February 14, 2003

"Access to Jobs: A Transportation Perspective"


The Urban Transportation Center welcomes you to be part of the Spring 2003 UTC Seminar Series. The first seminar for this semester will be on Friday 2/14/03 at 10 AM. Details are as follows.

Date: 2/14/03, Friday
Time: 10 AM
Location: UTC Conference Room (Suite 340), CUPPA Hall, 412 South Peoria, Chicago, IL 60607.

Topic: Access to Jobs: A Transportation Perspective

By:
Dr. Piyushimita (Vonu) Thakuriah
Associate Professor
CUPPA & UTC, UIC, Chicago.

Abstract
Affordable and reliable transportation services to jobs are a crucial element of the ultimate success of the low-income segment of employees in the labor market. In this presentation, the role of transportation in the low income worker markets will be reviewed in the context of emerging needs and current evaluations. The main programmatic components of currently ongoing work in this policy area in the Urban Transportation Center will be reviewed. Specifically, the different components of the work including policy studies, evaluation programs, technical assistance, data programs and an emerging national initiative for partnership development for a holistic "access to jobs" solution will be described. The presentation will conclude with comments on where the job accessibility debate is heading and with an emphasis on the need to take a holistic, collaborative approach to the spatial mismatch problem.

Bio.
Vonu Thakuriah is Associate Professor in the Urban Planning and Policy program. Her research interests include planning for low-income markets, data quality and Intelligent Transportation Systems. She received her doctorate in Public Policy Analysis from the University of Illinois in Chicago. Prior to her current position in UIC, she was a Junior Fellow at the National Institute of Statistical Sciences, Research Triangle Park, North Carolina.