Our NSC members also recommended that we strive to ensure the general public understands why it is important for drivers to stop and wait at a cross walk when people are crossing the streets, why people should not text and

Mary Leary

UPDATE Spring 2011 •

3

Transportation and Health & Wellness Connection

and Logisticare are joining together in 2011 to study the relationship between transportation access and

health and wellness. Physicians and service providers have long noted that a lack of transportation access may result in an inability to reach medical appointments, increased hospitalization and complications from neglected health care. Despite anecdotal evidence, little research is available on the issues.

Cecil B. Wilson, AMA president, notes, “Approximately 2.6 million adults in the U.S. don’t get the health care they need because they don’t have transportation. Understanding the relationship between access to transportation and access to care is key to helping patients get the care they need.”

Easter Seals consistently hears from people living with disabilities, older adults, and their families about the importance of transportation and how the lack of transportation access is a major barrier to living, learning and working in the community.

“We need to better understand how that lack of access truly impacts people’s lives from an economic and quality-of-life standpoint,” said James E. Williams, Jr., Easter Seals president and chief executive officer.

Thomas R. Prohaska, Ph.D., University of Illinois at Chicago, Center for Research on Health and Aging,

within the Institute for Health Research and Policy, and a team of notable scholars from the Texas A&M Health Sciences Center and the University of California, Berkeley were competitively selected to lead the research. Medical transportation data from Logisticare will be used to learn new information about the

relationship between health and transportation access. The study is funded through the Federal Transit Administration, Easter Seals Project ACTION and the National Center on Senior Transportation. In-kind sup-port has been provided by the AMA and Logisticare. As Herman Schwarz, chief executive officer of Logisticare has noted, “…managing over 26 million medically necessary transports annually, Logisticare observes first hand the positive results of access to medical treatment of our clients. Our database resources will provide a rich data environment for this study on measuring the importance of transportation in improving healthcare outcomes.”

Findings from the study are expected to be announced in early 2012.

Thomas R. Prohaska, Ph.D.

drive, and why they should be supportive of policies that assist people living with disabilities who ride public transportation. Finally, in times of change and challenge, messages can get misquoted or misinterpreted and can leave us misinformed. Thus, ESPA will continue to make every effort to remain visible online and in person, sharing the best practices and perspectives regarding access. As Richard Devylder, senior advisor for accessible transportation for the U.S. Department of Transportation says, “It is all about livability and universal accessibility.” Common ground, one community, universal

accessibility…imagine the possibilities.

UPDATE is published bi-annually by Easter Seals Project

ACTION (the acronym stands for Accessible Community Transportation In Our Nation) and is available free of charge upon request.

Please send notification of any address change to ESPA at 1425 K St. N.W., Suite 200, Washington, D.C. 20005; telephone (202) 347-3066 or (800) 659-6428; TDD (202) 347-7385; fax (202) 737-7914 or by email to

[email protected]. Subscribe online on the

ESPA website: www.projectaction.org. Please contact us if you would like to request Update in an alternative format.

Mary A. Leary, Ph.D., Assistant Vice President,

Easter Seals Transportation Group

C. Marie Maus, Director, Marketing and

Communications, Editor

Rachel Beyerle, Resources and Publications Manager,

Primary Staff Writer

Whitney E. Gray, Information Specialist I, Staff Writer

ESPA is funded through a cooperative agreement with the U.S. Department of Transportation, Federal Transit Administration, and is administered by Easter Seals, Inc. This document is disseminated by ESPA in the interest of information exchange. Neither Easter Seals nor the U.S. DOT, FTA assumes liability for its contents or use thereof.

A B o u T T H E N E W S L E T T E R

Directions and Perspectives (continued from page 2)

ESPA Online Dialogues

and the U.S. Department of Labor Office of Employment and Disability Policy, Easter Seals Project ACTION has experimented with a new web-based outreach method called online dialogues. This concept is part of an open government initiative, and all federal agencies have a requirement to ensure that this type of online engage-ment is available to engage the public. Simply put, an online dialogue is an online event where a question or set of questions are posed and people are invited to participate to give opinions, provide and vote on ideas. The methodology enhances civic engagement and helps reach a wide audience in internet speed—it is a much faster process than traditional methods of gathering infor-mation on federal policies and programs.

Through holding the first dialogue with a partner, the National Academy on Public Administration, on their plat-form, then choosing another platform—one already cho-sen by the government—and hosting our own dialogue on paratransit services, we learned a lot with regard to best practices for these online tools and events, including addressing a number of accessibility issues. We worked with the American Foundation for the Blind to gather information on how to make the tool more accessible and then provided that information to the federal govern-ment. We found great value in working with an outside organization that specializes in reviewing websites for compliance with Section 508 of the Workforce Rehabili-tation Act of 1973 and we continue to benefit from AFB’s expertise. Lessons learned from ESPA’s experience:

n Respect and Plan for Access Issues. Many

partici-pants have limited time for participation, workplace poli-cies that deny them access to social networking tools, a lack of knowledge on how to use new social networking tools and concerns that their privacy will be protected (i.e., their comments will be kept confidential). Therefore, the online tool must be easy to use, be accessible, have live support available via a toll-free telephone number, assure options for confidential participation, and make the value of participation clear.

n Make an Online Dialogue a High-Impact, Monitored Event. Have a high-level executive invite

participation, publicize widely to the desired audience through diverse networks, have a discrete purpose and topic, share how the information will be used and have a distinct beginning and end to the activity. Monitor com-ments for appropriateness to maintain the desired tone. As NAPA suggested, the questions should be clear and compelling, and the dialogue should be hosted and then

analyzed.

n Plan and Structure the Dialogue for What You Want to Learn and Analyze. In hosting

two different dialogues, we learned a lot about the registration and dialogue analysis processes. There is an art to asking enough questions such that results of the dialogue are analyzable yet not so many that it deters full participation. And there is value in reviewing the Google analytics and the analytics of the online dialogue software application for what is measurable to ensure that the activity is capturing necessary data for validity, reliability, and if needed, the ability to generalize the findings.

n Recognize that the Dialogue is an

Awareness Building and Learning Moment.

In addition to the information gathered when holding a dialogue, just the act of holding an online event and asking questions is also an opportunity to drive systems change for the mission of the organization hosting the dialogue. Although 4 to 5 times more people visited as participated in both of these dialogues, the visitors stayed on the site for an average of 7-8 minutes and viewed an average of 6-8 pages. In addition, participants are much more likely to comment or vote than render an idea—the ratio of votes to ideas was 5 to 1 while the average of comments to ideas was between 3-4 to 1. Clearly, participants read, reviewed and evaluated the ideas that were shared.

n Hire a Program Manager or Assign Full-time Staff to the Event. For both dialogues, significant

and high-level staffing was needed. Doing outreach, planning the dialogue, analyzing the results and troubleshooting the software application required a major investment of time and talent. Designers of emerging web-based software must understand the potential for limitations in accessibility, usability, analytical tools and interoperability. Additionally, the daily monitoring necessary to ensure civility and protect privacy/security of the venue takes a significant amount of time and attention. Finally, an individual needs to answer questions, review analytics and make changes/posts to the site.

n An Active External Advisory Committee and Online Dialogue Catalysts are Key.

These dialogues greatly benefitted from the diverse advisors who helped plan them and then acted as catalysts to help stimulate discussion once the

UPDATE Spring 2011 •

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June is ESPA’s Paratransit Month

around the topic of paratransit during the month of June. Topics will include eligibility, operations, manage-ment and best practice and will be offered through a variety of training platforms.

We will kick off paratransit month by offering Excellence in Service for Paratransit Managers, a free, 10-week virtual training course designed for ADA complementary paratransit managers who are new to the field. Content will highlight the history of the disability movement and how to engage the disability community in participants’ service areas.

Next, ESPA will offer two question-and-answer ses-sions as part of our Promising Practice and Solutions in Accessible Transportation series. Paratransit Operations Q&A with the FTA will be a pre-recorded session featur-ing Sue Clark and Dawn Sweet who will answer key paratransit operations questions regularly received

by the FTA Office of Civil Rights. Paratransit Q&A with ESPA will be a live session featuring ESPA staff mem-bers Ken Thompson and Donna Smith. This will be an opportunity to ask questions that go beyond the minimum requirements of the ADA and start to discuss best practices for delivering efficient, customer-friendly paratransit service.

We will round out the month by offering Determining ADA Paratransit Eligibility: An Approach, Guidance and Training Materials presented by Karen Hoesch, executive director of Access Transportation Systems. Part of ESPA’s Selected Topics on Accessible Transpor-tation series, this two-part webinar course includes presentations, homework and a follow-up discussion with the instructor.

To learn more about or register for each of the above events occurring during the month of June, please visit our website www.projectaction.org.

2011 Accessible Transportation Coalitions

Initiative Teams Selected

through systems change at the community level continue to grow. What began in 2001 as an event to bring three to five people from various communities around the country together for three days of training and technical assistance focusing on accessible transportation grew in 2010 into a two-day, facilitated event held on-site in the community with 15-25 leaders to formulate a vision and a plan to address transportation concerns for people with disabilities. This year, we will continue to improve on this systems-change model by hosting events in ten communi-ties selected through a competitive application process.

Local planning coalitions are typically an impressive mix of public and private transportation providers, ad-vocacy leaders with disabilities, human service agencies and planners. The group often includes older adults, agencies serving the needs of older adults, educators, engineers and elected officials.

ESPA provides two trained facilitators to lead the group in reaching consensus regarding prominent issues, identifying a vision for what they want transportation to become and developing a plan to begin addressing those issues immediately. ESPA also provides technical assistance to inform the group’s decisions and supports them through the process of setting this change in motion

over the subsequent year. It is an exciting process that explores what is possible when leaders in the community combine forces to address accessible transportation.

The 2011 ATCI communities are:

2010 ATCI Team from City of Logan–Hocking County, Ohio

n Bexar County, Texas n Bloomington, Indiana n Clark County,

Washington

n County of Maui, Hawaii n Knoxville Regional

Transportation

Planning Organization, Tennessee

n Lee County Transit

Taskforce, South Carolina

n Putnam County, New

York

n Riggins Area, Idaho n Southwest Colorado n Western Nevada

County, California

NYC Public Schools Celebrate 50 Years of Travel Training

District 75 Office of Travel Training in the New York City Public Schools Department of Education celebrated 50 years of travel training on March 16 at St. Francis

College in Brooklyn. Parents, students, educators and travel trainers gathered to honor New York City’s program, which dates back to an AHRC demonstra-tion pilot held from 1960-1963. The original program, led by Jack Gore-lick who at that time served as director of the AHRC Occu-pation Day Center program, demon-strated that indepen-dent travel was a reasonable goal for people with intellectual disabilities. Fifty years later, the current travel training program is considered a success for all New Yorkers in that it offers an opportunity for people with developmental disabilities the opportunity

to travel to school, work, home and social activities on public transportation. In addition, the travel training program is designed to help reduce stress for families and decrease transportation costs. NYC Department of Education’s travel trainers teach the safest and most direct routes to take and encourage appropriate social skills and problem-solving techniques.

During the event, speakers shared their experiences with travel training that underscored the many signifi-cant accomplishments of the NYC District 75 Program. Easter Seals Transportation Group Assistant Vice Presi-dent Mary Leary provided some closing comments and presented a new ESPA Champion Award to Mar-garet “Peggy” Groce, director of the NYC Depart-ment of Education District 75 Office of Travel Training, for her outstanding leadership in the field, especially for her generous sharing of her talents with so many other organizations and communities across the country.

ESPA is pleased to be able to recognize the AHRC, the New York City Department of Education and the Office of Travel Training for the team’s contributions to the field of travel training. Congratulations to AHRC, the New York City Department of Education and Peggy Groce on a milestone anniversary. We look forward to new directions in travel training as more schools, universities and employers embrace the concept and public transit systems incorporate technology to make independent travel easier for everyone!

Margaret “Peggy” Groce receives the ESPA Champion Award

Accessible Pathways & Livable Communities Pocket Guide

the focus is on accessibility of the vehicle itself. In recent years, federal and local agencies have expanded that focus to emphasize the role that physical access has in developing an accessible community and fully acces-sible transit system. Pathways that meet ADA require-ments, sidewalks, signage, marked walkways, shelters and other passenger facilities make travel to and from public transportation feasible for many people with disabilities, whether or not they use mobility devices. In addition, these elements often make the community more attractive, walkable or transit-friendly for older adults and people traveling with strollers or luggage. Whether urban or rural, a community can consider many structur-al improvements to encourage independent living for structur-all of its residents. Health, wellness and economic benefits of accessible communities have all been documented.

Easter Seals Project ACTION has a number of resources that focus on accessible bus stops, pathways, and travel training. The new ESPA Accessible Pathways & Livable Communities Pocket Guide pulls together key recommendations from all of these resources in one compact resource. Public transportation and disability advocates, planners, engineers, community development professionals, travel trainers and

mobility managers may find the pocket guide a useful publication for local education and raising awareness of the connection between street access and transit accessibility. The Accessible Pathways & Livable Communities Pocket Guide was developed with the support of the Federal Transit Administration, the National Complete Streets Coalition, and the Pedestrian and Bicycle Information Center. To order or download copies, go to www.projectaction.org.

UPDATE Spring 2011 •

7

Paratransit Remains Essential—Online Dialogue Results

of facilitating exchange on topics of concern to the disability community and transit community. With the current economic challenges communities and individu-als encounter, one area of concern voiced by many is the current state of paratransit service. A number of transit agencies have had to cut service or furlough employees, and this has had related effects on para-transit service. Last summer we sponsored an ESPA Talks Paratransit Online Dialogue that used an online platform open 24/7 where people could access, review, respond, rate and submit ideas. The ESPA Talks Paratransit Dialogue asked participants to consider the impacts of the economy on paratransit services and the ways in which communities are managing paratransit services. Participants included transportation providers, disability service organizations, the aging network, hu-man services agencies, self-advocates, public officials and other professionals. During the course of the dia-logue, the participants offered answers to the following questions:

n Do you have a comment or recommendation on how

current economic conditions are affecting paratransit service in your community?

n What are you doing to address the situation and

maximize the use of fixed-route service?

n How is your community coordinating transportation

to meet service needs?

A number of themes emerged from the comments shared in the dialogue. Respondents suggested a need to improve paratransit services in the areas of service delivery, eligibility and operational efficiency. Ad-ditionally, participants offered recommendations and solutions to address challenges to paratransit services, especially ADA complementary paratransit services.

Overall, the ESPA Talks Paratransit Dialogue had 1,163 unique visitors; 2,405 total visits for an aver-age of 7.37 minutes and 5.6 paver-age views; 287 reg-istered users; and 65 ideas were shared with 371 votes and 187 comments. The top areas of interest for respondents were public transportation (39%), disabil-ity services (16%) and human services transportation (10%). Many who participated in this discussion came from either nonprofit (43%) or local government (21%) organizations with the overwhelming number of reg-istered users holding managerial roles. Two times as many registrants were from urban environments (43%) than those from rural communities (21%). Those from

suburban communities accounted for 13% of partici-pants and those who did not note a geographic region accounted for 23%.

The ESPA Talks Paratransit Dialogue highlighted many of the recurring themes and conversations taking place in local communities about paratransit services. Dialogue content suggests that participants think that effective coordination of services, long-term strategies, partnerships and alternative transportation choices can ensure paratransit services meet the needs of people with disabilities and older adults who cannot use fixed-route services. Accessible, livable communities built with universal design offer transportation that everyone can access. Participants in this online event felt that un-til accessibility issues that impede the use of fixed-route services (e.g., inaccessible bus stops, private homes and communities) are addressed, public and private paratransit services will remain vital services for people with disabilities who rely on accessible transportation to live independently in their communities.

Paratransit Dialogue Common

Themes

1. Improve coordination of services

2. Promote alternative transportation programs 3. Bridge the older adult and disability

communities

4. Improve efficiencies of transportation operations and services

5. Foster the development of accessible, livable communities

6. Provide training for riders and require credentialing for instructors

7. Develop long-term plans and secure adequate funding for transit

8. Expand paratransit services with partnerships 9. Enhance transportation services in rural areas 10. Increase transportation options for older adults 11. Support person-directed mobility management

C O m m O n T h E m E s

Latest Research in Accessible Transportation

NHTSA releases findings on

Quiet Cars and the Safety of

Blind Pedestrians

Published April 2010 • Available at www.ntis.gov The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has published findings from the first phase of its study, Quiet Cars and the Safety of Blind Pedestrians. Conducted by the Volpe National Transportation Systems Center, U.S. Department of Transportation Research and Innovative Technology Administration, the study tested the difference in sound levels of electric and internal combustion cars in a number of scenarios including: vehicles backing out, vehicles turning right into the pedestrian’s path, vehicles approaching at a constant speed, vehicles accelerating from a stop and stationary vehicles that could suddenly move. Ambient sound levels were tested as well.

While the study found that the difference in sound levels between internal combustion engines and hybrid-electric vehicles was small for vehicles slowing down, the overall sound levels for HEVs was lower. Phase I of the study also identified methods to offset the low sound levels. Cited in the study’s literature review, the methods are categorized as vehicle-based, infrastruc-ture-based, and systems requiring vehicle-pedestrian communications. NHTSA and the Volpe Center are now testing synthetic sounds that will balance pedes-trian safety with quiet roadways.

New TCRP Reports on Transit

Operator Recruitment and Retention

In 2010, the Transit Cooperative Research Pro-gram, sponsored by the Federal Transit Administration and managed by the Transportation Research Board, published a total of 529 publications, including 184 reports. Two of these reports include information on best practices for the field of paratransit.

Though designed to assist rural and small urban transit systems, TCRP Report 139 Guidebook for Re-cruiting, Developing, and Retaining Transit Managers for Fixed-Route Bus and Paratransit Systems, the guide-book also covers areas of interest to larger systems including alternative approaches regarding recruiting, developing and retaining transit managers, as well as effective and innovate strategies used at different

or-ganizations. To help gather information and examples for the report, TCRP conducted focus group sessions of non-bus public and private transit organizations, such as local government agencies and utility companies. All of the files regarding the research report, including methodology, may be accessed on www.trb.com.

TCRP Report 142 Vehicle Operator Recruitment, Re-tention, and Performance in ADA Complementary Para-transit Operations recognizes the importance of vehicle operator performance in providing efficient ADA comple-mentary paratransit service and provides guidance with examples of how to improve employment measures. It includes an analysis of how wage levels affect vehicle operator turnover, the full cost of turnover and potential benefits to integrating the fixed-route and paratransit workforces. Research for the report was conducted through a literature search, focus groups, an expert panel and a national survey—which, among other inter-esting figures, found an average of 30% annual turnover rate for vehicles operators among private contractors.

New Spanish Bookmarks and

ESPA Pocket Guide Available

Easter Seals Project ACTION is pleased to announce the availability of two new Spanish language products. ESPA

recently released a new ADA bookmark and a Paratransit bookmark that outline cus-tomer rights and responsibili-ties regarding ADA-accessible, fixed-route public transportation service and tips related to using paratransit service. The bookmarks are now available in Spanish with

the same style and durable, laminated format as the English versions. In addition to the bookmarks, the ESPA Pocket Guide is now available in Span-ish. This general brochure explains ESPA’s focus areas of training, technical assistance, outreach, and applied research, how to access publications and resources on the website, and interactive, social networking features of Project ACTION.

P R O d u C T S P O T l i G H T

UPDATE Spring 2011 •

9

ESPA Hosts Audio Conference on Accessibility in the

Livable Communities Movement

The Accessible Pathways & Livable Communities Guide is not the only livable and sustainable communities-focused resource ESPA is providing in spring 2011. As part of the Promising Practices and Solutions in Accessible Transportation audio conference series, ESPA offered Planning for the Accessibility of Livable and Sustainable Communities on March 9. This one-hour program featured Bryna Helfer, Ed.D., director of public engagement, U.S. Department of Transportation; Beth Osborne, deputy assistant secretary for policy, U.S. Department of Transportation; Kate Mattice, deputy associate adminis-trator of budget and policy, Federal Transit Administration; and Christopher Setti, special projects manager/assis-tant to the city manager for the City of Peoria, Ill.

Helfer and Mattice discussed the national movement toward livability and sustainability in communities, cur-rent federal-level efforts to stimulate development and funding considerations and opportunities to create com-munity connections to housing, employment and eco-nomic development through accessible transportation. Setti discussed Peoria’s plans to redevelop a downtown area using the principles of livability and the role that accessibility plays in the development of those plans.

Setti drafted a successful TIGER II grant for the city and is overseeing design work for Peoria’s Warehouse District. A transcript of the audio conference is available at www.projectaction.org. Planners, community develop-ment officials, transportation providers, advocates and people with disabilities who wish to learn more about including accessibility in community development plan-ning may listen to the Planplan-ning for the Accessibility of Livable and Sustainable Communities conference or any other archived ESPA audio conference for free on the ESPA website.

Warehouse District Sketch—Peoria, Illinois

Telecommunication Accessibility

21st Century Communications and Video Accessibility Act (S.3304) into law. As part of the Federal

Communications Commission’s national broadband plan, CVAA ensures that people with disabilities have access to new broadband technologies. As President Obama stated at the signing of the CVAA, “The 21st Century Communications and Video Accessibility Act will make it easier for people who are deaf, blind or live with visual impairments to do what many of us take for granted—from navigating a TV or DVD menu to sending an email on a smart phone.”

Specifically, the law requires that Internet browsers on cell phones and mobile devices are accessible to people with disabilities and that closed captioning is provided for videos displayed online for video programming delivered with captioning. Additionally, the FCC has established a committee to advise on

video programming and emergency access. FCC will also evaluate the technical benefits and challenges of video descriptions. In all, the CVAA and FCC’s national broadband plan will help promote equal access and equal opportunity.

Access and opportunity are principles that Easter Seals Project ACTION shares with its use of new technologies. ESPA’s website is compliant with Section 508 web accessibility standards. ESPA also ensures its training courses are available in accessible formats. Beginning in spring 2011, ESPA will expand its training offerings with accessible webinars. This new platform allows learners who have visual impairments or are deaf to participate fully in ESPA webinars. ESPA is pleased to enhance its training programs with this new platform and the opportunities new technologies bring for people with disabilities.

Ask Project Action

I work as a case manager at a regional health center. Frequently, I am tasked to arrange transportation for people coming in for appointments and for people needing transportation to follow-up appointments in other cities. Our community has limited public portation and taxi service, and arranging for trans-portation is challenging. Do you have suggestions as to who could assist me in locating rides for people?

Project ACTION says:

Transportation to health-related appointments is a challenge and is made even more challenging if the transportation needed requires a wheelchair acces-sible vehicle. Contact your local public transportation provider to see if they have options that could be used by your customers. The local fixed-route bus may be an option for some people and paratransit for others, and the provider can provide you with information on each service and trip planning. They may also be aware of other transportation providers or programs that could provide rides for people and have knowledge of pri-vate options that include taxis.

Additionally, consider contacting your local trans-portation and regional planning organization to see if they have information or guides on what transportation options are available in your area. Planning organiza-tions provide funding for transportation and could be a resource for information on other human service op-tions, such as disability or senior transportation, com-muter programs and volunteer driver efforts.

Finally, if you feel that few options are available for rides, speak with your local transportation planning organization to see if any efforts are in place to coor-dinate local transportation and express your desire to participate. If no effort is in place, express your interest in becoming involved in any efforts to find more rides for customers of your regional medical center. Federal law currently includes a requirement that transportation providers receiving certain federal dollars must coordi-nate public transportation services. Coordination is a process whereby transportation providers plan together so that more transportation options can be available for customers through resource sharing, scheduling and efficient use of vehicles, facilities and personnel.

Note: If a person is Medicaid-eligible and the trans-portation is for a Medicaid-eligible service, contact your state Medicaid program for transportation options.

For assistance on finding transportation options in your community, contact Easter Seals Project ACTION at (800) 659-6428.

External resources include:

n Federal Transit Administration—FTA is the

fed-eral agency (part of the U.S. Department of Transpor-tation) which helps cities and communities nationwide provide mobility to their citizens. Through its grant programs, FTA provides financial and planning as-sistance to help plan, build and operate rail, bus and paratransit systems. www.fta.dot.gov

n United We Ride—UWR is an interagency

fed-eral national initiative that supports states and their localities in developing coordinated human service delivery systems. UWR provides state coordination grants, a transportation-coordination and planning self-assessment tool, technical assistance and other resources to help communities succeed. www.unitedweride.gov

n National Center on Senior Transportation—

NCST is a program administered by Easter Seals Inc., in partnership with the National Association of Area Agencies on Aging with a goal to increase transportation options for older adults and enhance their ability to live more independently within their communities throughout the United States.

www.seniortransportation.net

n American Public Transportation Associa-tion—APTA is a national membership organization that represents the transportation industry. Their web-site includes many valuable information resources, including links to state and local transit agencies and transit statistics. www.apta.com

n Community Transportation Association of America—CTAA is a national membership organization that supports creating mobility for all Americans regardless of where they live or work. www.ctaa.org

n National Rural Transit Assistance Program—

National RTAP is a program of the Federal Transit Administration of the U.S. DOT. National RTAP provides a range of services on rural transit to profes-sionals across the country. www.nationalrtap.org

UPDATE Spring 2011 •

11

Region III: Delaware, Maryland, Pennsylvania,

Virginia, West Virginia, District of Columbia Andraea LaVant, National Consortium on Leadership and Disability for Youth, Institute for

Educational Leadership, Tel: (202) 822-8405 ext. 127, Email: [email protected]

Marie Robinson, Southern Maryland CIL, Inc., Tel: (301) 884-4498, Email: [email protected]

Region IV: Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky,

Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Puerto Rico

Ken Mitchell, disABILITY LINK, Tel: (404) 687-8890, Email: [email protected]

Doug Towne, Disability Relations Group,

Tel: (727) 531-1000, Email: [email protected]

Region V: Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota,

Ohio, Wisconsin

John Johnson, Options Interstate Center for Independent Living, Tel: (218) 773-6100, Email: [email protected]

Marilyn Hughes, LINC, Inc., Tel: (618) 235-9988, Email: [email protected]

Autumn Misko, Independence First, Tel: (414) 226-8387, Email: [email protected] Bob Olsgard, North Country Independent Living, Tel: (715) 392-9118 ext. 20,

Email: [email protected]

Marc Sherman, Access Ability, Inc., Tel:

(317) 926-1660 ext. 238, Email: [email protected]

Region VI: Arkansas, Louisiana, New Mexico,

Oklahoma, Texas

Chamane Barrow, Brazoria County Center for Independent Living, Tel: (979) 849-7060, Email: [email protected]

Region VII: Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska

Frank Strong, Jr., Central Iowa Center for Independent Living, Tel: (515) 243-1742, Email: [email protected]

Mobility Management Independent Living Coaches Program

(continued from page 1)

Region VIII: Colorado, Montana, North Dakota,

South Dakota, Utah, Wyoming

Andrea Archer, Colorado Springs

Independence Center, Tel: (719) 471-8181, Email: [email protected]

Steve Juergens, Wyoming Services for Independent Living, Tel: (307) 754-4868, Email: sjuergens@

wyoming.com

Region IX: Arizona,

California, Hawaii, Nevada, American Samoa, Guam, Northern Mariana Islands Cynde Soto,

California Center for Independent Living, Tel: (213) 627-0477, Email: cydsoto1@ yahoo.com Region X: Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Alaska

Melva Heinrich, Living Independence Network Corporation, Tel: (208) 733-1712, Email: [email protected]

Patrick Reinhart, Governor’s Council on

Disability/Special Education, Tel: (907) 269-8554, Email: [email protected]

ESPA Online Dialogues (continued from page 4)

dialogues went live.

n Do Something Meaningful with the Results.

Everyone who was involved with these projects noted the importance of using the information gathered for a relevant purpose. As online dialogue venues become ubiquitous, those that create visible action stand a greater chance of being used again. For these two dialogues, the first was used to create a new strategic plan for a Federal Interagency Program; the second is being used to provide feedback to FTA on paratransit services.

Kathy Hatch, APRIL director of training & technical assistance at the MMILC Training Review Meeting.

NONPROFIT ORG. U.S. POSTAGE PAID HAGERSTOwN, MD PERMIT NO. 93 1425 K Street, N.W. Suite 200 Washington, DC 20005 Follow us @projectaction

ESPA is funded through a cooperative agreement with the U.S. Department of Transportation, Federal Transit Administration, and is administered by Easter Seals, Inc.

Events Calendar

May 16: ESPA will debut a new course, Fundamentals of Travel Training Administration. May 22–25: ESPA staff will attend the American Public Transportation Association Bus and

Paratransit Conference and co-host the 2nd annual Walk & Roll! event in Memphis, Tenn.

June 6–7: ESPA staff will attend the Community Transportation Association of America Expo & first annual National Conference on Mobility Management in Indianapolis, Ind.

June 1 – August 10: Excellence in Service for Paratransit Managers, a 10-week virtual training course is designed for ADA complementary paratransit managers who are new to the field.

Mobility Management Conference

The Partnership for Mobility Management is pleased to announce the first annual National Mobility Management Conference. This inaugural conference will be held June 6–7 at the

Community Transportation Association of America EXPO in Indianapolis, Ind. The Partnership for Mobility Management is a collaboration of national organizations that share information and develop resources and tools to help mobility managers provide transportation options and information on transportation services at the state, regional and local levels. Session topics include

Partnerships: How to Partner with Different Types of Organizations, Marketing and Outreach, and Mobility for Livable and Sustainable Communities.

To register and find out more, visit www.ctaa.org.