Shownotes
In this episode of "Looking Forward Our Way," hosts Carol Ventresca and Brett Johnson sit down with guest Emma Strange, the mobility coordinator for the Mid-Ohio Regional Planning Commission (MORPC).
The episode covers MORPC's role in developing a comprehensive regional mobility plan for Ohio's Department of Transportation's Human Service Transportation Coordination Region 6.
This plan aims to enhance transportation options and coordination for older adults, people with disabilities, new Americans, and low-income populations across nine counties – Delaware, Fairfield, Fayette, Franklin, Licking, Logan, Madison, Pickaway, and Union.
Emma underscores the impact public transportation has on personal independence, sharing her experience as an anxious driver who prefers using mass transit for its cost-effectiveness and the ability to enjoy downtown scenery.
The episode also highlights additional programs provided by MORPC, such as home energy efficiency, safety services, and air quality monitoring in Ohio. Carol encourages listeners not to self-disqualify from these programs and to engage with Morpsey staff who are available to offer assistance.
Top Takeaways
1. Importance of Regional Mobility Planning: The significance of developing a comprehensive mobility plan that caters to the needs of older adults, people with disabilities, new Americans, and low-income populations across the 9-county region in Ohio.
2. Role of Mobility Managers: The pivotal role played by mobility managers, who are instrumental in individualized transportation planning, community outreach, and advocating for access to transit for seniors and people with disabilities.
3. Transportation Challenges and Solutions: The challenges faced in transportation planning, including siloed funding and capacity issues, while introducing solutions like the Emergency Ride Home program and Ohio Commute.
5. Emergency and Alternative Transit: Essential information regarding alternative transportation methods and emergency planning is provided, essential for preparing for unexpected situations and supporting an aging population.
Memorable Moments
00:00 Providing transportation solutions for clients with mobility.
07:35 Nonpartisan data analysis, long-term planning for growth.
10:33 Regional mobility plan addresses needs of disadvantaged groups.
15:14 Regional mobility plan involves community engagement strategies.
23:37 Free transportation service for seniors and workers.
25:45 Encouraging regional mobility plans, easing administrative burden.
28:45 Counties and transit agencies collaborate to improve mobility.
32:30 Using public transit expands independence and convenience.
44:23 Plan for diverse transportation options for all.
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Recorded in Studio C at 511 Studios. A production of Circle270Media Podcast Consultants.
Copyright 2024 Carol Ventresca and Brett Johnson
Transcripts
We are Looking Forward Our Way from Studios in the 511 Studios that's in the Brewery District, just south south of downtown Columbus, Ohio. Hi. This is Brett. Carol and I each drove to the studio today. However, many in our communities do not have personal transportation, access to convenient public transportation, or not able to utilize public transportation due to health considerations. Today, we welcome our guest, Emma Strange, mobility coordinator for the Mid-Ohio Regional Planning Commission. You've probably heard of it as their acronym, MORPC. Although MORPC staff have been with us several times, this is Emma's first studio visit.
Brett Johnson [:Welcome to the show.
Carol Ventresca [:Hi. Thank you for having me. Emma, thank you for coming to see us today. Your time and expertise is what we're looking for. So Way really thank you for that. You know, transportation is an important topic to cover in our communities. Even though Ventresca Ohio is growing and prospering, our transportation issues are huge. Before we dive into MORPC and the Regional Mobility Project, though, let's hear from about you.
Carol Ventresca [:Give us your background and the career journey you've taken to get you to MORPC.
Emma Strange [:Sure. So I, am not a planner. It's kind of like the, disclaimer I give whenever I talk about, like, why I'm doing at MORPC. I actually come from a social work background. I grew up in North Carolina. And in undergrad, I worked as a volunteer coordinator, and all of my volunteers were mostly older adults and people around my age, like 18 to 22. And I've loved working kind of in the intergenerational space. I love to see the exchange, and I learned so much from my directors who were, women in their sixties seventies.
Emma Strange [:And I just realized how important it was that all of our efforts were intergenerational and not just, like, siloed. And then pandemic hit. Right? And I was like, okay. I have a degree in anthropology. I really need to be employable. I should probably go and get something that's employable. And, I thought, oh, social work and older adults. I could really do this.
Emma Strange [:And in the pandemic, you were hearing a lot of language around, that was really ageist and really dismissing older adults because that was the population that was and disabled people. These were the populations that were most, dismissed during COVID, and that was really impactful for me to hear. You know, people my age dismiss people disabilities dismiss older adults, because of the pandemic. And so I went in to get my social work degree, and I worked in housing and foreclosure and eviction prevention for seniors. Did some case management and, like, lo and behold, number one barrier aside from housing was transportation.
Brett Johnson [:Mhmm.
Emma Strange [:How do you get a client to come see you when they can't pay for an Uber and they can't drive? So then I was searching for jobs, and I was in Ann Arbor at this time. And I had never been I've never lived in Ohio before, but I saw a mobility coordinator, and I thought, okay. I think I could maybe try this. I started and not knowing much about planning, but everybody was very supportive and helpful in making me understand, like, okay. This is what a plan is. This is what a planning commission does. I still consider myself very much like a layperson in some of those aspects, but because we have such a great team, I'm able to lean on them. And it's really my social work the macro social work and then the larger planning aspect.
Emma Strange [:So a very long journey a very long way to say a long journey.
Carol Ventresca [:But, well, first, I have to thank you for being appreciative of those of us who are well into and past our careers that you that you had we had words of wisdom. Some of your colleagues were giving you good information and, a good network for you to learn your job. So thank you for appreciating us older folks. But also Way great insight on ageism during COVID. We saw that. Older adults and the disabled were most at risk of getting COVID and spreading it, and so they were dismissed. And we saw many, many cases in our families and friends of where older adults really suffered because of that. So good for you.
Carol Ventresca [:Thank you very much for working through all of that. Yeah. Even though she did go to school in that state of North.
Brett Johnson [:State of North. Yeah. Exactly.
Emma Strange [:I did. And then I came down here. I always do the disclaimer Our, like, I only was there for a year and a half.
Carol Ventresca [:Yeah. Exactly. Exactly. You learn you learn the the the lesson. But you but, you know, that's that school up north has an incredible anthropology program.
Emma Strange [:Mhmm.
Carol Ventresca [:And I actually looked at that for grad school.
Emma Strange [:Actually actually did get my anthropology program in, in Boone, North Carolina. Okay.
Carol Ventresca [:So I
Emma Strange [:went to Appalachian State University, which beat Michigan football in 2007. They're not letting anybody forget it. Yes. And, yeah. And I loved my time in Boone. So yeah, just, I, like, made my way, like, halfway down from the south.
Carol Ventresca [:Exactly. Exactly. That that works out. But but anthropology gives you a great background in research, in data collection, in analytic thinking that I would think would be is key and critical for you in this job in mobility?
Emma Strange [:I my anthropology degree, I think, is probably like the I mean, my MSW is also important. But that anthropology degree, I feel like, is so valuable. And I know I made a joke, like, I'm not gonna get a job with an anthropology degree. I use it every day. Right. Especially when you take into consideration, like, that qualitative data versus quantitative, like, when you think about, like, the value of lived experience, especially even in planning, like, the I wish I could do, like, an ethnography of, like, older adults, like, trying to get to the grocery store and, like, doing their daily trips, you know, because it it really is that that lived experience, that anthropology, at least my program emphasized that I use every day. So Good story. Anthropology.
Carol Ventresca [:Good for you. So as a as an old career counselor, my message is whatever your degree is in, it's going to help you build skills Yeah. To use in the next in the next path. So good for you. Yeah.
Brett Johnson [:Well, we've had, a couple of previous episodes talking about how with with with Morphy, how communities cannot grow successfully without careful Looking. And we've kinda gone into depth about, you know, we kinda see the fruits of all that planning that happened years prior. And, you know, that planning model has grown to encompass the value of regional decision making. Can you give the audience an overview of what role Morrisey plays in this planning and how they work with other similar organizations around Ohio and the nation?
Emma Strange [:Yes. Now that I have a year under my belt at Morrisey, I feel like qualified. I've done this answer so many times. I'm like, I can totally do this. So, the Mid Ohio Regional Planning Commission, is a regional council. So that means that we have partners, and communities that we serve. That's over 80, local governments and community partners. We provide 3 main services.
Emma Strange [:So nonpartisan data analysis, long range planning, and community resources. I typically fall underneath that, like, community resources, umbrella. And what we do is, look at growth in our areas and try to learn creative ways to accommodate it. So housing, development, transportation, and help communities plan Forward growth that's gonna be sustainable as well, and for our environment and also for the residents too. We're one of 24 regional councils in Ohio, but there are also national there are, regional councils all over the country. We do a lot of work with other, regional councils in Ohio. I know that I do too. I the regional mobility plan is not like a unique it's unique, but there are other regional plans like it, headed up by MVRPC, Omega, and a couple others that are being written.
Emma Strange [:So I definitely work with that.
Brett Johnson [:You don't feel alone?
Emma Strange [:No. Thankfully. And I totally when I started it, I was I was asking them all the time. I was like, how do you guys do yours? And, you know, so beyond just MORPC, c, there was a lot of Yeah. There's a lot of support and a lot of interest in regional planning, for older adults in mobility.
Carol Ventresca [:I think that our community is finding a lot of success because we are not only looking at things regionally as opposed to looking at what Columbus does, what Upper Arlington does, what Delaware County will do, but looking at it a bigger picture. But also, MORPC brings in that creativity, not just because you have an incredible staff of brilliant people working on this, but also because you have that, those paths to people all literally all over the country, you know, to help you do that. So we want to talk about this plan. So what is it? How is it developed? What are the goals and the visions?
Emma Strange [:Okay. So the regional mobility plan, there's like a very long name for it too. It's, it's a coordinated plan for Ohio Department of Transportation's Human Service Transportation Coordination Region 6. So Sure. Yeah.
Brett Johnson [:Right? Yeah. Of course. Of course.
Emma Strange [:So our our Ohio Department of Transportation has divided, Ohio's counties into these regions for human services transportation. And these regions are actually based off of if you know the Area Agency on Aging, they also have regions. Mhmm. So ODOT's human service regions are based off of those triple a regions.
Carol Ventresca [:Oh, that's interesting.
Emma Strange [:Okay. And it's perfect for, like, that for the exact purpose of, like, we focus on older adults and people with disabilities. So it allows for better coordination. So, essentially, COAAA, Central Ohio Area Agency on Aging. I'm big against acronyms, so I'm gonna try to use them as less
Carol Ventresca [:as Way We use COAAA lot here.
Emma Strange [:So it's Good. It's okay. But they we overlap pretty much right on top of each other. The regional mobility plan does add Logan County, but, like, other than that, we map right on top of each other. And that's kind of like the idea is that we're focusing on getting it's focused on older adults with disabilities, not exclusively, but, it is fun I will get to the funding source, but it is, the funding does focus on that population. And we're trying to get people across county lines. Because I think that, like you said, like, we don't want people to be siloed necessarily, and we want there to be greater collaboration between these, counties. The regional mobility plan, was written in 2022, and it identifies needs and desires of people with disabilities, older adults, and also other groups that are typically disadvantaged by transportation options.
Emma Strange [:So that could be new Americans. That could be low income populations. And it is a large area. It's 9 counties, that are covered in it. Dell I'm gonna name them, and I think I'm gonna do alphabetically too. Delaware, Fairfield, Fayette, Franklin, Licking, Logan, Madison, Pickaway, and Union.
Carol Ventresca [:Very good.
Emma Strange [:So those are all of the counties that work together on this plan. And if you know anything about these counties, you know, they're very, very different. So what regional plans allow for is that each of these counties has their own local goals and strategies already. And then we all have regional goals that we work on together. We want we don't wanna sacrifice, like, the autonomy and the uniqueness of each county for the idea of a regional goal. We can have both. We can have both the overarching, like, goal of getting people across those county lines, but also understanding that what Logan County needs is going to be different than what Franklin County needs. We want to have a future where people's lives don't end at the county line.
Emma Strange [:Your doctor's appointment isn't always gonna fall very neatly within Franklin County. And this was developed with input from mobility managers, transportation agencies, the public, surveys, local governments. There was a public comment period. And this is also updated yearly, so there's a yearly survey. Our last one was done in the summer of 23. We'll do one in likely the fall of 24. And the mobility managers also consistently get feedback too because we all have we have local, committees in each county, also focused on it.
Brett Johnson [:Well, that's obviously, you're describing a huge plan here. We have huge undertaking. Each county in the region served by a mobility manager as you mentioned. But can you give us a glimpse of their responsibilities and how, it's actually funded too?
Emma Strange [:Yes. I love talking about mobility managers because Ohio actually a nationwide project, that can be funded by federal dollars. The federal grant is called 5310 enhanced mobility for seniors and individuals with disabilities. This grant is meant to exceed, the requirements set by the ADA, the Americans with Disabilities Act, and is supposed to go above and beyond for connecting, older adults, people with disabilities to public transportation as well as, like, provide alternatives to public transportation, get people around. And mobility managers are kind of a project type. And Ohio is unique because we have over 60 counties represented that have a mobility manager. That is more than any other state in the country by a lot, the fact that we have over 60 counties with a mobility manager. And these mobility managers, we meet at least once a month, virtually.
Emma Strange [:And then quarterly, we're meeting, in person. Mobility managers kind of have 2 I like to, like, put it in 2 buckets. Like, the first bucket is gonna be the individual bucket. That's going to be your travel training, your inform your very typical, like, information and referral, like, calling me and saying, hi, Emma. I'm trying to get from x to z. Like, what should I use? And I'll help you figure out what's the best option is, or it's the very, in-depth individualized, like, transportation planning. Like, let's say, like, you have a new diagnosis and you're thinking that you won't be able to drive anymore. Well, like, let's have a long talk about, like, what where how you're gonna get to all of your destinations.
Emma Strange [:And then that second bucket is gonna be like that community bucket. So Forward example, in the regional mobility plan, each county has their local goals and strategies. The mobility manager is kind of the one responsible for those, making sure that they have a committee focused on accomplishing those goals and strategies. They're also the ones that are gonna be out in the community doing community presentations, soliciting feedback, trying to listen to the community and know what is needed, and being that expert in the room Mhmm. Like that that advocate for senior needs, that advocate for disability needs when they're in a room full of, planners or in a transit agency. That's kind of like the role that they are supposed to play. And, yeah, we're just very I think we're very lucky to have, you know, a department of transportation that has elevated this so much and has pushed it so much, in region 6. So in in the regional mobility plan here, currently, 8 of our 9 counties have a mobility manager.
Emma Strange [:There isn't one in Madison County quite yet. We're hoping soon. But, yeah, it's a very extensive network.
Brett Johnson [:It sounds like you have a place at the table then to speak Mhmm. Whenever there's a table to be to speaking at. Yeah. Yeah. That's good.
Carol Ventresca [:Way. And because the information is so intense and, it's not something you can just Google and find. It's really information that they do need the expert at the table, but you you said there are 60 mobility managers for 60 counties. We have 88 counties in Ohio. What happened to the other 28? Do they are they not represented at the table?
Emma Strange [:So in order to have a mobility manager, you need to have an agency go and apply for that $53.10.
Carol Ventresca [:Right.
Emma Strange [:So if you are currently in a county that does not have a mobility manager, you can find that out by going on ODOT's website. They have a map of every county in Ohio, and then you can see they have, like, the colored ones. And it literally has, like, the mobility manager's name. So, like, when you go to Franklin County, he says, I'm estranged. And if you have a county that doesn't have a mobility manager, then some agency you know, go find a way to get a mobility manager in your county because there is, I think, always going to be a need there. And I think that ODOT's done a great job of kind of promoting the program. And we do other things to try to make sure that they're included. Mobility managers will still stay involved in, like, the neighboring counties because you kinda have to be.
Emma Strange [:Again, like, we know people are trying to get cross county. But, yeah, I would love for all 88 counties to have a mobility manager.
Carol Ventresca [:I mean, Madison County with London, that's a significant city in our area.
Emma Strange [:Yeah.
Carol Ventresca [:And, you would think that I'm gonna dump this on the county commissioner's lap, but you would think that the commissioners would make sure that's taken care of. But as you said, if there's not an agency to house that person
Brett Johnson [:Yeah.
Carol Ventresca [:That it may not be possible. I I'm I'm assuming that a county commissioner's office cannot house the mobility manager.
Emma Strange [:A government agency can, or a nonprofit. Those are the 2 that are able to, apply for a mobility manager position. And Bridges community action partner has applied for the mobility manager position, and will be hiring 1. So we will have a fully staffed one, which is really, really great. The executive director, Andrew Benninger, there has been a very huge, support for mobility managers.
Carol Ventresca [:Are the counties that are missing mobility managers, are do they tend to be more rural counties?
Emma Strange [:Honestly, I think that, sometimes I'm trying to think off the top of my head that either Cleveland or Cincinnati don't have one either. Because I think sometimes you think, like, oh, it's such a big city. You're not gonna need a mobility manager, you know, because there must be so many resources. You know? Like, I think that's the assumption for Columbus. A lot of times, like, it's Columbus. Of course, everyone can get to where they're going. Like, it's a big city. I think that that's even that's kind of a misconception that, like, rural counties are the only ones that are underserved.
Emma Strange [:Like, urban counties also have a lot of unmet needs and do also need mobility managers.
Carol Ventresca [:I mean, I had just assumed you were gonna say yes to my question, and it was all rural counties. So, yeah, if a large city doesn't have 1, I one of the things we were talking around at the table before we started the podcast, my neighbors on jury duty from Delaware County to Downtown Columbus. Parking is tough because of all the construction around the federal building. And she Looking on Uber to see how much it would cost, and it's $50 each way. Yeah. That's not easy, accessible, affordable transportation. And there's no way she could be downtown from Delaware County by 7:30 in the morning.
Emma Strange [:Yeah. And it's oftentimes like the the 50 dollars, the $200 that's standing in the way between you and a very important medical appointment.
Carol Ventresca [:Right.
Emma Strange [:Sometimes standing in between you and sleeping on the streets that night. Like, I've had people call me and say, I'm trying to get to a shelter in x area, but I only have this amount of money. And I'm like, I there's not necessarily a way for you to get there. So that money piece, that financial aspect is the is sometimes I mean, I don't even think it's exaggerated when you say life or death. Like, when you say, like, affordable transportation, when it's your when it is your chemotherapy, when it is the access to a shelter, it is that money aspect too. And it's and the trips end up being long sometimes, just long.
Carol Ventresca [:As an anthropology major, and I'm a sociology major, we love numbers.
Emma Strange [:Yeah.
Carol Ventresca [:I'm always throwing statistics around in our podcast, which probably drive some audience crazy. I'm really sorry, but here we go. So the regional mobility plan serves populations which don't have access to reliable transportation. Some numbers of interest that I found in in, the website at at MORPC. 6% of our region do not own a car. 14% in our region are considered low income. 13% are 65 and over. 25% are disabled.
Carol Ventresca [:In our region, that is thousands of people. Mhmm. Lots of lots and lots of folks. The counties that are included in the mobility plan are very different. We mentioned urban, Carol, large cities, small cities, Columbus, Johnson, different needs. Some have major thoroughfares. Others may be predominantly two lane rural roads. Targeted populations also need different types of service and types of transportation.
Carol Ventresca [:What does the mobility plan strive to accomplish with so many different needs, infrastructures, and priorities? Brett. Good question.
Emma Strange [:I it is. And when I saw and when I heard this, I was like, Way. You read the plan. That's so awesome.
Carol Ventresca [:That's my job. That's what Brett makes me do.
Emma Strange [:It's a lengthy document. So I applaud anyone who gets through it.
Carol Ventresca [:She she
Brett Johnson [:went to the TLDR, actually. So Yeah.
Emma Strange [:I was like, wow. You found the statistics. That's awesome. So like as I mentioned earlier, so every mobility manager typically does have their does have their coordinated plan. So one function of the coordinated plan is that of 5310 provider. So, I'm trying I'm gonna think of an example. So in Franklin County, have you ever heard of the Dublin Connector?
Brett Johnson [:Mhmm. Yeah.
Emma Strange [:The Dublin Connector is a 53 10 provider.
Carol Ventresca [:And when you're saying 5310, that's kind of an acronym off of the the governmental funding.
Emma Strange [:So that is the Enhanced Mobility Forward Seniors and People With Disabilities grant. Right. That grant, is connected to the coordinated plan. So in order for Dublin Connector to essentially get that money, they have to, be a part of the regional mobility plan and say, we fall underneath the strategies for improving transportation, in Franklin County. Therefore, we are a good project for this money. So
Carol Ventresca [:Just mention real quickly Yeah. What the Dublin Connector is so people understand.
Emma Strange [:The Dublin Connector is a, it's a transportation service for, seniors as well as workforce in Dublin, and it's free. So we'll pick you up. It's called it's what we call demand response. So demand response, in our jargony world is you either call or you make a appointment online for a vehicle to come pick you up and take you to your destination. Demand response is very, very popular. People love demand response services.
Carol Ventresca [:Mainstream is demand responses.
Emma Strange [:Mainstream is also a form of demand response transportation. So if you're living in, Dublin and you are a senior, you have access to this. They contract with a third party, called Share Mobility that does the transportation. Their vehicles they have accessible vehicles. So you can, if you have a mobility device, you can use it, and you can use it within the Dublin area. So it is, geo it's bound by the g by the geo like, the geo border of Dublin. Mhmm. And they have the Hillyard Hilliard has one that's very similar too.
Emma Strange [:It's called Hilliard Express. These are all examples of what we commonly refer to as 5310 providers. I'm saying in quotes because that's just the the term that gets thrown around. And 5310 providers must be accessible, and they must prioritize the needs of seniors and individuals with disabilities. They're not necessarily always limited to those populations, but those populations must be served first, essentially, according to the federal dollars. And the way they connect to the regional mobility plan is that they have to, when they're making their application, say, this is the strategy I fall under. This is how I am improving transportation, in this region. And then what it does is it encourages these 5310 providers to work together, to share information with each other about how they're getting things done.
Emma Strange [:How are they getting drivers? How's their vehicle maintenance going?
Carol Ventresca [:Right.
Emma Strange [:What what barriers are they seeing with their seniors, with their populations that they serve? And what the regional mobility plan also does is it encourage it it encourages collaboration. But going back a little bit, the traditionally, it's one mobility manager, one county, one coordinated plan. And what we're seeing now is a push to go towards the regional plans because, again, people have to go outside of their county. And it's also, like, a very big administrative burden some Forward person to do a coordinated plan. So what MORPC is doing is taking on the actual writing of the plan, the updating of the plan, allowing for the mobility managers to focus more on their local goals and then come together for the regional ones, taking off that kind of administrative burden and allowing people to do more of the really important work of getting out in the community. It still again it still does allow for people to focus on the local needs. So when you look at so you mentioned Delaware County earlier. Delaware County has moved to, entirely Forward their, transit, Delaware County transit, entirely to demand response.
Emma Strange [:Oh. So they do not have what is called a fixed route. So, in Columbus, we have a fixed route called COTA. So when they when the bus goes and makes stops at a scheduled time, Delaware County Transit has entirely demand response. They have 2 kinds. I won't go, like, into all of the weeds. If you live in Delaware County, you should be using, Delaware County Transit or at least try it. And then you have Looking, and they found that that worked really well for them.
Emma Strange [:They're breaking records all the time in terms of their ridership.
Carol Ventresca [:I have to try that.
Emma Strange [:You have to.
Carol Ventresca [:I'll I'll I'll try it and then get back on the with the audience and let everybody know what I thought of it. Isn't it called isn't it data? Isn't that the name of it?
Emma Strange [:It's actually now called Delaware County Transit. So or DCT also because we love acronyms. Right? So Delaware County Transit, they're now all demand response. They're expanding a lot. Yeah. They're expanding their hours. They're just they're moving really fast. But then you'll see in Licking County, a county that's also growing really quickly, has added on fixed route.
Emma Strange [:So they've decided they're like, you know what? Like, we have some pretty good density. We have a lot of people that could live within walking distance of an of a bus stop, so they've added 3 fixed routes.
Carol Ventresca [:Mhmm.
Emma Strange [:And they haven't had that in 50 years. That's brand new. And the mobility manager in Licking County is very involved in that. And the mobility manager in Delaware County is very involved in that transit. And it's worked really well. I think they've had they've had 5,000 rides, since they've started on their fixed route in Looking County. 3000 of those all happening on their main street route. That's the first one that they implemented.
Emma Strange [:And I mean, it's honestly just amazing when you see what these counties are doing, what these mobility managers are accomplishing, and how different. You know, you have one place that said, Way. We're gonna have demand response Johnson we're gonna add fixed route, which we haven't had in 50 years. Then you have Delaware County Transit saying, actually, this demand response model is working way better for us. And we're having these transit agencies visit each other and share with each other, you know, okay. What why is this working for you? Could we use maybe the same software to see if that would make things easier? Okay. We can't use the same software. Why is that? Is that because our budgets are different? Is that because your funding model looks different than mine? And I think that without something like the regional mobility plan, like, those conversations don't necessarily always happen because we're so focused on our own agencies.
Emma Strange [:And, like, why wouldn't you be? Right? You wanna focus on serving your population.
Carol Ventresca [:Right. You know, Brett, this is why I love having the MORPC folks come in. Number 1, every time someone complains about government is too complicated, nothing happens, we can't get anything done, nobody's getting any services, This is absolutely an incredible example of how government creates change in communities from a from a state level all the way down to the county to the individual communities. Having grown up in Columbus, I can remember when CODA, which I think had a different name at that point, had nothing outside their fixed regular routes.
Emma Strange [:Mhmm.
Carol Ventresca [:And suddenly, everything was built at Lockbourne, and they needed to get people down there to work. And suddenly, we were having seen buses go down to Lockbourne. And it's it I mean, it was the first of many really successful new creative innovative programs.
Emma Strange [:Yeah. And now they have, they have Coda Plus too. I live, in the south side zone. I'm, like, the biggest Coda Plus, like, advocate and nerd. I love using it all the time. But that's also another example of demand response. And Delaware County Transit uses the same software that Coda uses for Coda Plus. They use it's called it's via software.
Emma Strange [:So if you ever used Uber Mhmm. It's the same. Like it like, you open the app and it it's like ordering an Uber except for it's with Coda, so it's not nearly the same price as an Uber. And you can watch your vehicle come and pick you up. I just had a presentation, with, Village Connections, and I, like, showed I was like, okay. Like, let's do this. Let's get open your app store and download the CODA plus app because you live in this zone. And they were like, oh, well, I can, like, go to the book loft and then go back home.
Emma Strange [:If it's raining, I won't have to walk. Like, that's those trips, I think, are so important because it's reducing that social isolation. I just wanted a total tangent, but
Carol Ventresca [:I just But but it's true, especially in communities like German Village where parking is at a premium. Yeah. It's it's difficult. It's, it even if you have trans have a car it's hard to maneuver through there. It was interesting there was the article in the paper concerning the short north, why people aren't going to the short north, and the big the big issue was parking.
Emma Strange [:Yeah. I mean, I I always take Looking. I'm a I'm I'm a bus person. I like taking the bus, especially up and down High Street. It is very I know I know that sometimes so some personal background. So since I'm from North Carolina, I grew up in Greensboro. There's not a lot of public transportation. And I people are kinda blown away where I'm like, Looking, me moving to Columbus, this is the best public transportation system I've ever, like, experienced in my life.
Emma Strange [:Like, this to me and I talk to older adults who sometimes say, you know, I don't wanna give up driving because that's my independence. And sometimes I say, well, you know, me moving to Columbus and being able to use public transportation, that expanded my independence. Because I'm a very anxious driver. I would never go to the Short North if it meant that I had to drive there. But if I can walk to High Street, get on a bus, and then get up there, even if it takes a little bit longer, that to me is worth it. It's cheaper than the, parking Forward sure. I don't have to deal with making any decisions on the road. I can get out a book.
Emma Strange [:I can just kind of enjoy my ride. I get to see like, really, like, take in the sights and, like, enjoy downtown. Right. Like, that to me is independence and being able to, like, know that I have that option. So, yeah, it's been it's been very, very interesting.
Carol Ventresca [:I I spent a year in Detroit as an undergraduate, doing my internship program and loved the transportation that was going on there and was which is limited, but I use public transportation all the time and then did an internship in Washington. So I was on the subway all the time. So I came back to Columbus thinking we need a subway and a train. I'm still asking for that subway and the train, but we're getting closer. So it's okay.
Brett Johnson [:There are programs in Ohio and around the country that have tackled these issues successfully and we just talked about some on a local level per se. So those that are successful programs around the country and around Ohio outside of you know our region 6. Are they included or being talked about in future plans?
Emma Strange [:Yeah. I think that we always have an eye on what's happening, in other states. I know that because we do have a national, mobility management network, there's this thing called the National Center For Mobility Management, and that's where we get a lot of our webinars and get a lot of our networking. And we're just, again, very lucky to have that. We're working we also see a lot of happening in other regions. So for example, we see in Perry County, there's a mobility manager that runs an entire call center out of a JFS, a jobs and family services. Way. I know.
Emma Strange [:We have to tell the new mobility manager, like, nobody's expecting you to run an entire call center. There's not just one way to do things. But we're seeing kind of more creative ways to go about things and looking and talking to each other. We're like, okay. How did you The wrong question is always like, how did you fund it? And then after the, how did you fund it? How did you, make it operational? We see in other counties, mobility managers working with their CO triple a's and centralizing transportation in that way using not their CO triple triple a's, but their triple a's. We see mobility managers working with their area agencies on aging, to actually have them contract out the transportation because they already have all those cross county connections.
Carol Ventresca [:Mhmm.
Emma Strange [:I'm trying to think of what else we're seeing. Well, the one
Carol Ventresca [:thing in Perry County, that's kind of interesting. Job and Carol services offices have tended to be fairly strong in the counties. They've been around for a long time, they're, part of the community, people know what they are. The fact that you can run, that that you need to run a call center, that it looks like a great opportunity to make it happen.
Emma Strange [:Yeah.
Carol Ventresca [:Because that that agency all already exists, which kind of goes back to that notion of you need an agency to house the mobility manager. So really Our county government is playing some really important roles here that people may not realize.
Emma Strange [:Yes. And the county commissioners are typically ones that are also, like, signing off on these goals and strategies and have strong relationships with their mobility managers, and that's what the mobility managers are supposed to do. It's supposed to have a relationship with their local elected officials, with those county commissioners and say, you know, maybe they're providing anecdotes or maybe they're providing the results from their surveys and saying, like, this is what we're seeing and what we're need what we're needing. And having a, agency like a, area age agency on aging or regional council like MORPC or a jobs and family services, an agency that has the resources to uplift that project is very vital, because nobody can do their job entirely alone. Right. Right. You need to have that supportive infrastructure. And sometimes it helps to have just that legitimacy as an agency kind of backing you up.
Emma Strange [:Mhmm.
Carol Ventresca [:And and in turn, they have those agencies have the mobility managers who have the information and data at hand.
Emma Strange [:Yeah. Mobility managers are kind of like this. They when I started, I real I was talking to one mobility manager, and I was like, do you just know everybody? She was like, yes. I've been here for 9 years. Like, that's, like, what I'm supposed to do is just know everybody. Like, I might not know all the answers, but I will find the person who knows the answer for you. That is my job is to, like, have that to make connections and get the right people in the room to have the conversation.
Carol Ventresca [:So, Emma, when you and I were talking a little before the, making some decisions about our podcast, there were a lot of other programs that you wanted to to also mention. MORPC has this very interesting position within our community as a nonprofit agency, but also just all the information is there in one place, and so you were we're depending on MARPC for a lot of information. But you mentioned a few of the programs that you wanted to elaborate on. People may not realize that there's a weatherization and home repair program or air quality program. So why don't you tell us a little bit about all those other great projects going on? Yes.
Emma Strange [:I feel like I'm at, like, a tabling event. I like to go to those, a lot because when I first started MORPC, it was such an easy way to learn about what we offered is to be, like, telling people over and over again about these. So I'll give my spiel. So for, MORPC offers home energy efficiency and safety services for resident at no cost, if they have a qualifying income. So check out Wamsay's website to see if your income qualifies. But this will keep your home warm in the winter, cooler in the summer, and also reduce energy bills. Like, we've that is one of the main goals, to reduce people's energy bills and ultimately keep people in their homes too. Right? Right.
Emma Strange [:That would be something that I would see a lot come up in my eviction foreclosure work would be a skyrocketing utility bills. And yeah. So that call the website and talk about your options. And if you don't qualify, you might know somebody who does. So please check those out.
Carol Ventresca [:And and don't self select yourself out. Seniors tend to do this. They say, oh, I prob you know, my Social Security is probably too high. Don't take yourself out of the the loop until you really look into it
Emma Strange [:Mhmm.
Carol Ventresca [:And talk to somebody if you've got questions because that's what the MORPC staff are there to do is to answer those kinds of questions. So, audience, don't forget that this is all there for you to take advantage of.
Emma Strange [:Yes. I love that disclaimer, actually. I wanna we'll put I wish we could put we should put that like a banner. It's like, do not self select yourself out. Just try it. Just see what happens. And then MORPC also monitors the air quality in Ventresca Ohio.
Carol Ventresca [:And you can put out the notices. Right?
Emma Strange [:Yes. And you can sign up to get, notices to your phone. I signed up for these. They were very helpful, like, during the Canada wildfires.
Carol Ventresca [:Mhmm.
Emma Strange [:Getting a text message like, hey, it's on it's unhealthy for sensitive groups. Stay inside. It's just I I consider it very vital. I'm like, if you live in Carol Ohio, you need to sign up to make sure that you're taking care of yourself and taking care of your health. And you can also sign up. This is basically like a big plug Forward website. You have to go on our website and sign up for it. And then, we also have, Ohio Commute.
Emma Strange [:This is for Our, I know you guys talk a lot about employment. And so if you're looking for a carpool partner, go to gohiocommute.com. You can put in your, commute and it will set you up. It will kind of show you other, commuters in your area and you can set up your own carpool. Carpooling is great because then you will help keep our air quality clean, and also save money. And you can sign up for if you log your trips, they're do they do a lot of, challenges, like make your miles matter challenges. They give out a lot of gift cards. Oh, cool.
Emma Strange [:They're very, and it's kind of it's just a fun thing to do with your friends. I know that people carpool already. So it's like, why would you not just already log the trip and get all of the fun credit for it. Right? I mean,
Carol Ventresca [:commuting is terrible and it's boring and it's aggravating and if you at least have some friends in the car with you, it's goes it's shorter. Even though it's not, it seems like it.
Emma Strange [:Yes. And we have, an emergency ride home program with that go highocommute. So let's say that, like, you 2 were able were you 2 carpooled here today, and you were signed up for the program and you logged all of your trips, you get 4 emergency ride homes. So let's say, like, you guys carpool here today. One of you has to leave early for an emergency and leave the other one here. The one who's left here could call any provider of their choice, Uber, Lyft, a taxi company, and then get reimbursed for that ride. You would submit your there's a process online. Your receipt, and then within 4, weeks, receive a check-in the mail for 4 emergency home rides.
Carol Ventresca [:For a year?
Emma Strange [:For a year. Yeah. So everybody should sign up. And if it's also if you if you bike or if you walk or if you take the bus. So, essentially, those green commutes that you're taking.
Carol Ventresca [:So audience, we're throwing a lot of stuff and a lot of programs and a lot of resources out to you. Don't forget to check our show notes, and you'll have our resources sheet with all of this information about MORPC and all of its programs.
Emma Strange [:Actually, one more thing.
Carol Ventresca [:Okay.
Emma Strange [:And this one's and this one I is very cool and kind of new. So this one's Ohio Mobility. Right. That's a page on the Ohio Commute site. And so if you're looking for transportation that isn't driving, you need accessible transportation, go on the site and you can put in your address, like, where you're well, you're where you're starting your trip from and then your, your accessibility needs. So let's say you have, you can click, like, I have I need something with wheelchair lift. I need something that with service animal accommodations, and then click search. It will generate a list of options.
Emma Strange [:And then if you need more help, click find a mobility manager, type in whatever county you're in. If you're in Franklin County, lo and behold, it'll be my name, and then you can call me, and I'll help you find, a ride that works.
Carol Ventresca [:Does that work for, say, someone was maybe not an older adult or disabled on a permanent basis, but maybe, you know, they broke their leg
Emma Strange [:and they oh yeah.
Carol Ventresca [:So it's so it it could be, audience, this is a resource that you might need just for a short period of time. Not forever, but it's there for you to get to your doctor's appointments or wherever you need to go.
Emma Strange [:And I would Way, look at it. And this this is something that, you know, is so important. Look at it now because I think that something that we're hearing all the time is, like, people don't make that emergency plan until after it's an emergency. So, like, we all think not all of us, but a lot of us think, like, we can just get up, get in our cars, and go every day. Mhmm. And we're not making the plan for the day that we can't. Mhmm. When it comes to age, we know that we're gonna need to get around for at least 10 years after we stop driving.
Emma Strange [:That's 10 years of, like, social events, doctor's appointments, that you still need to be getting to. And then it's not just for older adults. I think it's also it's also it's intergenerational. It's for anyone as young as, like, 16. Like, you have to be thinking about your alternatives because otherwise, like, you don't wanna be in the position of using the bus for the very first time when you're already stressed out because you have somewhere you need to get to right now. Practice it right now, because we want I think that that's another point a huge point of the regional mobility plan as well as MORPC's other, initiatives, that we're working on, is we want people to have a menu of options. We want people to be able to get up and get up one morning and go, Way. Do I wanna bike or walk or take the bus or drive? I I don't want it to I don't think that I think that seniors, as well as anybody in our community, deserves the opportunity to wake up and, like, have that full autonomy.
Emma Strange [:We're not gonna get there if we don't understand the importance of this transportation and also start practicing the, the options that we do have.
Carol Ventresca [:You know, Brett, this is why we bring experts into our podcast because every expert we bring in always says plan. Plan, research, be prepared.
Brett Johnson [:Sure.
Carol Ventresca [:Regardless of what the topic is.
Brett Johnson [:That's true.
Carol Ventresca [:So very cool. Thank you.
Brett Johnson [:Yeah. Thank you. Well, we've talked about, today, our discussions looked at major innovations for Ventresca Ohio's transportation plans. However, it's not an easy or fast process. What are considered the greatest challenges or barriers to that success that you want to happen or or has already happened actually? Is it funding, technology, vehicle development, other issues, or maybe all?
Emma Strange [:I really wish that there's just one and then I could just be like, and now we're done because it's just this one thing. Yeah. But, there's a lot. Right? Like, I think that, some of the ones that are that are called out in the regional mobility plan itself is siloed funding. So, like, when we have all of these when we have agencies competing for funding, when we have, like, restrictions on on what funding you can apply for. And applying for funding and finding funding takes away time that could be used doing the work too. Yeah. And I think, like, just like the umbrella of, like, capacity.
Emma Strange [:Like, I just wanna make that, like, capacity is like the magical, like, word in social services. Like, do you have capacity of drivers? Do you have vehicles? We've gone through a lot with, vehicle shortages, especially with those, accessible vehicles, and then the cost went up recently by a lot. You know, just like how you saw your personal vehicles get more expensive, the it was not, like, isolated to just that. It was also Mhmm. Public transportation vehicles as well. But then also, like, some of the goals that are identified in the regional mobility plan are encouraging stakeholder support for transit and encouraging awareness of options too. Because like I like we just talked about, like, that idea of individuals knowing what their options are and being able to use them and also understanding that they're for them. Like, public transportation isn't just for one specific population.
Emma Strange [:It is for everybody. And, yeah, it's just it's not a guarantee that we're gonna be able to use one mode of transportation forever. And I think that if we had more people, think about that long term, we could have more people also involved. And I would like to see more people involved in the planning process and more involved in, knowing their options and giving their feedback to MORPC and kind of being, working with us to, like, help, us prepare for growth. And I'm a social worker, so I'm also gonna be, like, very strengths based. You know? Like, when we're looking at barriers, I don't want it to just be like, these are all of the challenges and, oh, it's so scary. Like, growth is also an incredible strength. Like, we have a lot going for us, and we're growing in terms of, like, people moving here.
Emma Strange [:Like, I am one of those people talk about, like, oh, like, so many people are moving here for jobs. I'm like, that's me. I am that demographic of people that's moving to Columbus. But at the same time, we have people, aging in Ventresca Ohio. Central Ohio is also going to have a growing aging population. And instead of, like, thinking of it as, like, the scary thing, I think we need to be thinking of it as this, like, benefit and this real strength that we're going to have. They used to call it, like, the silver tsunami. I don't know if you guys heard that.
Carol Ventresca [:I I never liked that because tsunamis are destructive.
Emma Strange [:Yes. And now I think they're calling it, like, the silver wave because you can ride you can surf a wave. You can ride a wave.
Carol Ventresca [:I like that, though.
Emma Strange [:And, like, a wave is, like, peaceful. It's like on a beach. Like, we love waves. Yeah. So, you know, we can ride the silver wave at Central Ohio.
Carol Ventresca [:But, you know, and and this is another shout out to our buddy Fran Ryan who taught us all in the aging space that if it's good for an older Johnson, it's good for a younger person. If it works for an older person, it's gonna work for that mom with a baby carriage. It just it it's not we're not looking at issues that only affect one part of the population.
Emma Strange [:And I think that's why I like working in the senior space so much is the way that intersects with pretty much every single other aspect of identity. Getting like, aging is something, hopefully, we're all going to do. Age Friendly has those buttons Way, like, aging is so Carol. Everyone's doing it.
Carol Ventresca [:Exactly. Yes.
Emma Strange [:You know? So yeah. I mean, that's, I think, the great benefit of working and being in this space.
Carol Ventresca [:Right. My gosh. So I say this every time. Our time goes too quickly. And, thank you. This has been a phenomenal discussion. We didn't talk about trains, which I usually used to just bug the heck out of everybody about trains.
Emma Strange [:We could talk about bus rapid transit if you wanted to too.
Carol Ventresca [:No. I'm I'm talking about a train to Chicago. But next time, next time we'll we'll have somebody from Warpsie talking about trains. Emma, we always ask our guests for sort of their last words of wisdom. Is there anything we haven't talked about you wanna make sure gets out there or just a reminder to everybody?
Emma Strange [:I mean so one of the thing I wanna talk about Looking again because it's just been so much it's just front of my mind right now. MORPC does have these my mobility plans that you can fill out. This was a need identified by our community, the Franklin County Mobility Advisory Committee. I call it the FICC MAC, or the Big MAC. It's full of a lot of our local experts, and we came up with this, way for you to plan your mobility, either as you age or for your emergencies. You can download it from the website, fill it out, and start to think about it and also practice. Like, if you're scared to use the CODA bus, practice with a friend. If you've never, even if, like, your alternative plan is, like, asking, like, a family member to drive you, practice making that phone call.
Emma Strange [:Like, as as, like, weird as that might sound, like, practice asking for help. Like, practice using if your backup plan is biking, practice the bike trip even when you don't have to. You never want the first time you do something to be when you're in a panic. You want it to be and behavior change is, like, not an overnight thing. It's gradual. It's building habits. So, yeah. Get out and and try something new, whether whatever it is.
Brett Johnson [:Many thanks to our expert guest, Emma Strange, mobility coordinator for the Mid Ohio Regional Planning Commission. Listeners, thank you for listening, joining us, and and, you know, don't forget to check our website for show notes, for contact information, and the resources that we discussed today. You can find all of that at lookingforwardourway.com.
