The U.S. Department of Transportation and the White House Office of Public Engagement will host a White House Champions of Change featuring Transportation Innovators on July 31. Transportation Innovators are individuals or organizations who have provided exemplary leadership in the growth and expansion of the transportation industry at the local, state or regional level.

Logo of the United States White House.(Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The White House Champions of Change program highlights the stories and examples of citizens across the country who are “Building an America to Last” with projects and initiatives that move their communities forward. Each week, the White House Office of Public Engagement hosts an event to honor those who are working to empower and inspire other members of their communities. A Transportation Innovation Champion’s work may entail:

• Leading the implementation of viable transportation initiatives that promote and facilitate economic growth and job creation
• Developing a comprehensive and holistic approach to livability to ensure that communities have access to a range of transportation options that are in proximity to housing and other community services
• Building intermodal connectivity that reduces congestion and increases efficiencies
• Developing and/or implementing transportation safety technologies or innovative transportation safety programs
• Pioneering mobility management strategies for moving people and/or goods
• Developing or implementing state of the art technologies that are critical to improving the efficiency, effectiveness and safety of transportation systems and services
• Integrating strategies to eliminate significant barriers to ensure that transportation services and systems are accessible for all Americans
• Establishing innovative strategies for addressing the unique transportation needs for individuals and families in rural America
• Implementing environmentally friendly and sustainable transportation systems and services
• Demonstrating effective strategies for strengthening the transportation career pathway

Please submit nominations using the attached form no later than July 3, 2012 toChampions@dot.gov. Note: You can also submit a nomination in a text document, but all of the questions and information requested in the attached nomination form must be included in your submission.

(Source: The City Fix Blog)

What a creative way to encourage riding public transportation! The two videos below created by De Lijn, the company that runs Belgium’s public transport system, are part of the “Penguins and Fireflies” commercial campaign and won the 4th Annual UITP International Marketing Awards in 2009.

The International Association of Public Transport (UITP), a global advocate in promoting public transportation, is accepting entries for its 5th Annual UITP International Marketing Awards until April 15. It is the only international competition that rewards commercial and printed campaigns from the public transport sector.

The Marketing Awards are a part of UITP’s International Marketing Conference that will be held in Venice, Italy in November 2011. The conference is a time to provide organizations with marketing strategies to help them successfully compete against car culture, increase profits and boost ridership.

Click here to read more.

Please see below for information about a funding opportunity from the Mineta Transportation Institute (MTI) for research on a variety of transportation topics, including transportation finance. As the director of MTI’s National Transportation Finance Center, Asha Agrawal will be assisting researchers with questions about submitting finance-related proposals. So if you have questions, please feel free to get in touch with Asha at asha.weinstein.agrawal@sjsu.edu.

FYI, I have not included the attachments, since they don’t go through well on email groups like this one, but all the forms are available at http://www.transweb.sjsu.edu/MTIportal/research/RFPForms.html

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Dear Colleagues,

MTI is pleased to announce the release of the 2011-2012 Request for Proposals (RFP). Attached you will find the RFP, the proposal form, and the budget template. These forms may also be downloaded from the MTI web page:http://www.transweb.sjsu.edu/MTIportal/research/RFPForms.html.

As you may know, MTI conducts an open, broad-based process for soliciting and selecting policy research projects. High-quality proposals that best match the results of the needs assessment and the objectives and research emphasis areas of the institute will be selected for funding. MTI supports research projects staffed entirely by San José State University (SJSU) faculty or by SJSU faculty collaborating with researchers from outside the university.

We invite you to submit a proposal in response to this request!  All proposals are due on MONDAY, MAY 16 2011 at 5:00 p.m. PDT.

This is a good opportunity for students/emerging professionals who are interested in these issues.  See http://ecpaplanning.org/2011/01/ecpa-call-for-essays-from-emergin-professionals/ for full details.