DVRPC Mobility Choices - Connect The Dots
16785
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DVRPC Mobility Choices

Client:

Delaware Valley Planning Commission

Executive Summary:

The Delaware Valley Planning Commission recognized the need for a deeper level of understanding of how historically disinvested communities make their transportation decisions, requesting a study that delivered a combination of qualitative and quantitative methods executed in parternship with community groups.

Connect the Dots led the consulting team to identify and gather insights from three different communities with support on data analysis from Sam Schwartz. We employed a layered engagement approach in partnership with community groups with tactics that included online and offline surveys, intercept surveys, focus groups and co-hosting events with local community partners. The final published report will support DVRPC in identifying future studies, programs, services, and infrastructure needs in historically disinvested communities.

Purpose and Scope:

The Delaware Valley Planning Commission initiated a study on mobility choices within three specific regions with underrepresented communities, which we helped to select: Mantua and East Parkside (West Philadelphia, PA), North Trenton (NJ), and Norristown (PA).

The study sought to develop a deeper understanding of the complex decision-making process that residents undergo when choosing transportation needs, adding a layer of qualitative data to DVRPC’s existing data sources. As prime consultant on the project, we collaborated with local community partners, researching the lived experience of community members and how residents make their transportation choices.

Service Performed:

Collaborating with Sam Schwartz and DVRPC, we determined a mix of tactics to gather insights that allowed for both short and long conversation:

  • Online and paper survey, translated to Spanish, Simplified Chinese, and Vietnamese.
  • Intercept surveying to passersby in neighborhood at key community-based locations and intersections, as well as community events.
  • Focus groups conducted in both English and Spanish, co-created and co-facilitated with community partners.
  • The project team developed relationships with and among community members in these three areas, bringing together neighbors and looking outside the usual partners in outreach and engagement.

Project Outcomes:

The final deliverable included the published report Mobility Choices: Transportation Conversations in Three Black and Latino Communities in the Greater Philadelphia Region. In addition, the results of the study will be used by DVRPC to help identify future studies, programs, services, and infrastructure needs in historically-disinvested communities.