Annual meeting of the Transportation Research Board (TRB) calls for adoption and implementation of equity goals – can IDOT deliver?
I had the pleasure of attending the annual meeting of the Transportation Research Board (TRB), which was held from January 8 through 12 in Washington D.C. A particularly poignant moment for me was during the Standing Committee on Equity in Transportation, when Irene Marion, Director of the Office of Civil Rights, and Ariel Gold, Senior Advisor at the Policy Office, presented the U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT) Strategic Plan and the Equity Action Plan. The Strategic Plan includes... Continue reading »
Urban Flooding Baseline Tool Explores the ‘Where’ and ‘Why’ of Urban Flooding, and Who Is Most Impacted
CNT’s exploration of urban flooding CNT has worked on urban flooding for several years, focusing specifically on urban flooding because of the realities in Chicago and Illinois more broadly. FEMA's Flood Insurance Rate Maps create floodplains based on flooding from bodies of water. But based on personal experiences and relationships with residents and local professionals, CNT knew that many homes in the Chicagoland area are impacted by flooding despite being outside of flood plains. CNT... Continue reading »
CNT’s Board Announces Organizational Leadership Changes
Dear friends and colleagues of CNT, We are writing to share some important news about the future of CNT. In late November 2022, Bob Dean informed the CNT Board that after five years as CNT’s CEO, he wants to take on new challenges in the field of equitable transportation by assuming a different role within CNT. Bob believes that billions of dollars in new federal funding through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and the Inflation Reduction Act offers a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to... Continue reading »
H+T Affordability Index October 2022 Update
CNT’s H+T® Affordability Index has just been updated, the first update since 2016. For most households in the United States, housing and transportation represent the largest and second-largest expenditures respectively. The H+T Affordability Index combines housing and transportation (driving and transit) costs to offer an expanded view of affordability, one that highlights the importance of location-efficient places in supporting livability and affordability. In this update we... Continue reading »
CNT Welcomes New Director of Operations & Finance Lucia Geglio
I came into the world of nonprofit finance by pure accident and with no relevant credentials. After graduating college with degrees in Sociology and Peace Studies, I knew that I wanted to work in a mission-based environment but had trouble identifying an entry point. I was lucky to be hired in an administrative role by the Chicago-based Delta Institute, where I saw firsthand the difference that strong operational and financial structures can make towards organizational impact. In the... Continue reading »
CNT Welcomes New Senior Analyst Emily Laflamme
“The numbers don’t lie.” We’ve probably all heard this cliché, used to claim an incontestable truth about a situation. We’ve probably even used it ourselves on occasion. But of course, numbers do lie. All the time. What questions are being asked (and just as importantly, not being asked) and who is doing the asking frame an issue through a particular subjective lens. Which dataset is used, how the data were collected and who is represented in the data offer us a limited glimpse into the... Continue reading »
CNT Celebrates Passage of Connected Communities Ordinance
Chicago is beautiful, vibrant and rich in arts and culture. So many corners of the globe are represented in the 77 neighborhoods that create the map of our City. The story of Chicago is the story of Indigenous Peoples, Immigrants, Migrants, and descendants of Enslaved Africans. It is also the story of segregation and redlining. It is a story of a City that was not designed for all of its citizens. To undo that legacy of disinvestment and inequity it takes boots on the ground, amplifying... Continue reading »
Fueling the Electric Vehicle Movement with Equity
This past week, as a member of the Toward Equitable Electric Mobility (TEEM) Illinois cohort, I had the pleasure of attending TEEM’s first in-person annual convening and Forth’s Roadmap Conference in Portland, Oregon. The electric vehicle sector is revved up and eager to expand in the face of the capital to be made and legacies to build, while simultaneously acting in response to climate change. Forth’s Roadmap Conference refocuses the lens, uplifting processes, projects, and... Continue reading »
CNT's Statement on Supreme Court Decisions
In just seven days, we have witnessed six Supreme Court Justices over turn 50 years of precedent, protection and shift power from the many, to the few. From the right for Women to have autonomy over their own Bodies, to Tribal Sovereignty, reading of Miranda Rights, Racial Redistricting and curbing the EPA’s power to limit greenhouse gas emissions. All of these decisions undermine the very fabric of what many people will celebrate this weekend, Independence and Freedom; leaving many Americans... Continue reading »
CNT Welcomes New Managing Director, Urban Resilience Shavion Scott
Curiosity is powerful. In that, it gives us permission to imagine the possibilities as opposed to being limited by what is. I remember as a child being a quiet observer with a lot of questions; aware of the distance traveled to access basic community amenities such as grocery stores or entertainment venues, while also discovering a love of nature because it was always accessible to me and provided for some of the best memories at holidays – or any day – with family. The natural and built... Continue reading »