MANSFIELD — A $700,000 federal transportation grant made it a good Friday indeed for Jean Taddie.
The funds may create even better future days for those who need a ride to work outside of normal business hours.
The Richland County Transit Board is one of just four organizations in the country to receive the funding for year-long demonstration projects to “relieve transportation insecurity.”
Transportation insecurity refers to a lack of convenient, affordable, or reliable ways to reach needed services. Transportation insecurity can affect the day-to-day experiences of individuals and entire communities.
“We are super thrilled,” said Taddie, the transit development manager for the Richland County Regional Planning Commission, who helped lead the grant application along with the North End Community Improvement Collaborative.
News of the awards was made public Tuesday.
RCT, RCRPC and the NECIC joined forces in December to receive a $150,000 grant to design a pilot program that could help solve a troublesome local workforce issue:
What do people do if they work second- or third-shift but don’t have a way to get to their job and back home again?
The fact is that one in four Americans is unable to regularly and reliably access transportation they require to meet their daily needs, according to the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Federal Transit Administration.
Jean Taddie
The local application was one of eight around the country chosen in an initial round of $150,000 competitive development grants awarded in December 2024.
Four of those eight will now each receive $700,000 grants to actually implement their plans. Others are in Chicago, Hawaii and southern Maine.
The $2.8 million nationwide effort is being done through the University of Minnesota’s Center for Transportation Studies, aimed at exploring strategies to improve people’s mobility and access to daily needs.
Funding is provided through a cooperative agreement with the Federal Transit Administration as part of its Mobility, Access, and Transportation Insecurity program.
The projects represent a variety of geographic locations and aim to address local, community-focused needs using new transportation ideas that align with the FTA/USDOT’s emphasis on safety, innovation, and economic competitiveness.
Taddie said work to implement the program is already underway. Interviews will be done with those who currently use RCT, as well as non-riders, as part of the grant’s research component.
She said NECIC will help lead that effort, aimed at learning more about how people move around the community.
Interviews will also be done after the program is implemented to learn how the new routes and times impacted the ability of people to get to work and back home again outside of so-called normal business hours.
Because the project is funded through the FTA’s research program, NECIC and partners will also study the impact of the expanded service on residents who face transportation challenges. As part of this effort, participants will be compensated for sharing their experiences before and after the new service begins.
“We want this project to be shaped by the people who will use it,” said Matthew Scruggs, NECIC’s CEO. “Community voices will guide how the service operates and evolves.”
Those interested in joining the stakeholder team can contact rctadmin@rcrpc.org or call 419-774-6396 for more information. Potential riders of the service who would like to participate in the paid research opportunity should contact NECIC at 419-522-1611.
The goal is to launch the new program by May 2026, Taddie said.
Much research was already done using the previous $150,000 design grant.
In August, Taddie said the local team conducted “extensive outreach, surveys and focus groups, engaging hundreds of people to develop a workforce transportation plan for a one-year pilot of transit service to serve workers before and after current RCT hours.”
“Workforce transportation has been a tough nut to crack, especially second shift, third shift and even very early first shift, for literally decades,” she said.
Taddie said 558 public surveys were completed, 68 residents attended focus groups and 100 stakeholders also participated.
The plan was submitted in July, offering a “deviated fixed route” model, in which riders can walk to a stop for the standard fare or request a pick-up within one-fourth of a mile of the route for a small premium, she said.
The pilot plan recommends adding early morning (4 a.m. to 7 a.m.) and late evening (7 p.m. to midnight) transit service, connecting residents to jobs in the Longview Avenue corridor and the Mansfield Airport Industrial Park.
“The pilot would support reliable access to jobs and help employers recruit and retain a dependable workforce,” Taddie said.
It would also provide an expanded mid-day service to the airport industrial park.
In preparing the initial grant request, local groups enlisted the support of Christy Campoll, a senior associate with R&L Associates from Dayton, the consulting company that helped RCT develop its 10-year strategic development plan in 2023.
Taddie said R&L Associates will continue to be a part of the effort.
One of the key “unmet needs” identified in the 10-year plan was “better workforce mobility” through extended early-morning and evening services.
Organizers have researched where people go to work most on second- and third-shifts and also the areas with the highest densities of zero-vehicle households.
They found north end and downtown residents, for example, have some of the highest rates of zero-vehicle households.
Taddie said there is a great deal of work to do before May, including contracts being signed, routes and times being finalized and additional drivers being hired.
But there is excitement behind that work, she said.
“There are a lot of moving parts,” Taddie said with a laugh.
“This is from a pot of (federal) money Ohio doesn’t normally get. Researchers want to know which models made the biggest difference on local transportation needs,” she said.
“That’s something we will want to know locally. Is it making a difference? When and where is the greatest demand? If so, is this something the community can invest in for the future (after the grant),” Taddie said.
One question could be would employers help pay the fares for employees who use it — in exchange for helping stabilize their workforce, Taddie said.
Other programs selected for the grant were:
Chicago, Ill.: Led by the University of Illinois-Chicago, this demonstration will use a combination of vanpooling and limited ride-sharing subsidies to support the mobility of caregivers to children in suburban Chicago. Team members include Illinois Action for Children and Pace.
Oahu, Hawaii: Led by the Hawai’i Appleseed Center for Law and Economic Justice, this project will facilitate transit and pedestrian safety infrastructure improvements in a geographically isolated part of Honolulu. The project will help low-income women with children by improving access to employment and other opportunities. Team members include the Hawaiʻi Public Health Institute.
Southern Maine: Led by Cumberland County Public Health, this demonstration will provide a coordinated, reduced-cost fare card across four transit agencies leveraging multiple community hubs. This project serves a range of riders, including older adults, people with disabilities, people experiencing housing insecurity, and people with limited English proficiency. Team members include the Moving Maine Network, the Greater Portland Council of Governments, and 10 community service organizations.
During the demonstrations, the MATI team, led by Professor Yingling Fan, will support the project sites in conducting rigorous evaluation of their demonstration. By the conclusion of the demonstrations, the MATI team will produce and publicize final reports detailing project findings.
About MATI
In early 2023, CTS and its partners were awarded $6 million by the FTA to design and lead the MATI program. In June 2024, MATI selected eight demonstration projects across the US to receive $150,000 each to explore strategies to improve people’s mobility and access to daily needs. In July 2025, MATI awarded four small rural communities an additional $400,000 in grants. FTA supports the MATI program and provides guidance but does not participate in project selections.