History of Accessible Transportation and Workforce Interagency Cooperative / Goals & Objectives
OUR HISTORY
To support community efforts to close transportation service gaps and meet the mobility needs of all citizens, the Federal Transit Administration (FTA) created two programs. The Job Access/Reverse Commute (JARC) grant program was initiated in 1998 to assist low-income workers in finding and retaining work and to provide transportation services to suburban employment centers from urban, rural and other suburban locations.
The launch of JARC-funded mobility projects in 1998 compelled regional planners across the country to re-examine the effects of transportation barriers on employment and economic progress. In Southwestern Pennsylvania, we worked hard with transportation, workforce and human services agencies to reduce mobility barriers and devise strategies to bridge them.
In 2000, the Pittsburgh Foundation, along with the Port Authority of Allegheny County (PAAC), convened a task force to begin to identify regional transportation gaps and develop a regional plan to fill those gaps. Over time, the task force expanded to include the Southwestern Pennsylvania Commission (SPC), the Port Authority of Allegheny County (PAAC), the Three Rivers Workforce Investment Board (TRWIB), and other agencies representing health, labor and other human services.
In 2005, three agencies—SPC, PAAC and TRWIB—formed ATWIC with the funding support of The Pittsburgh Foundation.
With the adoption of the Safe, Accountable, Flexible, Efficient Transportation Equity Act: A Legacy for Users (SAFETEA-LU) in 2006, a new program, the New Freedom Initiatives (NFI), was launched to encourage transportation programs and facility improvements to address the mobility needs of persons with disabilities.
The cooperative efforts of ATWIC have served as the platform for the creation of a locally developed, coordinated public transit and human services plan mandated by SAFETEA-LU. The result of that planning process is the Southwestern Pennsylvania Public Transit Human Services Coordinated Transportation Plan (Coordination Plan), formally adopted by SPC on January 28, 2008.
ATWIC helps to coordinate both existing FTA programs—Job Access/Reverse Commute and New Freedom Initiatives. The mobility projects administered through ATWIC are moving southwestern Pennsylvania forward towards economic vitality and employment growth by improving existing public transportation system connections, filling mobility gaps, providing mobility options and encouraging regional coordination to get people to work.
