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LCTI: Fresno EOC Community Transportation Needs Assessment

Clean Mobility Options Voucher Pilot Program
Community Transportation Needs Assessment

Fresno County Economic Opportunities Commission | Fresno EOC Community Transportation Needs Assessment

Fresno County Economic Opportunities Commission logo

November 2020 – August 2021

Project Details

Fresno County Economic Opportunities Commission (Fresno EOC) used a variety of resident surveys, community forums, focus groups, online, and social media platforms to engage and outreach to the community groups and community members. The Fresno EOC worked with the agency’s transit systems to determine how far and where rural residents travel for various needs and consider factors like travel costs, vehicles per household and household size, and barriers to accessing public transportation services. While Fresno EOC reached out to all residents in the project area, considerable efforts were made to engage residents who historically have a greater need for and reliance on transportation

Project Highlights

  • Converting our outreach & survey materials to electronic format on the fly.
  • The vast transportation needs among rural communities, especially families with children, are much greater than we anticipated.

Lessons Learned 

  • How to navigate outreach activities remotely.
  • How to utilize internal agency resources to complete a broad project to benefit the rural communities we serve.

Funding Details

Voucher Total: $50,000

By the Numbers

Community Engagement Activities

  • 1 Community outreach event with dinner provided 
  • 1 Transportation survey 
  • 3-4 Advisory group meetings 
  • 2-3 Pop-up events
  • 4-5 Telephone and video meetings

Estimated Quantifiable Benefits

  • Direct Jobs: 1
  • Indirect Jobs: 1
  • Induced Jobs: 1

Community Details

The project focuses on the rural communities of Parlier, Del Rey, Fowler, Mendota, Kingsburg, Kerman, Sanger, and Firebaugh. These communities not only have high poverty rates but also have minimal public transit services. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, in 2019 Fresno County had a poverty rate of 21.3% and ranked 55 out of California’s 58 counties. By comparison, that number is 67% higher than the state poverty rate of 12.8% and 80% higher than the national rate of 11.8%. According to 2018 U.S. Census data, 53% of Fresno County was Hispanic or Latino of any race. All six of the communities highlighted are at least 25% higher than the county rate.

Community Benefits

The needs assessment will determine how far and where rural residents travel for medical care, school and educational opportunities, worksites, and shopping and whether they have any related difficulties or needs both if they own a vehicle or not. Another goal is to identify clean mobility solutions that would address common barriers and concerns in a way that is affordable and convenient. Fresno EOC has heard that there are unmet transportation needs in the following four categories in rural areas: trips for medical care, rides for school and educational opportunities, access to work sites and rides for shopping. Fresno EOC has also heard anecdotally of the need for on-demand transportation in rural areas. The community transportation needs assessment will help gauge the accuracy of that as well as what the unmet need is in each of those categories.

    Outreach & Engagement Strategies

    • Community forums
    • Multilingual outreach
    • Project webpage
    • Focus groups
    • Social media

    Target Populations

    • Rural communities
    • Low-income
    • Latino
    • Agricultural workers
    • People with disabilities
    • People without vehicles
    • Older adults
    • Non-English speaking households

    Partnership Structure

    Voucher Recipient 

    Fresno County Economic Opportunities Commission (Fresno EOC) is a Community Action Agency that includes a Transit Program, Strategy & Communications Department, Community Services Department, and Finance Department.  These various departments worked together to conduct a Transportation Needs Assessment focusing on six rural communities including Kerman, Firebaugh, Mendota, Parlier, Del Rey and Fowler.

    Project Partners

    • Fresno EOC Transit Program
    • Fresno EOC Strategy & Communications Department
    • Fresno EOC Community Services Department
    • Fresno EOC Finance Department 

    Contact

    Monty Cox | ​​​​​(559) 263-8004 | Fresno EOC