Originally published on railvolution.org. Rail~Volution is now Mpact: Mobility, Community, Possibility.
Over the summer, the Metropolitan Area Planning Agency (MAPA), in partnership with the Omaha Chamber of Commerce and Omaha Metro, convened a diverse group of Omaha stakeholders for a 6-week learning capsule focused on equity as it relates to their work in transportation and long-range regional planning. This capsule was the first in a series of capsule learning opportunities in collaboration with Rail~Volution’s ACT2 program.
At the onset, all group members knew someone, but nobody knew everyone. Their initial interests were to normalize conversations about equity and to pursue the notion of a single story. They recognized how powerful it can be when people unite around a shared sense of purpose and are committed to change.
Each weekly session provided a chance to learn, but more importantly to work as a group to digest and translate that knowledge into a local context. By the conclusion of the capsule program, cohort members had established a strong rapport as a group and were committed to remain connected for support and collaboration.
Potential next steps for them include connecting existing but disparate equity conversations, building a shared definition of what equity means for transit and mobility in Omaha and working with leaders to understand how equity can be further operationalized and measured using shared data and metrics.
Read the summary of the Omaha capsule learning here. Read more about ACT2 Capsule Learning here. Or contact Sarah Rudolf via email or at 612-406-0181.