Agenda
Schedule for #VPET21 Online Conference
Throughout the day, our speakers dived into four core elements of digital transformation as it relates to public engagement and transportation planning!
See the fantastic industry insights yourself! Sessions recordings are now available on-demand.
Beth Osborne, Director
Transportation for America
Beth is the Director of Transportation for America. She was previously at the U.S. Department of Transportation, where she served as the Acting Assistant Secretary for Transportation Policy and the Deputy Assistant Secretary for Transportation Policy since 2009. At DOT, Beth managed the TIGER Discretionary Grant program, the Secretary’s livability initiative, the development of the Administration’s surface transportation authorization proposal, and the implementation of MAP-21. Before joining DOT, Beth worked for Sen. Tom Carper (DE) as an advisor for transportation, trade and labor policy, as the policy director for Smart Growth America and as legislative director for environmental policy at the Southern Governors’ Association. She began her career in Washington, DC, in the House of Representatives working as a legislative assistant for Rep. Ron Klink (PA-04) and as legislative director for Rep. Brian Baird (WA-03).e stakeholders, developing actionable strategies that are sustainable over time.
Public engagement will never be the same again.
There’s been a fundamental shift propelled by the pandemic: work-from-home and shelter-in-place has turned our audiences into customers. They have become used to instant response, day-of delivery and full transparency; and these consumers are spending up to 16 hours per day online, which means everyone has a ready megaphone in their laptop or mobile device, and time to share opinions on just about anything. By learning to focus on Citizen Experience (CX), we will find the new touchpoints where we can reach and interact with communities.
In this 30-minute session, CEO Nora Madonick and Director of Digital Strategy Rachel Adler of Arch Street Communications (ASC) will explain the role of CX in public engagement and approaches that work for what comes next: mapping the customer journey to find touchpoints; planning hybrid events that deliver a shared experience to all audiences, in-person and online; and integrating digital tools that improve information delivery to engage audiences in civic planning. A combination of presentation, interactive tools and Q&A will deliver practical, implementable ideas you can put to work in your next project.
Nora Madonick, CEO and Lead Strategist
Arch Street Communications
Nora Madonick develops effective, impactful awareness and engagement strategies for civic planning projects and public policy initiatives that save, change and improve lives. For 28 years, she has served as CEO and founder of Arch Street Communications, a women-owned/ disadvantaged small business. Nora leads a team of communicators and planners who support local, state and federal clients. During the pandemic, she guided development of www.asc-remote.com, a free resource for the public sector, and now conducts trainings in ASC’s Virtual Engagement Playbook and Toolkit to help advance recovery.
Rachel Adler, Director: Digital Strategy
Arch Street Communications
Rachel Adler is a forward-thinking digital marketing specialist who brings 10+ years of experience to her work developing digital strategies for ASC clients in infrastructure, economic development and public policy. Her blog, 21 Digital Trends for 2021, set the stage for changes in public engagement now being implemented across ASC’s client base. A certified LinkedIn Expert, Rachel conducts trainings in maximizing the platform to increase the reach of messaging. Rachel established the first Social Media Week in Fairfax, Virginia.
The Maryland Department of Transportation recently hosted two MetroQuest surveys on two long-range plans: the State Rail Plan and the State Freight Plan. The purpose of the Freight Plan is to examine existing and projected conditions, identify policy positions, strategies, and freight projects to improve freight movement efficiency and safety. Freight plans are required by the federal Fixing America’s Surface Transportation Act (FAST Act) of 2015 every five years and require collaboration with our stakeholders. The Freight Plan envisions that freight travels freely and safely through a modern, resilient, and interconnected multimodal network contributing to sustainable economic viability and growth for Maryland businesses and communities.
State rail plans are required by the federal Passenger Rail Investment and Improvement Act of 2008 (PRIIA), and the Fixing America’s Surface Transportation Act (FAST Act) of 2015 specified that state rail plans be updated every four years. The Plan will outline public and private investments and policies that will ensure the efficient, safe, and sustainable movement of freight and passengers by rail. The Rail Plan’s comprehensive list of rail projects will enable MDOT to work strategically with private railroads and other stakeholders to address rail needs and support where possible.
As part of the Digital Community Engagement, MDOT administered a MetroQuest survey to get input from various stakeholders in the State of Maryland on the State Rail Plan and the State Freight Plan. For this session, we plan on walking the audience through the following:
– Why we chose the specific MetroQuest screens for our engagement
– Ease of data collection and analysis
– What information we were able to collect from the survey
– How MetroQuest has helped with our engagement and how this feedback will help shape the final State Rail plan and State Freight Plan.
Gladys Hurwitz, Multimodal Transportation Specialist
Maryland Department of Transportation
Gladys Hurwitz is a multimodal transportation specialist with the Maryland Department of Transportation. Gladys is known for being an action-oriented results driven leader with a diverse and enriching background in strategic planning, policy, project & program management. Gladys holds a Master’s Degree from Morgan State University in City and Regional Planning, is an active member of the WTS Baltimore Chapter, and is a panel member of the Transportation Research Board.
A great survey allows us to incorporate important public input into our projects. However, creating a survey that only has a few participants is like throwing a party where only one person shows up. There’s a lot of effort that goes into preparing information and inviting public comment – we want everyone at the party. So how can we extend our reach and connect with not only more participants, but with participants that represent the population of our communities? In this presentation, we’re sharing examples of actions taken in projects in the Roanoke Valley Transportation Planning Organization (RVPTO) and in communities in British Columbia that have helped us increase both participant numbers and diversity.
Several years ago, our organizations commonly received no or very few comments during many of our public comment periods. To improve public engagement, we’ve been offering online surveys and using methods to extend our reach and increase representation of geographical areas, participants with varied ethnicities, residents of different age groups, and a range of socio-economic classes.
Each of us is different, meaning there is no one-size fits all approach to encouraging participation in a survey. Inviting people to identify their needs and setting aside resources to accommodate them allows us to be more inclusive and hear from a greater range of voices that reflect our community.
Rachel Ruhlen, Transportation Planner II
Roanoke Valley-Alleghany Regional Commission
Rachel Ruhlen earned a Master’s degree in Sustainable Transportation in 2016 from the University of Washington. She started bicycling for transportation in 2004, got involved in bike/ped and transit advocacy, and served on several committees and boards before changing careers to become a transportation planner. In 2016 she joined the Roanoke Valley-Alleghany Regional Commission where she has updated the Public Participation Plan and implemented public engagement strategies on many planning efforts.
Jana Zelenski, Principal Landscape Architect
LANARC
Jana Zelenski, MLA, BCSLA, IAP2 is a principal with LANARC, a planning, design, and engagement firm based in British Columbia, Canada, focused on creating resilient and future-focused communities. Our company’s passion is working with communities to imagine and implement creative improvements that help create great communities that residents are proud to call home.
You don’t need to hire a professional film company to produce high-quality, animated videos that explain your transportation project to the public. In fact, you just need PowerPoint, some Google skills, and a colleague with a nice speaking voice.
In this session, we will share a series of lightly animated cartoon videos, each two minutes in length, that break down complex pieces of the Regional Multi-Modal Mobility Program (RM3P), an integrated corridor management project in Northern Virginia. By moving still images across a slide and making selective use of text, each video tells the story of a fictional commuter or transportation professional in Virginia and how the RM3P program would benefit their routine. The videos have become the go-to means by which RM3P leaders introduce stakeholders to the technical elements of the program.
Finn Vigeland, Transportation Planner
Foursquare ITP
Finn Vigeland, AICP, is a transportation planner at Foursquare ITP in Washington, D.C. He is interested in the ways that design and public engagement can be harnessed to produce better urban policy and more complete transportation networks. His key projects include the Atlanta-Regional Transit Link Authority Annual Report and Audit, the Central Maryland Regional Transit Plan, and the moveDC Long-Range Transportation Plan. He received his Master in Urban Planning from the Harvard Graduate School of Design.
How to use equity-based objectives to obtain qualitative information and lived experiences related to transportation and mobility habits in your local community. Learn how we optimized capacity for our local Department of Transportation to identify needs and priorities for the Charlotte Strategic Mobility Plan. We provided virtual opportunities for those who are historically excluded from the transportation planning process. Learn how we worked with African Americans , Hispanic, Asian, Indigenous Americans, Immigrants, Non-English speakers, Single-parent households, Older adults, Members of the differently abled community, and people experiencing homelessness throughout this process.
Christine Edwards, Owner and Chief Innovator
Amplify Consulting
Christine Edwards is a civic firebrand that has immersed herself in helping urban communities reach their highest levels of growth and success. She founded Amplify Consulting in 2018, a company that delivers community engagement services and resources for small businesses. Christine earned her MPA with a concentration in Urban Management and Policy from UNC Charlotte. In her spare time, Christine volunteers, enjoys southern food and loves seeing urban policy theory play out in daily life.
Public engagement is critical when developing a regional transportation plan that encompasses a diverse population. To ensure the region’s vitality, the New York Metropolitan Transportation Council (NYMTC) offered several options for engagement as they worked on the next Regional Transportation Plan for New York City, Lower Hudson Valley, and Long Island. Virtual workshops were offered, an online MetroQuest survey was developed and distributed, social media was utilized as well as the project website advertising opportunities to participate. Due to the variety of languages spoken in the region, the MetroQuest survey and advertisement flyers were translated from English into Spanish, Russian, Simplified Chinese, and Traditional Chinese. To comply with the American with Disabilities Act and Federal Limited English Proficiency guidelines, special accommodations were made available to stakeholders that wished to participate in the workshops by offering translation services in Spanish, Russian, and Chinese. The feedback was well received in the community.
Molly Hollister, Communications & Public Involvement Manager
WSP
Molly Hollister has over 15 years of experience in NYC as a business, government and community affairs leader. Her civic contributions span community, policy and project work. Ms. Hollister is the former Chair of Manhattan Community Board 6, addressing traffic safety issues, improving city infrastructure and creating open space, including a safe and resilient East River waterfront. She currently leads NY Communications and Public Involvement for WSP USA and works on projects ranging from the Penn Station’s East End Gateway LIRR Concourse project to MTA’s Elevate Transit: Zoning for Accessibility.
How do you have great conversations with youth on a screen that they’ve already been staring at all day? That’s exactly what we as planners at the Puget Sound Regional Council had to figure out when designing online engagement for our 2050 Regional Transportation Plan. For previous planning projects, staff brought huge printed out maps, Legos, and emoji icons to youth councils across the central Puget Sound region to facilitate these conversations. In 2021 these groups were all meeting remotely on Zoom, so we had to identify new technologies and conceptualize new conversation topics to continue hearing from this important population in a meaningful way. This session will demonstrate how we transitioned from in-person to virtual activities, discuss the partnerships we created along the way, and provide participants an opportunity to try out the interactive activities we developed to imagine our transportation system in the year 2050.
The interactive activity will use an online platform that allows each participant to create their own vision for the future of transportation. These visualizations are an effective tool for spurring conversations among group members and sharing back ideas to decision makers in a variety of formats.
Maggie Moore, Associate Planner,
Puget Sound Regional Council
Maggie leads many of the agency’s outreach and engagement activities that span from the regionally representative surveys to developing and standing up the agency’s first ever Equity Advisory Committee with compensated community members. Maggie Moore has been working closely on developing interactive activities to engage community members as part of PSRC’s Regional Transportation Plan update.
Lexie Abrahamian, Graduate Student Research Assistant
USC’s Equity Research Institute
Lexie Abrahamian is a Master of Urban Planning student at the University of Southern California’s Price School of Public Policy. She currently works as a graduate research assistant at USC’s Equity Research Institute, supporting policy research in immigrant integration, economic inclusion, and local governing power. Before joining ERI, Lexie served as a Data & Planning Intern at Puget Sound Regional Council, the Seattle region’s MPO, where she conducted policy research and data analysis to support the development of several regional plans and strategies in economic development, housing, transportation, and racial equity.
Her interests include racial equity and anti-displacement strategies. In particular, she likes working with data to tell stories about cities and places, using a combination of qualitative, quantitative, spatial, and ethnographic methods.
The Link21 Program is a long-range transportation program aimed at transforming the passenger rail network serving the 21-county Northern California Megaregion. Equity is a core component not only of the Program’s evaluation framework for determining alternatives but is a key principal in the engagement strategies used to engage the public. In this session, members of the Link21 Program Team will showcase best practices in both Digital Community Engagement, Equity & Diversity and Data Analysis and Actionable Insights.
To date, strategies utilized as part of the engagement process have included co-creation workshops, a project website featuring a digital survey and interactive digital quiz, online comment form and subscription form, and four interactive workshops. The interactive workshops, held in June of 2021 and continuing through the summer, have included live polling and live question and answer. In order to provide the most inclusive virtual PI experience, workshops have been simulcast in three languages, including call-in options for those with limited access to internet, and comments received have been added to a centralized stakeholder system.
Through the establishment of a single source-of-truth for all stakeholder interactions, overlaid with Google Analytics for program web traffic, the Link21 engagement team will share in this session tactics to help your team visualize the most comprehensive picture of virtual engagement.
Kimberly Sims, Director of Public Involvement –
HNTB
Kimberly Sims serves as the Director of Public Involvement for HNTB’s Northern California offices. She has more than 20 years of communications and government, media and community relations experience. In this role, she leads a team who support transportation and urban planning projects with communication and outreach strategies. Previously, she managed communications and outreach for several high profile, large-scale transportation projects, including the 35Express, Chisholm Trail Parkway, SH 170 and SH 360.
Kimberly served on the Dallas/Fort Worth chapter of Women’s Transportation Seminar as the Director of Programs and as the chapter’s representative for the WTS SW Region Council. Prior to this position she served as the inaugural communications chair for the chapter. She was selected as the 2019 Member of the Year for the Greater Dallas/Fort Worth Chapter of WTS and is a proud member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. She holds a Bachelor’s degree in Mass Communications and an MBA from Texas Woman’s University in Denton, Texas.
She currently serves as the Engagement and Outreach Task lead for the Link21 Program, a transformational transportation program for the Northern California Megaregion passenger rail system.
Nicole Y. Franklin, Public Engagement Manager, Link 21 Program
Bay Area Rapid Transit District
Nicole is a community engagement and land use professional with over 20 years of experience working with government agencies, community groups, and multidisciplinary teams during the entitlement, permitting, funding, and construction phases of private development and public infrastructure projects. She currently serves as Public Engagement Manager, directing the Link21 Engagement and Outreach work, which includes, public outreach and engagement, media relations, government relations, branding and marketing, and equity policy and outreach.
Nicole is a member of Women’s Transportation Seminar (WTS), SPUR, and ULI San Francisco. She previously served on the City of Oakland Landmarks Preservation Advisory Board and Planning Commission. She completed her undergraduate studies at the University of California, Davis, and earned an MS in real estate development from Columbia University in New York City.
In her personal time, Nicole performs community service work through Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Incorporated, Black Women Organized for Political Action (BWOPA), and Girls, Inc. of Alameda County. She also likes to read literary non-fiction, travel, and spend time with her cat Studs.
The future of New York City is one where everyone has access to reliable and environmentally-friendly transportation options, as well as safe and welcoming streets and public spaces. To achieve this vision, the New York City Department of Transportation (NYC DOT) is developing its first NYC Streets Plan, a five-year master plan that must respond equitably to the uniqueness of the City’s many neighborhoods and local needs.
But how do you ensure all voices are heard in the planning process when the large-scale, in-person outreach traditionally employed isn’t an option?
Examining digital community engagement through the lens of the NYC Streets Plan process, Celeste Frye, CEO of Public Works Partners, and Christopher Hrones of the NYC DOT will explore how to reach target audiences virtually, including those often marginalized, to prioritize vital transportation projects and programs. Learn strategies for equitable public engagement using digital platforms — such as interactive MetroQuest surveys and virtual workshops — and share your insights on what’s most important when designing a planning process from the ground up. Attendees will discover how, even with limited resources, it’s possible — and essential — to effectively connect with community members where they are.
Celeste Frye, CEO
Public Works Partner
Celeste Frye, AICP co-founded Public Works Partners more than a decade ago out of a passion to help mission-driven organizations increase their positive impact on local communities. She is a known expert in designing and implementing multi-stakeholder initiatives and building strong connections across the government, nonprofit and private sectors. Blending her experience in planning and organizational management, Celeste helps organizations capitalize on existing strengths and engage stakeholders, developing actionable strategies that are sustainable over time.
Christopher Hrones, Director of Strategic Transit Initiatives
New York City Department of Transportation
Christopher Hrones, AICP is the Director of Strategic Transit Initiatives at the NYC Department of Transportation. Hrones is an accomplished transportation professional with over 20 years of experience in making cities safer, inviting, and efficient for everyone – especially for pedestrians and transit users. He has led a variety of transit initiatives including Planning Studies, Environmental Analysis, and Public Outreach. Currently, Christopher Hrones is leading a five-year master plan called, the NYC Streets Plan.
Both private and public organizations are specifically calling out equity in their approach to public engagement. The emphasis is on intentional inclusion of stakeholders who historically have been left out of the conversation rather than public engagement that is just “checking the box”. In this session, Shoshana Akins (Delaware Valley Regional Planning Commission) and Yosef Yip (WSP USA) will review community engagement techniques used, the priorities set and promotional strategies implemented to encourage equity and diversity, and the evaluation tactics used to analyze feedback and create actionable insights.
DVRPC has run the Public Participation Task Force (PPTF) for over 50 years but had to innovate quickly, meaningfully, and comprehensively to meet the correlated needs of the Covid-19 pandemic and the racial reckoning of this nation’s oppression and marginalization of Black and Brown residents. The PPTF, as well as many other residents of the Greater Philadelphia region, looked to deepen their involvement and knowledge of transportation planning at DVRPC during this time and staff responded with new techniques, honest dialogue, and accountability.
WSP USA’s Communications and Public Involvement (CPI) Group has over 50 public engagement professionals across the country. During the pandemic, the team supported clients to quickly adapt to new expectations for public outreach. The team continued to commit to critical outreach milestones through innovative approaches and transitioned all in-person engagement activities to virtual formats. At the same time, CPI is committed to equitable decision-making, ultimately fostering a world in which everyone can reach their full potential, participate fully, and have access to all opportunities generated through our work.
Shoshana Akins, Senior Public Participation Planner
DVRPC
Shoshana Akins works at DVRPC as a Senior Public Participation Planner and holds a master’s degree in public health. Her work centers around environmental justice, civil rights, public participation, equity, and community engagement strategies in DVRPC’s regional planning projects with a focus on systems thinking, policy, and vulnerable populations. She is the manager of DVRPC’s Public Participation Task Force and has led many of the agency’s equity initiatives, including the update to Indicators of Potential Disadvantage (IPD) and the design and implementation of Equity Through Access (ETA) project. She currently lives in Philadelphia and plans on being a lifelong resident.
Yosef Yip, Senior Consultant, Communications & Public Involvement(CPI) Practice
WSP
Yosef Yip has 10 years of experience in stakeholder engagement and community outreach. Yosef has implemented comprehensive stakeholder outreach plans which led to strong engagement activities, garnered equity-focused partnerships, and increased the public’s project understanding during technical project phases. Yosef is dedicated to support clients in committing to equitable decision-making, which will ultimately prepare communities for a resilient future.
Transportation agencies across the country are facing unprecedented challenges as they work to deliver critical infrastructure projects during a lingering pandemic. Now, more then ever before, the effort to get the public to engage on these projects must be bold, creative, and multifaceted. Input from these activities needs to be collected and shared with decision makers in a way that makes sure it is considered as plans are defined. In this joint session, speakers from Minnesota Department of Transportation and HDR will discuss the lessons learned from engagement delivered during the height of the national stay-at-home order and from projects that have returned to in-person activities.
During the beginning of the pandemic, Minnesota Department of Transportation found enormous success by combining the GIS Dashboard with data from online surveys to provide project management teams with data they can use in their analysis and decision-making processes. They will show different types of surveys employed for various studies, and how teams can make use of these strategies going forward.
While there is not a one-size-fits-all solution for a public engagement strategy, the team at HDR have discovered some common themes, amongst their 120+ strategic communications professionals, in planning for public engagement going forward. Placing the focus back on our communities by listening to their individual needs, keeping safety in mind, and aligning engagement strategies for greater accessibility are just some of those factors.
Instead of returning to pre-COVID-19 meeting formats — workshops, pop-up events, open houses, event tabling – it’s time to embrace this transformational moment and establish best practices for what engagement looks like to meet the needs of today’s societal demands.
Stephanie Castellanos, Public Engagement Coordinator
Minnesota Department of Transportation
Stephanie Castellanos is the Public Engagement Coordinator for MnDOT District 3 which covers 13 counties in Central Minnesota. She works on transportation studies and projects to garner crucial public input prior to scoping a project or completing a study. Her main focus is to ensure the public’s opinion is included in the district’s planning process and considered when determining proposed transportation solutions.
Nathan McDonald, GIS Coordinator
Minnesota Department of Transportation
Nathan McDonald is a GIS Coordinator for MnDOT’s Central District. He has worked as a GIS professional in Surveys and Planning for the past 4 years. Recently he has been involved in asset management infrastructure initiatives, local transportation equity discussions, and data collection management roles across the state.
Theresa McClure, Transportation Strategic Communications Director
HDR
Theresa draws on nearly 20 years of experience to help our teams and clients tailor their communications strategies to manage the social and political risks associated with implementing community-focused transportation programs. She leads organizations through their most difficult challenges by protecting and improving brand image, increasing recognition, and gaining public and political buy-in. Primarily focused on providing holistic solutions for our transportation clients, Theresa supports our full-service strategic communications program, which includes 130 practitioners in 24 areas.
Questions?
We’d love to hear from you! Please direct all conference inquiries to events@metroquest.com.