Mpact:LAB offers place-based stakeholder development and capacity building. Read this piece, originally published in APTA’s Passenger Transport, to understand how and where the LAB works.
Building Local Momentum with Mpact:LAB
By Sarah Rudolf, Associate Director, Mpact
Time travel back to the summer of 2022. In Pennsylvania, word spread that passenger rail might be reinstated between Reading and Philadelphia. Leaders in Pottstown, a suburb along that corridor, began to consider the implications for jobs, housing and demographic changes. Northwest of Pottstown, in Buffalo, NY, the spotlight was on racial disparities and the need to build a more equitable city, as the shock of the gun violence at a predominantly African American neighborhood grocery store continued to reverberate.
Enter Mpact:LAB. In these communities and across the country, the LAB facilitates discussion about transit and development, grounded in local context and helping stakeholders find their way forward, together.
What is Mpact:LAB?
You may be new to Mpact:LAB. It’s a place-based program from the same network of savvy, creative risk-takers behind Mpact Transit + Community, the annual transit and community development conference formerly known as Rail~Volution.
Mpact:LAB brings local leaders together, providing a space for discovery, exploration, and dialogue. A space for open conversations, emergence, and complexity, and a space to step back and see the bigger picture.
How can Mpact:LAB help?
Mpact:LAB convenes, equips and activates local stakeholders by creating the pre-conditions for successful change and collaboration. We can help you:
- Galvanize a group by identifying mutual goals and priorities
- Boost capacity by providing staggered training opportunities and real-time mentoring
- Fuel progress with a series of strategic actions that build toward larger goals
- Equip leaders to use an integrated, intersectional approach for regional transit, mobility and development work
What is a MOVE Roundtable?
Mpact:LAB’s signature program is the MOVE Roundtable. It convenes a diverse stakeholder group to learn together, organize and prioritize. The group meets weekly for six weeks to address a local issue through the MOVE lenses: Mobility, Opportunity, Voice, and Equity. At the conclusion of the Roundtable, they are on the same page and ready to take the next step, together.
Inside the Buffalo, New York, MOVE Roundtable
Back to Buffalo. The grocery store shooting compelled Buffalo to take a hard look at historic infrastructure and policy decisions that resulted in systemic injustices, including food deserts. In the midst of all of this, what was the role of transit in advancing equity?
Buffalo MOVE Roundtable Outcomes
During the Buffalo MOVE Roundtable, a shift in framing occurred. What came to light was the need for increased trust and transparency between decision-makers and the community. Community members voiced that they often found out about changes in the neighborhood only after decisions were made and development had begun. The discussion pivoted to explore options for communication and public involvement to build awareness and connection. The Roundtable determined the next steps: to pilot two or three ways the community could connect more easily with the transit agency and local government. Since the Roundtable, RFPs for transit-oriented development include stronger equity scoring and community participation. And the MPO created a position to facilitate better communication with local residents.
Inside the Pottstown, Pennsylvania, MOVE Roundtables
Pottstown Area Health & Wellness Foundation partnered with Mpact:LAB to convene two Roundtables, one involving participants from Pottstown and one involving participants with a regional focus. Both addressed the potential of renewed a regional rail service connection to Philadelphia and related implications, both positive and negative, for the community. The goal of the Roundtables was to establish strong connections and shared understanding among and across these two stakeholder groups in order to be prepared for the future evolution of Pottstown, whether or not the rail service came to fruition.
Pottstown MOVE Roundtable Outcomes
Following the Roundtable, a delegation of Pottstown stakeholders attended the Rail~Volution conference (now Mpact Transit + Community) in Miami. Having built deeper connections and a shared sense of local needs, the Foundation and Borough of Pottstown, along with these stakeholders, was well-positioned to apply for – and win – a USDOT Thriving Communities program grant. One of the goals was to “ensure equitable access to economic development activities.”
Charles W. Dickinson Transportation Center in Pottstown, PA. An intermodal transit center, connecting Pottstown Area Rapid Transit (PART), SEPTA, and Amtrak bus routes, the station has lacked passenger rail service since 1981. Passenger rail service could be restored as part of Amtrak’s proposed Philadelphia to Reading line. Photo credit: Pottstown Area Health and Wellness Foundation
Mpact:LAB is not only MOVE Roundtables
Mpact:LAB creates a space of connection among people who share space but don’t always share ideas, priorities or a common language. The LAB offers a variety of options with the goal of building community capacity to get the most out of transportation and development investments.
- MOVE Roundtables: Convene local stakeholder groups to explore a core local challenge or question through the lenses of Mobility, Opportunity, Voice, Equity
- Stakeholder convenings: Shake things up in your community by convening a new kind of group to address a local challenge or unite decision-makers around a core question related to transit, land use or community development
- Transit field trips: Facilitate transit field trips for new riders, providing a Transit 101 basic training and a fun excursion to make sure the first ride is a success
- Explainers: Translate the complex into everyday language to boost understanding
In Spring 2024, Mpact:LAB facilitated a 2-day Summit in the Kalihi neighborhood of Honolulu, a longtime magnet for newly arrived immigrants seeking affordable housing and economic development. Kalihi will soon have four light rail stations on the Honolulu Skyline rail system, which opened its first segment in 2023. Everyone recognizes that changes are on the horizon but also wants to do all they can to “keep Kalihi, Kalihi.”
Inside the Kalihi Stakeholder Convening
Mpact:LAB worked with Move Oahu Forward and its partners to organize a summit for community leaders and key professionals, including elected officials, transit planners, city staff and utility company representatives. The program included two days of candid conversation along with a neighborhood tour, community resource tables and delicious local food.
What emerged was a palpable sense of community pride, a commitment to working together to ensure a bright, inclusive, and collective future for Kalihi and its residents, and a willingness to remain in partnership along the way. The Summit shaped the conversation by creating a common foundation and shared reference point for leaders that has since carried forward, once again illustrating how Mpact:LAB can catalyze connections and knowledge for local leaders to move forward, together.
During the Kalihi Summit, local stakeholders focused on the potential changes to the Kalihi neighborhood of Honolulu with the coming of four new stations on the Skyline rail system. Photo credit: Hitachi Rail Honolulu.
What can Mpact:LAB do for you?
Mpact:LAB brings the community-focused approach of the Mpact Transit + Community conference to local settings. For any project, the point is not the new transit line or new development but the community and how the project advances what the community wants to see.
Get in touch with Sarah Rudolf at Mpact:LAB to define your moment and set a path forward.
