Current Projects
United We Ride National Dialogue (posted 8/27/2009)

Client/Funder:
Easter Seals Project ACTION
(Funding provided by the U.S. Department of Transportation)

Project Director:
Bryna Helfer

Purpose and Scope:
The National Academy of Public Administration is working with Easter Seals Project ACTION and the Federal Interagency Coordinating Council on Access and Mobility (CCAM) to host and facilitate an online national dialogue with key stakeholders to "identify opportunities to improve coordinated human service transportation."   The CCAM includes 11 Federal departments that are responsible for providing transportation for people with disabilities, older adults, and people with lower incomes.  CCAM launched United We Ride in 2004 with an initial action plan that addressed the need to coordinate transportation services across 64 different federal programs.  While CCAM has made significant progress through United We Ride across the country, challenges to coordinating silo funding, policies, programs, and services still exist. 

This virtual town hall forum will be open to key stakeholders across the country and will use collaborative technologies to engage stakeholders in a creative, productive conversation about the future of coordinating transportation services for people with disabilities, older adults, and people with limited incomes.  The outcome of this dialogue will inform future policy decisions as well as updates to the CCAM strategic plan.
 
A panel of National Academy Fellows will serve in a short term advisory role for this project.  Panel members will have responsibility for assessing the online contributions of the stakeholders engaged in the Dialogue, including identification of the overall themes, important trends, and innovative ideas.  Panel members will also be responsible for synthesizing this feedback into major themes, promising ideas, and recommendations to inform future policy decisions. 

Panel:
The Academy has appointed the following individuals to a Panel to oversee and direct the study. The public may send comments on the composition of the panel for a period of seven (7) days after the posted date to mditmeyer@napawash.org.

Proposed Chair
Gregory Lashutka*
Former Senior Vice President for Corporate Relations, Nationwide; Mayor and City Attorney, City of Columbus, Ohio; Partner, Squire, Sanders & Dempsey, L.L.P..; Associate Attorney, Cameron & Cameron; Legislative Aide to U.S. Representative Samuel Devine; Law Clerk to Judge Richard B. Metcalf.  Mr. Lashutka is an active board member of the National Academy and has been involved with the Collaboration Project since its inception.

Panel Members
Edward Jennings*
Director and Professor, Martin School of Public Policy and Administration, University of Kentucky. Former positions with Martin School of Public Policy and Administration, University of Kentucky: Acting Director of Graduate Studies, Ph.D. Program; Acting Chair, Department of Political Science; Acting Director; Director of Graduate Studies, MPA Program; Associate Professor of Public Administration and Political Science; Director, Graduate Studies. Former positions with Department of Public Administration, University of Missouri: Chair; Director of Graduate Studies; Associate Professor; Assistant Professor. Former Director, Graduate Program, Public Policy and Administration, Department of Political Science, State University of New York, Buffalo.

Nan Roman*
President and CEO, National Alliance to End Homelessness; Vice President for Programs and Policy and Director of Programs, National Alliance to End Homelessness; Director of Community Service, Friendship House, Community Services Administration, University Heights Community Services Center, Buffalo, New York; Program Director, National Association of Neighborhoods; Consultant, Public Administration Services, U.S. Agency for International Development, Manila, Philippines. 
 

*  Academy Fellow

For further information, contact Marty Ditmeyer at (202) 347-3190, or at MDitmeyer@napawash.org.