Wednesday, July 27 | 2-3 PM EST | Virtual

NADTC's office hours are focused on enhancing training and technical assistance opportunities and offer further opportunities to interact with your peers, topic experts and NADTC staff.

In recognition of the Americans with Disability Act (ADA) Anniversary, this session is moderated by Ken Thompson, Technical Assistance Director at NADTC, and will provide an overview of the Reasonable Modification rule, under guidance of USDOT. This rule helps to clarify and guide providers to ensure people with disabilities have equal opportunities to use accessible transportation in their communities and without discrimination. A crucial element for providing quality accessible transportation is to have a clear and formalized process in place for handling reasonable modification requests by customers. This includes considerations for an interactive request process, determination if the request is reasonable and the importance of a clearly written policy to guide an agency in their decision making process.

Attendance will be capped at 30 participants to foster a small group discussion, so if you are interested in participating, please register as soon as possible to reserve your space! RSVP to Ken Thompson at kthompson@easterseals.com

Conference registration is required to attend the pre-conference intensive, and you must select this option upon registration. You do not have to be registered for the conference to attend the post-conference forum, but registration is required for this event. The complete conference agenda and registration information can be found on the conference webpage. We look forward to seeing you in Austin!

To register for the post-conference forum, please click here!

Access to behavioral health services, including substance abuse treatment, is the focus of an innovative new program at Envida, located in Colorado Springs, Colorado. Prior to COVID-19, they launched this new service utilizing funding from a FTA funded Innovative Coordinated Access and Mobility (ICAM) grant. The pandemic proved that access to behavioral health, especially in rural areas, is incredibly vital and "Envida was in the right place at the right time."

NADTC’s June blog discusses the Five W’s of starting a behavioral health transportation program, and the incredible benefits it brings to improving healthcare access.

The NADTC Post COVID-19 Report: Resiliency and Transformation, is now available. This report reviews how human services organizations and transit providers reacted to the many challenges caused by the pandemic and highlights imaginative ways that both continued to serve their communities in a responsive and resilient manner.

Our June 2 Office Hours featured Nicole Fincham-Shehan, Disability Access Specialist with Palm Tran who presented on the topic, “Expanding Independent Travel Opportunities for People with Vision Loss through Travel Training.” In case you missed the session, you can access the materials and recording on our website.

FTA announced awards of approximately $8.4 million to 17 projects in 16 states to improve public transportation for underserved groups, with a focus on health and wellness. FTA’s Innovative Coordinated Access & Mobility (ICAM) Pilot Program increases access for Americans all over the country, particularly to health care appointments, by building partnerships among health, transportation, and other service providers.

NADTC will continue its support of FTA grant funded programs, by providing person-centered technical assistance and support to the new ICAM grantees.

The U.S. DOT released a Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) for the FY2022-2026 Tribal Transit Program Safety Fund (TTPSF), a set aside of the Tribal Transit Program (TTP). The funds are focused on addressing transportation safety issues in tribal communities, which have a higher percentage of roadway incidents, as compared to other parts of the country. This competitive grant opportunity is open to federally recognized tribes, and seeks projects that will address the prevention and reduction of death or serious injuries in transportation related incidents. More information, including a list of previously funded projects and a recording of a webinar for interested applicants, can be found here. Applications must be submitted through grants.gov no later than September 15, 2022.

The U.S. DOT announced $5 million in funding, over the next 5 years, to establish the Safe Streets and Roads for All (SS4A) discretionary grant program. Focused on the goal of zero deaths and serious injury on our nation's roadways, this opportunity is open to Metropolitan Planning Organizations, counties, cities or towns, transit agencies and federally recognized tribal governments. These funds are for the development of an Action Plan through environmental scans, safety analysis and stakeholder engagement with community members, especially older adults and people with disabilities. Applications must be submitted through grants.gov no later than September 15, 2022.