Black lives matter. Structural racism has enabled law enforcement to use incarceration and lethal violence upon Black men, women, and children, over-and-over, for centuries. These are people with names and families and stories. The current protests give voice to the suffering and righteous anger of Black communities across the nation. We humbly stand in solidarity and allyship with this movement. We will continue our internal journey of pursuing racial equity and justice through our work as... Read the rest of this entry »

Beyond all mainstream Obama-induced beliefs, structural racism is alive and well in this country.  This type of racism hasn’t even taken a day off.  Racism rears its head in many ways, but one of the ways it silently expresses itself is under the narrative of integration.  Our ancestors fought hard and persistently to grant us all the right to live and shop wherever we wanted, but the result behaves more like assimilation than integration.  Integration is the unification of... Read the rest of this entry »

Having always lived in a Black community, I have always had to travel to the next-town-over to buy full groceries. There was one exception.  As a child, I often walked to an exceptional grocery store.  It was built on the site of an existing forest, anchored economic development, then suddenly closed after seven years. It remains vacant more than twenty years later.  I will also note that the grocery store provided video rentals.  The lower cost and one-stop-shopping forced... Read the rest of this entry »

From inventories to public education, here's how local leaders can take action on lead An estimated 6 million leaded service lines deliver drinking water to households across the United States, and when these lines leach lead into drinking water, it poses a serious public health problem. In the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, states and cities are working to issue moratoriums on water shutoffs and reconnect service to those that have been shut off—but it’s important to... Read the rest of this entry »

Life has turned upside down for families and communities around the world over the past several months. Inequality, poverty, and lack of access to basic needs, which we have long struggled with in our communities, has been made exponentially worse by this global pandemic and its economic fallout. CNT’s staff (working from home) is continuing to help cities solve today’s problems while creating visions for the future of sustainable, equitable communities. It is our hope that when this is all... Read the rest of this entry »

Transit-oriented development (TOD) anchors vibrant communities around transit stops. When homes, offices, retail, and other amenities are located nearby, people can spend less time and money getting to all the places in their daily lives. Equitable transit-oriented development (eTOD) takes this a step further by making sure that the benefits of living and working near transit are available to people of all races and income levels. For the past three years, CNT has been working with Elevated... Read the rest of this entry »

At this year's Transportation Research Board's (TRB) meeting, twelve TRB committees came together to sponsor a session entitled, "Equity Reframed: Looking Back and Planning Ahead." The focus was to review historical milestones and forecast future opportunities to eliminate systemic barriers to full equity by marginalized communities and to provide more equitable access to transportation services. As a speaker, I had the opportunity to share CNT’s perspective.   Our session ... Read the rest of this entry »

Transportation experts often talk about the potential of Transportation Network Companies (TNCs) to solve the “last mile problem.” What they usually mean is the potential for people to use TNCs in combination with transit to reach key destinations just outside the reach of transit. Many of the collaboration pilots around the country between TNCs, transit agencies, and employers are aimed at addressing the last mile problem of work trips, particularly to suburban locations that lack safe... Read the rest of this entry »

In collaboration with the Institute for Sustainable Communities, CNT analyzed equity of access to smart mobility in Chicago and nine other cities across the country. The purpose of the report was to explore disparities in access to transportation options that incorporate technology, support a clean environment, and enhance access to opportunity. CNT calculated measures related to accessibility, employability, livability, and mobility, broken out by race, ethnicity, and income. Check out the... Read the rest of this entry »

In the weeks since Mayor Lightfoot proposed changes to the tax structure for ride hailing trips, much of the discussion around the changes has centered whether they are equitable. The transportation network companies (TNCs), as well as community leaders and residents have raised concerns that increasing fees will make using ride hailing unaffordable in Black and Brown neighborhoods on South and West Sides, where incomes are lower, car ownership less common, and these services have the potential... Read the rest of this entry »