Transportation infrastructure should be designed to connect us and provide access to opportunity. But for decades, our transportation policies and investments hurt our cities. They failed people of color and low-income communities by limiting access to safe, accessible, well-maintained infrastructure and forcing them to face a disproportionate share of roadway fatalities and negative health impacts.
Transportation justice aims to correct these inequities by providing all communities with access to safe, reliable, affordable, and equitable transportation, connecting people to the places, resources, and opportunities they need to thrive.
The Better Bike Share Partnership (BBSP) created the Transportation Justice Fellowship in 2021 to build community and skills among BIPOC working in the transportation sector. The program provides professional development and networking opportunities to help early- to mid-career professionals embed mobility justice in the transportation sector.
2024-2025 Transportation Justice Fellowship
Applications are closed for the 2024-2025 Transportation Justice Fellowship. Selected Fellows will be notified the week of October 21, 2024.
The 2024-2025 Fellowship will focus on shared micromobility as a critical tool for expanding the reach of public transportation, operationalizing equity, and building transportation justice. Applicants should have familiarity with bike and scooter share, as well as a desire to learn more. This year’s fellowship runs from November 2024 through June 2025.
From tools for professional growth to insights on how to promote equity in the transportation sector, the Transportation Justice Fellowship offers a talented group of change agents the opportunity to learn together and advance to the forefront of transportation justice in the U.S.
Program Features
The cohort will include 70 hours of programming for 11 Fellows. Programming will include:
- Training from an experienced consultant team
- Specialized skill sessions from experts in the transportation sector
- One-on-one coaching sessions from experts in the field
- Attendance at the 2025 NACTO Designing Cities Conference in Washington, D.C.
Who should apply?
The Fellowship is intended to benefit BIPOC professionals with one to eight years of experience who are based in the U.S. and have experience in the transportation field. The program content is designed for mobility practitioners that have or will have to confront dynamics of power and equity in the workplace. Professionals from marginalized groups are strongly encouraged to apply.
The Fellowship is a unique opportunity for professionals focused on shared micromobility, or who will work on a shared micromobility program or project in the next two to three years. Fellows should demonstrate interest in:
- Developing the competencies for racially just leadership
- Enhancing skills that strengthen the ability to advance justice in agencies or organizations
- Focusing on Shared Micromobility as a tool for operationalizing equity and transportation justice
Fellows will build connections with their cohort, receive individualized mentorship and targeted professional development support from experts in the transportation field, and go more in depth, working on a project of personal interest to present in May 2025 at NACTO’s Designing Cities Conference in Washington D.C. Read this blog post to learn about last year’s Fellowship for more information.
Past Transportation Justice Fellows
Learn more about our past Transportation Justice Fellows:
About the Better Bike Share Partnership
The Better Bike Share Partnership (BBSP) is a collaboration between NACTO, the City of Philadelphia, and the PeopleForBikes Foundation. With support from the JPB Foundation, BBSP works to increase access to and use of shared micromobility systems in low-income and communities of color. Since its founding, BBSP has diligently developed programs and communications strategies to increase equity in shared micromobility, highlight best practices, and elevate the voices of those who have been traditionally underrepresented in transportation decision-making.
*We have adopted the People of Color Nonprofit Professionals group definition of “People of Color” as: “African descent/Black, Asian, Chicanx/Latinx, First Nations/Native American/Indigenous, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander, Southwest Asian, North African/Arab, Middle Eastern, Muslim, South Asian, and Mixed-Race peoples, and people identifying with regions of the world outside of Europe and not part of a history of settler colonialism (e.g., white European Dutch-English South Africans).