Brett Piercy | EBP

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Presentation Description

Rural communities face significant challenges in providing connectivity and accessibility to essential destinations, including education, employment, and goods and services. Facing factors such as low population density, limited economic vitality, and physical barriers, these communities often lack adequate transportation infrastructure and services necessary to provide residents with efficient access to these resources, particularly for those with limited access to vehicles.
NCHRP Research Report 1059: Access to Jobs, Economic Opportunities, and Education in Rural Areas presents guidance for defining and addressing the unique accessibility and connectivity challenges to accessing education, employment, and goods and services in rural communities. For this Research Report, EBP developed necessary recommendations to address these accessibility and connectivity challenges in rural communities.
These accessibility and connectivity challenges are complex, with significant challenges and constraints. This Research Report investigates the following strategies that can be employed by organizations that seek to facilitate improved accessibility and connectivity in their respective communities:
• Improving Cross-Agency Coordination,
• Expanding Rural Stakeholder Engagement,
• Improving Evaluation Tools and Policies,
• Improving Staff Capacity,
• Securing Funding.
This Research Report provides a framework that organizations can use to explore and execute these strategies. It also provides the following resources that organizations can adapt to various scenarios:
• Reference Sheets,
• Resource Guides,
• Self-Assessments,
• Tools and Techniques,
• Worksheets.
This Presentation will guide participants through these challenges, strategies, and resources accompanying the Research Report to address any accessibility and connectivity challenges in their respective communities.

Speaker Biography

Brett Piercy is a Senior Associate at EBP with nearly two decades of experience in urban planning economics and economic development. She has specialized expertise in assessing the economic development opportunities of land use alternatives; economic development impacts of major infrastructure projects and policy decisions; and fiscal impact analysis for a wide range of land uses and proposed policies.

Ms. Piercy has held positions with the Southeast Regional Planning and Economic Development District (a regional planning agency in Massachusetts), as well as Economics Research Associates (now AECOM/Economics). She holds an MS in urban planning from MIT, which focused on economic development finance and negotiation strategies for public agencies. She also holds a master’s in policy analysis from UC San Diego.

Co-presenters

Brett Piercy
EBP

Dilara Sisman
EBP

Presentation File