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The National Association of Development Organizations (NADO) and its 501(c)(3) affiliate the NADO Research Foundation work with the national network of more than 500 regional development organizations (RDOs) across the United States to promote economic competitiveness, rural and regional development, and quality of place. RDOs are multi-jurisdictional organizations that provide regional planning and local community and economic development services. With grant support, the NADO Research Foundation has been building capacity and offering technical assistance on a wide range of transportation and regional development topics for rural Tribes, communities, or RDOs since the mid-1990s. NADO has found that for rural regions, making progress on any type of transportation challenge requires a network of partners working both in and outside of transportation.
The National Association of Development Organizations (NADO) and its 501(c)(3) affiliate the NADO Research Foundation work with the national network of more than 500 regional development organizations (RDOs) across the United States to promote economic competitiveness, rural and regional development, and quality of place. RDOs are multijurisdictional organizations that provide regional planning and local community and economic development services.
With grant support, the NADO Research Foundation has been building capacity and offering technical assistance on a wide range of transportation and regional development topics for rural Tribes, communities, or RDOs since the mid-1990s. NADO has found that for rural regions, making progress on any type of transportation challenge requires a network of partners working both in and outside of transportation.
Partner Mapping for Transportation "Chains"
NADO works with technical assistance stakeholders to identify their current and potential transportation partners using the methodology of partner mapping in wealth creation value chains, a concept initially developed for rural economic development. The rural wealth creation framework, also known as WealthWorks, has three core principles that relate well to transportation: building on a region's existing assets, conducting broad engagement, and supporting local ownership and control of development. Strategies and metrics focus on improving multiple forms of community capital (such as health and wellbeing, infrastructure, natural capital, economic opportunity, or social connectedness).·
Wealth creation value chains are networks of partners that "work together for mutual benefit to create value in response to market demand" in ways that are different from typical supply chains. For instance, value chain partners often hold some values in common, such as social or environmental outcomes, although their work also meets their own self-interests.·
Through NADO' work, the value chain business model is expanded to organizing around public goods, such as transportation, that are largely delivered by government or nonprofit partners, rather than only organizing around businesses that meet market demand. The competitive environment of transportation funding makes building extensive partner networks a necessity for success. Many federal discretionary grant programs are oversubscribed. Likewise, state and federal formula programs often have far more identified needs than available funding. Local governments typically have limited budgets to maintain transportation assets or to support public transportation. Mapping partnerships through value chains builds energy around a project concept as well as material support (such as match or support letters) to counter these constraints.
The partners in wealth creation value chains take on four major roles: a coordinating entity, demand partners, support partners, and transactional partners. Any of these types of partners could also serve as investors, if they see a self-interest in investing money, time, or other resources into a project.·
The coordinator manages relationships with the partners and tracks activities. In rural transportation efforts, the coordinator may be the lead entity proposing a project, such as a local government, nonprofit, or a local advocacy group. In some cases, the coordinator could be a regional transportation planning organization (RTPO). RTPOs support the local governments and stakeholders in their region and often work under contract to support the state department of transportation (DOT) planning processes. Their roles vary, but about 30 states have some sort of partnership between state DOTs and RTPOs to conduct regional, rural transportation activities.·
Demand partners in a value chain are the users or beneficiaries of a product, project, or service. In an economic development value chain, demand partners for local food would include grocery stores and institutional buyers such as hospitals or schools, not just individual households. Similarly, demand partners for transportation could include businesses that make and receive freight shipments; downtown businesses for improvements affecting vehicle and pedestrian movements; or perhaps disability advocacy organizations, medical facilities, or large employers for mobility-related projects. Engaging with demand partners is critical to understanding their transportation pain points as project concepts develop.
Support partners provide training, technical assistance, funding, and services necessary to deliver a product (such as legal services, inspections, or accounting).· For transportation projects, support partners can include state DOTs, the state's Local Technical Assistance Program (LTAP), planning organizations, or political leaders that make decisions about completing preliminary engineering or committing local cash matches.
Transactional partners are similar to a traditional supply chain: the businesses, organizations, or individuals involved in creating or adding value to a product as it goes to market, or involved in developing and implementing a transportation project." The roles of transactional partners are where the greatest differences exist between economic development value chains and transportation value chains. For transportation, the transactional partners might not need to interact much to produce public benefits such as new access for people or freight. In rural economic development, however, gaps in the transactional partners represent market opportunities leading to local business formation, jobs, investment, and ultimately new wealth in the community.
During technical assistance meetings focused on a specific rural transportation issue, the NADO team invites community leaders and regional planners to think broadly about potential partners by asking: "Who cares about transportation access? Why might they care about this issue?" Demand, support, and transactional partners always come from a variety of disciplines, including sectors that do not immediately seem related to transportation.
In one recent site visit, stakeholders practiced identifying partners by focusing on the possibility of expanding existing transit to provide late-night service. This group exercise used notecards labeled with partner entity names, and the cards could be arranged and rearranged to explore relationships.
Potential demand partners included employers with overnight shift start or end times (whose staff would have improved employment transportation options), as well as public-facing businesses such as bars (who want patrons to get home safely). Local leaders even identified the local police department and court system as potential beneficiaries of late-night transit service, since transit use could reduce the need for enforcement activity.
Support partners, labeled on green notecards in the image below, might include the state DOT (providing funding, assistance, and oversight), the state or National Rural Transit Assistance Program (RTAP providing assistance specific to rural transit), the regional planning commission (having expertise in grant writing and administration), and professional services such as a transit consultant (designing a pilot service).
The stakeholders engaging in this partner mapping exercise acknowledged that significant funding and political will would be necessary for a large transit schedule expansion. Consequently, they identified key staff in regional organizations who could jointly coordinate the value chain because they already hold relationships with many important partners.
Benefits of Partner Mapping for Transportation
Value chain partner mapping can have several benefits for rural transportation professionals and community leaders. This information helps them refine plans and project development. After the initial partner mapping, project sponsors can meet with identified stakeholders to learn more about their access needs and their interests in the project. This may open new conversations about demand for a proposed transportation project or service, transportation-related tradeoffs currently experienced by businesses and residents, and what characteristics would incentivize or disincentivize users to try new transportation. In some cases, early engagement to understand demand could reduce some potential opposition to change in a community's transportation network.
This type of feedback can be critical to getting a project conceptualized. For instance, a crosswalk might be proposed in an area with few safe ways to cross a street. However, if the crosswalk is not located in a place where pedestrians commonly need to cross, will they continue to cross at a different, unmarked location? If motorists do not expect a crosswalk or are traveling too fast to stop quickly, would they stop for pedestrians at that site? Partner feedback can shed light on some of these issues before a project is implemented.
In addition, project sponsors with a deep understanding of their partners' motivations can uncover unforeseen opportunities. Tailored letters of support can strengthen a grant application because each partner's role and rationale for supporting a project has been identified. Partner mapping can also lead to new in-kind or cash match contributions.
NADO has found that mapping out relationships in value chains is a useful methodology that supports many transportation efforts. Whether rural regions are developing coalitions for road safety, brainstorming mobility interventions, or planning for increased nonmotorized access, partners are critical to developing and implementing effective plans and projects. Learn more about NADO's work in rural transportation at www.NADO.org and www.RuralTransportation.org. itej
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