Shoshana Akins

Shoshana Akins works at the Delaware Valley Regional Planning Commission (DVRPC) as the Manager of Public Participation Planning 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 policy, restorative justice, and underserved 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), the design and implementation of Equity Through Access (ETA) project, and the equity evaluation of DVRPC’s Transportation Improvement Program (TIP) project selection process and implementation. She was also appointed to the U.S. Department of Transportation’s (USDOT) Advisory Committee on Transportation Equity (ACTE), which provides independent advice and recommendations about issues of civil rights and various contexts of transportation equity to USDOT. She currently lives in Philadelphia and plans on being a lifelong resident.