Atlanta, GA, July 5, 2001 - The Environmental Justice Resource Center (EJRC) at Clark Atlanta University received a $100,000 grant from the Heinz Endowments to assist local African American groups in Pittsburgh, PA address transportation disparities. The Pittsburgh Transportation Equity Project or PTEP is designed to encourage African American groups and community leaders become active players in transportation decision-making. "Transportation is the second most costly household item, after housing. Transportation touches everything, where we live, work, and play. Follow the transportation dollars and you can see who is important and who is not," said Robert Bullard, director of the project and co-author of the book Just Transportation: Dismantling Race and Class Barriers to Mobility. Bullard notes that transportation has always been a civil rights issue from the infamous Plessy v. Ferguson U.S. Supreme Court decision (that made "separate but equal" the law of the land) to Rosa Parks single act of refusing to give up her seat on a Montgomery bus. Bullard and his colleagues at the EJRC are part of a national network of transportation equity advocates, researchers, policy analysts, and legal strategists. The center is collaborating with community groups on transportation equity in Atlanta, Los Angeles, Seattle, New York, and now Pittsburgh.

Local Pittsburgh community consultant, Ayanna King, was hired to assist with community meetings and briefings, take testimony from residents and transit riders, arrange for speakers (academic, government, and community), make presentations, conduct training, coordinate input from steering committee and technical advisors, and provide comments and feedback on the local and regional transportation plans. "We are very excited about the project and the implications of how it can improve transportation and transportation investments in our communities," said Ms. King, a native of Pittsburgh. Ms. King has a Masters degree in urban planning from the University of Pittsburgh and over twelve years of experience in community development and project management.

Special efforts will be made to build a transportation equity project that is representatives of the diverse African American community, including religious, community development, social service, academia, business, civil rights, media, youth, and transit riders. The PTEP will lay the foundation for building a strong core transportation equity network among African Americans and provide opportunities for collaboration and networking among Pittsburgh area grassroots groups, community organizations, academic institutions, churches, and voluntary associations.

For more information on transportation equity and transit racism in metro Atlanta, see the Environmental Justice Resource Center's Atlanta Transportation Equity Project (ATEP).

For more information contact:

Marie Green, Communication Specialist (Atlanta, GA) (404) 880-6914 (ph)
or mgreen@cau.edu

Ayanna King, Community Consultant (Pittsburgh, PA) (412) 371-1784 (ph)
or Ayannakl@hotmail.com