In June 2018, the King County Mobility Coalition was awarded a national grant by the Federal Administration for Community Living (ACL) to spend six months leveraging an inclusive planning process to evaluate how people find and secure transportation in our region. The project encourages the use of inclusive planning processes by including YOU, the user, in the discussion and development of programs designed to fit YOUR needs. We are focused on improving transportation for all King County community members, with focus on older adults, people with disabilities, and their caregivers, including non-English speakers, low-income individuals, people experiencing homelessness, immigrants, refugees, Veterans, and youth. The goal of the grant is to demonstrate the value that inclusive planning processes bring to coordinated transportation efforts.
In fall 2018, we conducted extensive community outreach to learn what challenges people in the region face when attempting to find and secure transportation. The Steering Committee for the grant used the community feedback gathered to create an Action Plan that will help guide the efforts of the KCMC in the future. In early 2019, the KCMC was awarded Round 2 funding to continue this work through the end of 2019, and the Action Plan was used to determine the prioritized projects for the year.
From April 2019 to January 2020, Round 2 of Inclusive Planning efforts led to the creation of an Inclusive Planning Steering Committee and three Workgroups that corresponded with needs identified in Round 2 efforts. Each project, with charters and deliverables listed in a section below, adopted plans for sustainability.
The mission of the Inclusive Planning Grant Steering Committee is to improve the experience of finding and securing transportation in King County and the Puget Sound Region for people with disabilities, older adults, and caregivers.