Our mission:

is to organize people with disabilities, seniors, low-income citizens, and other concerned Texans for equitable transportation through local and statewide alliances.

State/Federal Alliance: Reauthorization

$5 million in JARC programs

State and Local Media Campaigns

Mandated Public Transportation Coordination (funding and services)

Changed State DOT Rules:

• More local funding flexibility

• More support for alternatives

• Specific policy improvements

Gas Taxes paying for Public Transit (including Health/Humans Services)

Lubbock

Local Alliance and Campaign Activities

Local Alliances: Transit Campaigns

Transit Planning

Transit Coordination

MPO Certification

Housing and Urban Development

Travel Training

New Job Access $

Pedestrian Audits

Ambassador Program

Elections

• Imply a relationship of support for “x” issue or candidate.

• Too often a campaign is a blunt approach to a basic marketing objective.

• Campaigns should be about winning the hearts and minds of voters.

• How can we do a better job of building relationships of support?

A different way . . .

Three examples – Austin, Lubbock, Tarrant Co. – of building a solid foundation on which campaigns are a confirmation.

Activities that create an atmosphere for relationship building.

Highlight the key lessons learned.

Capital Metro - Community Connections

Prompt Awareness & Creativity

Get a Street-Level View

Small Group Problem Solving

Find Consensus

StaffElected officialsUsersCommunity leaders

• Making amenities a community asset.

• Teaching agency staff a different way to related to customers and community.

• Building a “can do” image.

Capital Metro – Investment as an Incentive

Building strategic relationships early

• Building a winning team for commuter rail and economic development.

• Champions, Junkets, and a Challenge

• Regionalism

Lubbock• CitiBus proposes cutting Saturday service and routes.

• Citizens get council to to reject the proposed changes – now what?

• Understanding the challenges.

• Getting an ESPA/CTAA planning grant.

• Opportunity for stakeholders to learn.

• Process for articulating each interest.

• Time to build trust and empathy.

Richland Hills

• Richland Hills files for an election to decide if it will continue to have a $.05 sales tax for transit.

• The-T provided a TRE station and per capita the highest level of transit services in the area.

• Why?

• Walmart moved to North Richland Hills!

Keys to HELPING your transit agency discover that TRANSIT can be a COMMUNITY ASSET

Relationships are not built over night

Research

Process is important

Values clear and direct actions

Message and messenger is important

Closing the deal

Research

• Focus Groups

• Survey

• Intuition

• Talk to key people/communities/customers

• Listening sessions

• Don’t forget to follow-up and measure!

Process

• Review operations, activities, investment that it already makes for innovations.

• Look for ways to improve customer/community involvement and their investment in the outcome.

• Look for give participants a sense of accomplishment and meaningfulness.

• Education, relationship building, image refinement can be second tier objectives.

Lead with values

• Good stewart of the public trust

• Customer service is our mission

• A reliable partner

• Humility

• Empathy

• “Virtue is always bold” Shakespear

Message

• Use research to develop strategy, message, targets; then stick to the plan.

• The best message has substance supporting it.

• It takes time to help people understand, appreciate, feel good about, or want something.

• Connecting through existing trust relationships is a short cut to customers, neighborhoods, communities, and to voters.

Closing

• You can do all this awareness, education, relationship building and feel good stuff AND get nothing.

• The close, has to be part of the plan.

• In an election - ask for the vote.

• In relationship building – ask for mutual respect.

• Converting respect to a yes, is much easier than converting unawareness into yes.

Conclusion

May sound like a lot of work, BUT:

• NGO’s are uniquely qualified

• Agencies will pay a fair wage for these professional services

• The alternative – losing an election – is harder and more distasteful.