MHC Jobs Working Group Brown Bag Series
About the Brown Bag Series:
Over the past several months, members of the Mile High Connects Jobs Working Group have been conducting a range of research efforts looking at the connections between middle skill jobs and transit. Over the next several months, we will be hosting a monthly brown bag series (BYOL) to share our findings on the following topics. We hope you can join us and please share with your colleagues.
If We Build It, Will They Come?: Findings on Small Business Owners Perceptions of Transit
Given that Colorado is a small business state, any efforts to ensure our regional transit system connects residents to jobs must factor in how we can attract, retain, and grow those firms with between 5 and 100 employees by transit. This is especially important for those businesses in our primary growth sectors.
In late 2012, the Mile High Business Alliance, with the support of Mile High Connects, conducted a survey of small businesses in the Denver Metro area. This presentation will summarize findings from that analysis related to:
- Small business relationship to transit
- Requirements for offering benefits (including transit benefits) to employees
- Recommendations for supporting small business success
Click
here for the presentation.
Enhancing Economic Opportunity Through Transit
Reconnecting America (RA) and its partners in Mile High Connects released a report, “Enhancing Economic Opportunity Through Transit: Lessons Learned from Denver’s Southeast Light Rail Line.” The purpose of this report is to document the economic, workforce, and development changes that occurred after the Southeast Line opened through the Denver Tech Center in 2006. Click here for the full report.
I-225 Corridor Tour
The Mile High Connects Steering Committee hosted a tour of the I-225 Corridor in March 2013. The tour packet, which includes the tour agenda, corridor maps and station area profiles, are available here.
Gold Line Tour
The Mile High Connects Steering Committee hosted a tour of the Gold Line in September 2012. The tour packet, which includes the tour agenda, corridor maps and station area profiles, is available here.
Using Housing & Transportation Measures to Invest in Community Development - August 3, 2012
On Friday, August 3, 2012, the Manhattan Strategies Group and the Center for Neighborhood Technology held a workshop focused on community development decisions using combined housing and transportation cost measures. The speakers presented tools that planners, elected officials, developers and funders in the Denver region can use to more effectively target their housing and transportation investment and development decisions. Participants learned about – and were able to provide feedback on –new tools under development by HUD and DOT to increase understanding and awareness about how location decisions impact housing and transportation affordability. The Location Affordability Index and My Transportation Cost Calculator tools are designed to help planners, consumers, and policy-makers make more informed decisions about where to invest in infrastructure and build new housing.
The event also featured a panel of key Denver Region stakeholders, including representatives from HUD, CHFA, DRCOG and Mile High Connects.
Slides from this presentation are available
here.
This event was sponsored by Mile High Connects partners Enterprise Community Partners, Reconnecting America and the Urban Land Conservancy, along with the Colorado Housing and Finance Authority, Denver Regional Council of Governments, Urban Land Institute Colorado and US Department of Housing and Urban Development, Region 8.
Ensuring Equity in TOD - July 12, 2012
On Thursday, July 12, 2012, Mile High Connects hosted a special session for planners, advocates, elected officials, policy makers and developers to learn how neighborhoods are affected by transit investments, and how to ensure that transit oriented development benefits all people, including low income and minority communities. The featured speaker was Stephanie Pollack of the Dukakis Center for Urban and Regional Policy at Northeastern University, who presented on the equity challenge in transit oriented development highlighting some of her recent research. Stephanie shared the results of her research on neighborhood change in transit-rich neighborhoods and described tools and best practices for ensuring that benefits of transit investment are shared by all, and growth in transit-served communities serves social equity objectives. Dena Belzer, President and founder of Strategic Economics, an urban economics research firm specializing in TOD projects with complex settings and multiple actors requiring innovative analysis, then responded with some tools and strategies to address potential displacement and gentrification challenges.
Slides from this presentation are available here.
More information on Stephanie Pollack's research is available here.
More information on Dena Belzer's work with the Center for Transit-Oriented Development is available here .
Creating Healthy Communities - June 5, 2012
On Tuesday, June 5, 2012, the Mile High Connects Health Working Group gave a presentation to public health agencies, community organizations and other groups working on health-related issues in the Denver region about the importance of transit accessibility to healthy communities. The presentation is available
here.
Launch Event - April 10, 2012
Mile High Connects held a half day event on April 10, 2012 to formally launch the collaborative and introduce the Regional Equity Atlas. The presentations from this event are available below:
Launch Event Materials
Press coverage of the event can be found on the News page.
