Define, Listen, and Deliver – Implementing Metro’s Equity Framework

Just Growth Work Group Meeting

Last month, we convened our Just Growth work group to meet with Metro Chief Planning Officer Therese McMillan to discuss the next steps on the implementation of Metro’s Equity Framework.  We had over 40 attendees from local elected officials to community-based organizations, as well as foundations and press representatives join us at the American Heart Association’s Los Angeles office. Metro’s Equity Framework was adopted by the Board in February 2018 and is intended to be an anchoring element of the 2020 Metro Long Range Transportation Plan (LRTP).  The Framework is built around 4 pillars:

1. Define and Measure
2. Listen and Learn
3. Focus and Deliver
4. Train and Grow

Define and Measure

We strongly support Metro’s understanding that access to opportunity relies significantly on transportation options. This initiative to ensure equity outcomes and metrics are embedded in Metro’s guiding policies is welcome and monumental. We also strongly believe that for an equity strategy to be effective, it needs baseline definitions and measurable outcomes aligned with allocated funding. Developing a shared definition on Equity is a key and long overdue priority for Metro.

As a Metro advocate and student of Metro history, Investing in Place is acutely aware of the struggles and progress the agency has experienced in operating and delivering an equitable transportation system for the Los Angeles Region. So, it is refreshing to see Metro’s leadership committed to shifting agency culture and practice to avoid repeating past misjudgments that have led to a racially and economic disparate regional transportation experience. Bolstered by unprecedented transportation funds available from local and statewide revenue streams, this is an important moment in redefining Metro for future generations.

What’s Next?

Last month’s Just Growth June meeting with Therese McMillan raised key points and identified there are many more conversations to come to see the Equity framework realized. Next steps will require obtaining diverse input and a memorialized definition applied to Metro plans, projects and policies – such as NextGen, Measure M Active Transportation Funding, and the 2020 Long Range Transportation Plan.  Also in the February Board report, it suggested establishing a formal or informal advisory group to support the implementation for the Equity Platform in Metro’s operations.

And key next meetings this summer will be at the July (Tuesday, July 17th 2-4pm) and August (Tuesday, August 14th 2-4pm) Metro Policy Advisory Committee (PAC) Long Range Transportation Plan (LRTP) working group meetings.  These meetings will focus on defining Equity Gap Metrics. Per Metro, this summer the PAC working group will examine the historically underserved communities in Los Angeles County and the factors by which they can be defined (e.g. census and demographic data, etc.). The PAC working groups are open to all PAC members and each PAC member is welcome to bring a guest. To find out more about this effort feel free to reach to contact me at amanda@investingingplace.org or Metro Staffer David Lor at lord@metro.net.

Additional Background:

• Policy Makers come together to discuss defining transportation equity in Los Angeles County – May 2017
• Investing in Communities with the Greatest Need: Defining “Transportation Equity Opportunity Zones” in Metro’s Long Range Transportation Plan November 2016
• Investing in Place’s Los Angeles County Transportation Equity Technical Work Group Policy Brief #1 September 8, 2016
• Screening for Transportation Equity – June 2016
• Prioritizing areas of opportunity in Los Angeles County with transportation policies and investments – June 2015