Inside a DC Circulator bus. Image by Joe Flood licensed under Creative Commons.

Transit can often be an affordable link to jobs, food, and other life essentials. But disparities in transit access linked to race and economic status can undermine transit’s effectiveness.

TransitCenter recently released a Transit Equity Dashboard to spotlight these challenges. Using this tool, “transit agencies, transportation departments, and other local government agencies can assess progress toward creating more equitable transportation and land use, and prioritize the needs of people who have historically been marginalized by segregation and discrimination.”

Join the TransitCenter for a webinar and discussion on how to use the dashboard this Wednesday from 3 to 4 pm. Panelists include Naomi Iwasaki, Senior Director for the Office of Equity and Race for LA Metro; Dr. Alex Karner, an assistant professor at UT-Austin School of Architecture, and Ron Thompson, Policy Officer at Greater Greater Washington. Note: Ron was also involved with the dashboard project.

For more information about this webinar, and the dashboard click here.

Wednesday, July 14

See what DC can be: Take a walking tour of Jubilee Housing and get a glimpse of what “justice housing” could look like. The tour begins at 5 pm, Wednesday, July 14. Jubilee provides deeply affordable housing, where the majority of units are dedicated to residents earning less than or equal to 30% of the Area Median Income (AMI), or just $34,000 for a family of four. Click here for more information.

Wednesday, July 21

A plan for more resilience projects: WaterNow.org is offering a webinar detailing how local leaders can use Housing and Urban Development’s Section 108 Loan Guarantee programs to “address community resilience projects aimed at benefiting low- and moderate-income communities, and for organizations looking to improve water systems, eligible projects include waterfront fortification, green infrastructure improvements, and water infrastructure improvements.” The seminar is from 3 to 4 pm, Wednesday, July 21. Register here.

Wednesday, July 28

Trials and triumphs in translation: Planet Word Museum offers a glimpse into how translators communicate ideas from one language to another. This interactive discussion allows participants to “speak with simultaneous translators translating languages such as Spanish, French, Arabic, and local dialects like Kinyarwanda to understand the challenges and surprises of connecting people across language.” The conversation begins at 11 am July 28. Click here to register.

Check out more urbanist events at ggwash.org/calendar. Do you have an event you’d like to see featured in the weekly events post? Submit it here!

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George Kevin Jordan was GGWash's Editor-in-Chief. He is a proud resident of Hillcrest in DC's Ward 7. He was born and raised in Milwaukee and has written for many publications, most recently the AFRO and about HIV/AIDS issues for TheBody.com.