Hello newsletter readers,

Hot July (at least here in the mid-Atlantic so far)! A perfect time to hit the beach, pool, or your local swimming hole - and also the right time to make sure people can access these cool sites. Swimming and being around water are great for your health. But unless you own or can use a private vehicle, or live in a denser place, it may be quite hard to access places to swim. 

Luckily there's public transit to transport people near and far to wet places. For places like the New York metro area there's a slew of public transit-accessible natural swimming spots in the far-reaching tri-state region (isn't it cool this list exists?). Montgomery County, Md., has a list of their many swimming pools with the closest bus routes to each. The City of Lubbock, Texas and Citibus offers a summer direct bus service from a centrally located shopping center to one of their swimming pools.

Making sure people can access swimming spots is imperative for keeping people healthy and cool during the summer months. If your community has an inventory of transit to swimming holes or a partnership between transit and parks and recreation to get anyone in the water, let me know! They may even be a good fit as a Promising Practice submission!

Enjoy the rest of your week!

Stay cool,

Kirby Wilhelm

(202) 489-6020

Here are the poll results regarding newsletter subscribers' work characteristics from June's Newsletter. 

NCMM is pleased to announce the availability of PolicyMap's premium version to the NCMM audience. PolicyMap provides a wealth of demographic and other data that can be used to justify need in targeted areas for funding applications. NCMM will provide access to PolicyMap's premium version for up to 12 months for the first 49 qualified applications received. NCMM is able to offer this limited time opportunity thanks to funding provided by the Federal Transit Administration. If you feel your organization can benefit from the use of PolicyMap for funding applications or improved services you may be working on, please respond to the survey below to be considered. 

NCMM partnered with Community Living Campaign, a San Francisco nonprofit, to share their work with the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency (SFMTA) to reduce social isolation among older adults and people with disabilities through transportation subsidies, leading to improved physical and mental health outcomes for this population. This report showcases the fully subsidized taxi rides program that the Community Living Campaign implemented in San Francisco. Read the brief here.

On June 24, NCMM staff facilitated a meeting of Washington's Puget Sound area Regional Alliance for Resilient and Equitable Transportation (RARET) focused on emergency transportation coordination. Over 40 people attended the meeting, the first in-person one in two and a half years for RARET. You can read more about the Issue Focused meeting here. NCMM looks forward to working next with communities in New York next to facilitate an issue-focused meeting to help them overcome a barrier to or simply further their collaborations on transportation.

Mobility Management is all about connections. Connecting to your community, partner organizations, and even other mobility managers gives us the opportunity to create better outcomes for the individuals we serve every day. A main goal of NCMM is to facilitates these connections, which is why we have created MyNCMM.

MyNCMM is a new social network for Mobility Managers and our partners to connect, learn, and share ideas. By creating an account, or updating your existing one on our website, you can start your journey with a MyNCMM account. Easily search for other mobility managers across the country to securely connect and chat all on our website. MyNCMM members can create and join groups based on topic and geography to ask questions and share promising practices. You can easily stay on top of everything NCMM, and your network of mobility managers has to offer, all in one place.

To join, head to NCMM's homepage and click Register in the upper right hand corner. If you already have an account with NCMM, simply update your profile in your account's settings. We look forward to connecting with you!

Passionate about transit, multimodalism, and land use planning, Will has been working with the National Center for Mobility Management since November 2019. Will has always been passionate about mobility, whether that be in rural America or in cities across Latin America. Will has been the regional liaison for FTA Regions 2 and 3 and has enjoyed working on NCMM's various grant projects around the country. Read more about Will here.

As a mobility management professional do you wonder what components of your state or regional network can support the long-term success of the network? Are you looking for an interactive tool that you and your colleagues can use to assess the components of your network that can influence sustainability? Hot off the presses, and with the help of key mobility management leaders across the country, NCMM just produced the Mobility Management Sustainability Assessment Tool (MM-SAT). This easy-to-use tool can help network participants identify key dimensions of a network that can facilitate long-term success and can support the identification of gaps or network needs. NCMM would welcome the opportunity to help you implement the MM-SAT with your network. Let us know if you are interested in learning more about this tool - contact Judy Shanley for more information.

NCMM wants you to submit Promising Practices from your community! A database of current and recent mobility management practices from across the country is in the works, showcasing implemented programs and services that have introduced a new or enhanced method of delivering mobility management and improved people's ability to travel around their communities. If you're interested in sharing Promising Practices you know about, you can fill out the survey found here.

Through the Transit Planning 4 All project, funded by the Administration on Community Living funding, GPCOG (Greater Portland Council of Governments) staff partnered with Mobility Liaisons to develop and pilot the Community Transportation Leaders Program. Visit TP4A's GPCOG video and transcript of the 2019 grantee's work. Stay tuned for 3 more videos from former TP4A grantees that will be published in August/September.

Transit Planning 4 All has promoted the development and dissemination of best practices in transit planning inclusive of people with disabilities and older adults. A major component of these efforts is funding a series of demonstration projects, each seeking to increase inclusion in transportation planning. Transit Planning 4 All has launched an online roundtable series with representatives from these demonstration projects to discuss the lessons learned to date. You can visit the four roundtable recordings and transcripts focused on lessons learned on topics such as partnerships and measuring success here.

The National Center for Applied Transit Technology (N-CATT) is now accepting applications for transit agencies to receive one-on-one technical assistance through the Center's Strategic Technology Technical Assistance Teams (STTATs). N-CATT will work with up to three transportation providers to navigate a technology challenge or opportunity that results in a useful starting product for the agency, such as an implementation plan or ready-to-go technology solicitation. Past work has resulted in RFPs for transit tech procurement and transit technology implementation plans. If you're interested in applying, please reach out to Marcela Moreno. Read more here.

The Shared-Use Mobility Center has published two new case studies in their Mobility Learning Center: Meadville, Pennsylvania - A Grassroots Approach to Rural Bikeshare and Zero-Fare Transit. You can visit these and other resources at the Mobility Learning Center's Resource Library.

The Disability Information and Access Line (DIAL) is available to help people with disabilities get vaccinated and access COVID-19 tests. The DIAL's trained staff is standing by to help find local vaccination locations, assist with making vaccination appointments, help connect to available testing options, and connect callers to local services - such as accessible transportation - to overcome barriers to vaccination and testing. Interested parties can Call 888-677-1199 Monday-Friday from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. (ET) or email DIAL@usaginganddisability.org.

CMS has created a new website to feature its work in response to the December 2019 legislation that codified the Medicaid transportation benefit, commonly known as non-emergency medical transportation (NEMT). The new website discusses the legislated Assurance of Transportation Federal regulations and minimum requirements for NEMT drivers and providers/brokers. Recordings of the stakeholder listening sessions held by CMS in March-April 2022 can also be accessed from the site.

The FTA has updated its Frequently Asked Questions on use of formula funds for operating expenses in response to the covid-19 pandemic. Although formula funds may not be used to reimburse COVID-19-related operating expenses at 100-percent federal share for activities occurring after Jan. 21, 2022, CARES, CRRSAA, and ARP funds remain available at 100-percent federal share for these operating expenses. FTA also updated 16 COVID-related FAQs.

Mobility Management News is the newsletter of the National Center for Mobility Management (NCMM), which is operated jointly by the Community Transportation Association, the American Public Transportation Association and Easter Seals under a cooperative agreement with the Federal Transit Administration.