Way2Go's 2012 Report
Cornell Cooperative Extension of Tompkins County completed its 5th year of developing and operating Way2Go, a community mobility education program. The 2012 Annual Report is available for download below. For more information go to www.way2go.org .
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Way2Go Program Work Plan and Budget for Year 4 (10/1/2011-9/30/2012)
Cornell Cooperative Extension prepared a work plan for Year 4, from October 1, 2011 to September 30, 2012. CCETC is planning to continuously improve the Way2Go website, employer outreach, consumer education, outreach to Seniors and individual travel training. Please read it and get back to me with your comments.
Way2Go
The 2007 Interim Coordinated Plan identified the lack of a comprehensive source of information for mobility options as a critical service gap for the public and especially for low-income, seniors and persons with disabilities. In 2008, the County, using a JARC grant, solicited proposals to develop a consumer education program to be a one-stop source of information about mobility options and to provide consumer feedback to providers. Cornell Cooperative Extension of Tompkins County was awarded the project. The project, first named RIDEWISE, is called Way2Go.
- Way2Go is designed to help people in Tompkins County meet their mobility goals using transportation strategies that promote personal, community and environmental wellbeing.
- Way2Go serves citizens, community agencies, employers and transportation providers and planners by providing a single source of information on transportation. Through workshops, an upcoming website and a variety of collaborative educational efforts across the community, Way2Go encourages people to compare, combine, and utilize sustainable transportation strategies.
- Way2Go channels consumer feedback and dialog on transportation services and planning, Way2Go can help identify opportunities for improving transportation access, efficiency and integration.
In its first year, Way2Go:
• Compiled information on transportation services and strategies, money-saving and safety tips, assistance with rides, individual planning tools and more.
• Established working relationships with organizations such as Tompkins Community Action, Finger Lakes Independence Center and GIAC; as well as transportation providers, planners, community organizations and advocates.
• Piloted educational outreach strategies such as workshops, given to 60 consumers including seniors, low-income persons, and people with disabilities; transportation information packets, provided to 125 human service professionals; and other outreach strategies that reached over 200 other transportation users.
• Made presentations on the role of transportation education to the Community and Rural Development Institute and the New York Public Transit Association Conference, and engaged in a range of local professional and community gatherings.
• Collected consumer information on the transportation habits, needs, and experiences of diverse constituencies, identifying opportunities to improve access, appeal and use of sustainable transportation strategies.
• Published a website to provide information to diverse groups such as newcomers, parents, employers, commuters, people with disabilities, rural residents, seniors, low-income persons, people interested in health issues and going ‘green,’ and transportation equity.
Why the contribution is important A one stop source of mobility information and consumer education is an effort to plug a huge knowledge gap in our community. Before Way2Go we had no sustainable way to provide consumer education, outreach and advocacy around community mobility issues. Further, there was no social network for new mobility services to plug into.
Way2Go will feed into the local 211 and State's 511 systems, but its community outreach, mobility advocacy and community-based social marketing will set it apart.
Contact: Chrisophia Somerfeldt, Transportation Community Educator,
607 272-2292 ext 184 css17@cornell.edu
Cornell Univrsity Cooperative Extension of Tompkins County, Inc. www.ccetompkins.org
Tompkins Weekly Article
"Way2Go Gets People from Here to There", By Anne Marie Cummings / March 9, 2010
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