California Air Resources Board

   Back to Clean Mobility Research and Evaluation

Researched, authored, and published by: Othering and Belonging Institute (UC Berkeley)

Principal investigator: john a. powell

Subcontractors and project partners: Institute of Transportation Studies (UC Davis), Center for Regional Change (UC Davis), Pueblo Planning, Thrivance Group, and nine Leaders-in-Residence*

Project cost: $1,200,000

Focus area: Planning

Status: Completed

Contract number: 20MSC007

Purpose

Supported STEP Planning grantees, assessed inclusive planning strategies, and co-created equity-focused recommendations with community leaders. Designed and implemented technical assistance, evaluation, and community-led learning processes to shape the future of equitable transportation programs in California.

Reports

• Advancing Equitable Community-based Transportation Planning (published February 2024)
  • Focuses on community-based transportation planning and provides an overview of technical assistance and evaluation efforts.
• Radical Imagination in Transportation Justice
  • A zine co-created with grassroots transportation leaders exploring equity-centered approaches and visionary thinking in transit planning.
• Meaningful Measurements of Mobility (published March 2025)
  • Outlines new metrics and methods to assess equity in transportation beyond traditional quantitative data.

Key findings

• Communities should lead efforts to identify transportation solutions.
• Success should reflect what matters to people—like safety, dignity, access, and joy—not just quantitative performance measures.
• Evaluation should include community voices from the start to reflect real experiences and power dynamics.
• Technical assistance must be flexible, co-created, and attuned to the realities of community partners and the project team.
• Equity is not a product, but a practice—one that requires shared decision-making, healing-informed engagement, and structural change.

What this work involved

• Technical Assistance: Provided tailored support to eight STEP Planning grantees across California (e.g., Bakersfield, Oakland, Isla Vista). Included over 250 hours of coaching, training, and thought partnership; co-developed equity planning tools; and held interactive workshops on justice-centered planning.
• Evaluation: Investigated how community transportation needs assessments (CTNAs) are working—what helps, what hinders, and how future efforts can shift power and improve impact.
• Discovery Phase: Reviewed STEP and CMO planning approaches, gathered insights from grantees and agency staff, and facilitated a community accountability process to guide the evaluation.
• Leaders-in-Residence: Partnered with nine grassroots transportation leaders* to explore radical imagination in planning and co-create a public zine with reflections, tools, and original art.
• Policy Recommendations: Contributed to CARB’s Planning and Capacity Building and Clean Mobility Incentives Strategy documents with practical guidance for designing equity-centered programs and selection processes.

* Leaders-in-Residence included: Jessica Meaney, Rio Oxas, Nailah Pope-Harden, Ariel Ward, Martha Armas-Kelly, Hana Creger, Amada Eaken, Linda Khamoushian, and Marven Norman