WE ARE GETTHERE

 

We are celebrating a new name and a new home, plus some new offerings, including staff and programs.

 

We will no longer be known as Mobility Management of South Central New York. We are Getthere, a mobility management program of Rural Health Network.

  

Our services will continue from 455 Court Street in Binghamton, where Rural Heath Network has leased space. We will be housed along with fellow staff members from Rural Health Network. 

 

Getthere phone numbers and hours will remain the same. (Call Center phone: 1-855-373-4040; hours: 7 am - 7 pm weekdays.) Our new mailing address

The new location will provide quality work space for our growing staff and improve operating efficiencies. Our five-county service area remains the same. Our mission remains the same while we offer increased services, such as our Transportation to Employment Program and our new and improved Website with Trip Planner capacity described below. 

 

Getthere is a team effort. With each staff addition, the team grows stronger and better able to assist those with transportation barriers though the pursuit of more transportation innovations for rural, upstate New York. 

  

Stephanie Button joined the Getthere staff this month as a Mobility and Transportation Advocate. For as long as she can remember she has had an urge to help others. She has always wanted a fulfilling job where she could have an impact on the lives of other people. H er focus became disability-based, and personal, when her mom became sick in 2012. She experienced firsthand the dire need for people in rural communities to have access to medical care.

Shane Solar-Doherty has joined the Getthere team as the Transportation to Employment Coordinator. This announcement marks the fruition of a lengthy effort to develop transportation to employment services for Getthere -- specifically  vanpool and ridesharing services.

Shane has worked as a farmer in Western Massachusetts growing food for 275 families, a project manager helping schools obtain free solar panels, and a volunteer coordinator pairing NYC elementary school students with adult mentors. Before becoming the Transportation to Employment Coordinator, Shane worked as the Urban Farm Manager for VINES and studied at Tufts University's Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy, with a focus on developing equitable and sustainable regional food systems. Having moved to the Southern Tier in January, Shane is originally from the Lower Hudson Valley and holds a BA in Writing & Literature from Emerson College.
  

Shane's commitment to improving resources and services for underserved communities will serve our area and residents who face transportation challenges well!          

The Transportation to Employment Program

The Transportation to Employment Program (TEP) is an important new offering from Getthere that will benefit residents of Binghamton who are unemployed, under-employed, and seeking employment, who have identified transportation as a barrier to employment. TEP seeks to develop a sustainable transportation to employment strategy for individuals referred to the program.  TEP was designed with two components -- a transportation voucher service and a vanpool service.  

Referrals for the voucher program will be provided by community partners working in job placement programs. TEP coordinator, Shane Solar-Doherty, will work with individuals that have been referred to develop a sustainable strategy for transportation to employment by utilizing the most cost effective and appropriate mode of transportation. It will highlight multiple ways for an individual to commute to employment without actually owning an automobile.  Getthere has started to receive referrals for the voucher part of the program, and has seen success in developing  a customized and sustainable strategy. Initial costs of these strategies may be offset by Getthere TEP.

In other TEP news, we are moving forward with the purchase of two vans. TEP staff have met with multiple businesses that have large employee bases. The Vanpool business model is built utilizing the Wealthworks Rural Economic Development strategy and we are working with Shanna Ratner of Yellow Woods Associates, Inc. to develop this strategy and plan of assessment. A Getthere Vanpool will provide a cost effective and sustainable strategy for individuals to commute to work without the expense of a personal auto.

Binghamton-Broome Anti-Poverty Initiative (BBAPI) funding has made TEP possible. Rural Health Network is one of 12 organizations selected to implement projects under Governor Cuomo's  Empire State Poverty Reduction Initiative (ESPRI), through the Binghamton-Broome Anti-Poverty Initiative (BBAPI). Use this link to find out more about the Binghamton-Broome Anti-Poverty Initiative, an initiative of United Way of Broome County. 

 

If you are interested in more details about the TEP program, contact Shane Solar-Doherty, Getthere's Transportation to Employment Program Coordinator. 

Connection to Care is on pace to help more than twice as many people in 2018.

2017:  Jan. - Aug.   256 cases 2018:  Jan. - Aug.   582 cases

 

"You not only made my day or week or month, you made my life." (Lila)

Lila had recently contacted Getthere for assistance. She was really worried about being able to get to medical appointments that she could NOT miss. Anne Marie, one of Getthere's Transportation Advocates, was able to find volunteers to get her to these important appointments. Lila was happy; her response is gratifying to the Getthere team and is our quote of the day.
 

County News and Notes

RFPs (Request for Proposals) to Tioga, Chenango, Delaware and Otsego counties for transportation and mobility services will go out in October. We anticipate contracts with county partners for Rural Transportation and Mobility Services Development  to begin in November.

 

Tioga County applied for and was awarded funding that will make this possible through NYS Department of Transportation and the Federal Transit Administration 5311 Program (Formula Grants for Rural Areas). Tioga County contracts with Rural Health Network of SCNY to administer the program and provide mobility management services across the Getthere service area.

According to the High Cost of Free Parking by Professor Donald Shoup at UCLA, the  average car spends 95% of its life parked.

  

Now, another fact to think about: the true cost to own and  operate a vehicle is $8,469 a year  if driven 15,000 miles per year, according to a 2017 AAA study.

Events, Conferences, Workshops, Save-the-Date

September 27- 29, annual New York State Association for Rural Health Conference, Greek Peak. The conference program is availale online. Among its offerings is: SOCIAL DETERMINANT OF HEALTH: MEETING TRANSPORTATION NEEDS AND IT'S IMPACT

(Bill Wagner will discuss the Transportation Voucher Program as Getthere marks the beginning of the second year of this program.)

October 3, Chenango County Transportaion Group meeting, 2 pm

October 16,  Getthere Quarterly Advisory Committee, noon at STIC

October 23 -25,  NYPTA Conference & Expo: Public Transit & The Mobility Movement

November 15, National Rural Health Day 2018

  

December 7, Tioga County Transportation Group quarterly meeting - 1 pm, at Tioga DSS