Pajaro Community Transportation Needs Assessment
Clean Mobility Options Voucher Pilot Program
Community Transportation Needs Assessment
The Latino Equity Advocacy & Policy Institute (The LEAP Institute) | Pajaro Community Transportation Needs Assessment
November 2020 – August 2021
Final Report
Project Details
Through this needs assessment effort, The LEAP Institute will use a variety of strategies and methods, including bilingual educational materials, workshops, and forums, surveys, and interviews to engage and outreach to the community groups and community members. Participation will be open to all the residents of Pajaro, however, the survey will sample at least 10 percent of the community. The LEAP Institute will work with local government agencies to establish partnerships and gain their buy-in. Additionally, it will look to collaborate with the churches and other organizations in the community to gain their trust. Biodico Renewables, LLC, will serve as Project Advisor.
To learn more about project implementation, watch this video.
Funding Details
Voucher Total: $50,000
By the Numbers
Community Engagement Activities
- 2-3 Public workshops
- A Series of individual interviews
Estimated Quantifiable Benefits
- Direct Jobs: 1
- Indirect Jobs: 1
- Induced Jobs: 1
Community Details
The project focuses on the unincorporated community of Pajaro in Monterey County. Pajaro is a community where the indigenous population has historically been excluded from participating in community and transportation planning events. The community has a linguistic isolation of 98 percent, a poverty rate of 93 percent, an unemployment rate of 85 percent, and a housing burden of 79 percent. The community is disproportionately impacted by pesticide and impaired drinking water. There is also a lack of adequate transportation infrastructure and clean transportation options - the available transit system is not efficient enough to give residents better access to jobs, education, recreation, medical care, and healthy foods.
Community Benefits
The project goal is to address concerns such as the length of time waiting for public transportation service; the distance traveled to medical appointments, healthy food, jobs, and education; cultural affairs; and overall lack of safety to access public transportation. The Transportation Needs Assessment to identify the needs and transportation gaps in the Pajaro community and to increase residents’ awareness on clean transportation, mobility options, and resources that are available to them.
Outreach & Engagement Strategies
- Phone surveys
- Meetings
- Interviews
- Door-to-door outreach
- Forums
- Public workshop
- Multilingual material
- Churches
Target Populations
- Latinx
- Low-income
- Indigenous tribes
- Linguistically isolated
- Unemployed/underemployed
- Housing burdened
Partnership Structure
Voucher Recipient
The Latino Equity Advocacy & Policy Institute (The LEAP Institute) is a Latino-Valley based environmental justice community institution in Fresno. Its mission is to engage San Joaquin Valley communities to increase social justice awareness, strengthen grassroots leadership and empower community members to achieve environmental justice while improving community health. The LEAP Institute created the Green Raiteros program which provides a volunteer ride-share service with cost-effective transportation to underserved farmworker communities.
Project Partners
- Biodico Renewables, LLC