Today Cambridge Systematics (CS) launched its Equity-In-Action grant program. The grant is designed to help nonprofit and grassroots community-based organizations advance their equity goals by providing access to CS’ proprietary data and transportation consulting services. Grant applications are due by July 15th at 5:30 pm EDT.

“As leaders in our industry, we also must lead the charge in advancing equity not just within our firm, but in the communities we serve. In acknowledging past wrongs in transportation planning and implementation, we understand that addressing equity starts with the people and organizations rooted in those communities,” says Brad Wright, President and CEO of CS. “That’s why we’ve developed these in-kind grants to support community-based organizations in this critical work.”

The grants program will support projects focused on:

  • Studying travel made by residents of communities with historically disadvantaged populations for the purpose of helping better understand trip making in and around their communities and working collaboratively to compare trip patterns to existing mobility options;

  • Studying access to job centers, education (colleges, universities and job training), health care, and/or other social determinants of health and of healthy communities including fresh food and social networks;

  • Conducting research that addresses inequities in our transportation systems;

  • Strengthening grant applications to advance equitable transportation access to—and/or equitable impact of transportation investments on—health care, health outcomes, education, jobs, job training, fresh food, and other key determinants of health and economic security, by showcasing travel and traffic conditions; and/or

  • Advancing equitable recovery from COVID-19.

Types of data provided through the grant may include trip flows from our LOCUS location-based services datasets or equity-focused census demographic information through a tool developed by CS. Consulting services available through the grant program may include transportation/infrastructure grant application support, transit planning and operations expertise, stakeholder outreach, data visualization and analysis, or knowledge transfer of data analysis skills.

Organizations invited to apply for the grant include local/grassroots organizations, community colleges, historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs), community-based job training schools, other educational institutions serving historically disadvantaged populations, local business leagues, business improvement districts, or chambers of commerce in communities with historically disadvantaged populations.