Purpose and Membership

The Aging and Disability Transportation Network is the only coalition of organizations in Los Angeles County that focuses on the transportation needs of two overlapping communities, older adults and people with disabilities, and that seeks policies and programs to address these needs.  Leadership in the coalition has been provided by a wide range of participating organizations, including:

  • AARP 
  • Saint Barnabas Senior Services
  • The Los Angeles LGBT Center
  • Communities Actively Living Independent and Free (CALIF)
  • The Independent Living Center of Southern California 
  • The Personal Assistants Services Council.  

Move LA provided funding support for the Network's establishment and is also represented on the ADTN leadership team.

The range of organizational involvement goes beyond these groups. Supporters who signed onto letters drafted by the Network, recommending policies to Metro, include the following: 

  • The Disability Resource Center,
  • Affordable Living for the Aging 
  • LA Care 
  • Disability Rights California
  • Southern California Resource Services for Independent Living 
  • Justice in Aging
  • Service Center for Independent Life
  • Partners in Care Foundation 
  • Wise and Healthy Aging
  • Westside Center for Independent Living (now Disability Community Resource Center) 
  • Hospital Association of Southern California 
  • Alzheimer’s Greater Los Angeles  
  • Los Angeles Walks
  • Health Net 
  • Molina Healthcare,
  • SEIU 2015
  • Blue Shield of California/Care1st Health Plan 
  • FAST

The History of the ADTN

2023-ADT-Report-Final-2.jpgThe history of the Network can be divided into five stages: 1) Initial Organizing and the Board Motion for an Annual Transportation Report on Aging and Disability, 2) Development of the Report and Community Forum, 3) Follow-up on the 20-point Policy Agenda informed by the Report and Forum, 4) Development of the second, published in 2023, and 5) Production of an Updated 20 point plan, replacing those policies and programs that have been adopted by Metro, with new recommendations.

With Move LA leadership, a group of organizations came together in 2015 to provide Move LA with input on the transportation needs of older adults and people with disabilities.   Addressing these concerns helped shape the document that would ultimately become Measure M.  To provide the direct voice of these communities in this process, a wide series of meetings took place that included more than 150 people.  This emerging coalition discovered that there were many specific recommendations for transportation policy and program change that, if resourced, could happen

Soon, these leading groups played a vigorous role in campaigning for Measure M as a vehicle for increasing monies to address the transportation needs of older adults and people with disabilities.  For example, one leading member, AARP, ran its own campaign for the Measure at a cost of approximately $1 million

The concerns expressed, and the ideas shared in the community meetings also informed the drafting of a motion that called for an Annual Report that would identify policies, programs, projects, and initiatives within Metro that respond to the transportation needs of these communities. The Report was to serve as a baseline inventory of efforts and establish yearly data indicators of performance. The indicators would be used to measure trends in the agency’s performance.  The motion also required an annual community forum where stakeholders could learn about Metro’s initiatives and share views on the Report as well as ideas for program improvement.

Political leadership for this motion was provided by County Supervisor Sheila Kuehl, who served as Metro Chairperson at the time. The drafting and outreach to other Board members was led by Nicole Englund, a deputy in Supervisor Kuehl’s office. The motion by Metro Board Members Sheila Kuehl, Don Knabe, Hilda Solis, and Mike Antonovich received unanimous Board support in June 2016.

ADTN_20PT_AA.jpg

The focus of the second stage of this partnership was on the development of the first Report.   The ad hoc Network took steps to organize more formally, developing a work plan and choosing a Chair and a Secretary to provide continuity. Metro and the ADTN met monthly to completely inventory Metro’s efforts aimed at serving these communities, with departmental staff brought into these meetings as needed. The leadership for this effort came from Metro’s Department of Planning and specifically from Cosette Stark. This process was more than community participation; the ADTN took a major role in structuring and contributing content to the 2019 Aging and Disability Transportation Report. The extended length of time required to develop the first annual report was largely due to the fact that this was its first iteration and that contributors were dedicated to comprehensiveness and thoroughness. We were creating a Report format for the future.

More than 150 people attended the conference following the publication of the Annual Report, some representing organizations but many who were riders or potential riders. Significant time was spent collecting feedback, which ultimately contributed to the development of a 20-point policy agenda that framed the third stage of ADTN’s efforts.

With the leadership of KeAndra Cylear-Dodds and Ben Alcazar, from the Office of Race and Equity, ADTN representatives met monthly with an array of departmental heads and their staff to determine current efforts that were directed at moving these 20 points forward. Metro efforts were often underway on each of these points, hence, in these cases, the Network typically sought to use its expertise to inform this work. Our goal was not simply about responding in a better way to “special transportation needs”; but rather, given demographic trends, ensuring that Metro was prepared for these expanding groups of riders in its future. 

There was a large gap in time between the last Annual Report in 2019 and the next one that was published in 2023. In part, this was due to delays associated with the COVID crisis and a shift from focusing on publishing the next report to making progress on the 20-point agenda.  The new plan is for Metro to provide a complete written report every three years and to publish program indicators annually that can be used for  tracking change.

Instead of a conference at the Metro building, the ADTN leadership sought to get responses to the report and new ideas through electronic communication, both video conferences and open-ended online forms for community-wide input.

Finally, an updated 20-point list of recommended policies was developed through this outreach feedback. We removed accomplished goals and filled their space with new ones.  A new round of forceful advocacy has begun with a focus on upgrading bus stops throughout LA County.