Advocating for Change: LINK Houston Takes on the System

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Through community engagement and data analysis, we at LINK Houston will continue connecting the dots for residents and decisionmakers to understand the relationship between transportation and every issue.

Our Most Dangerous Intersections Study shows the disproportionate impact of deadly crashes on Black people walking and biking . We’ve successfully advocated for the City of Houston to address the most dangerous intersections and corridors first, rather than focusing on crashes that the media covers in affluent communities or based on 3-1-1 reports.

Our Equity in Transit: 2018 Report shows the disproportionate need for high-quality affordable transportation investments in Black and Latinx neighborhoods. We leveraged this information to successfully ensure that METRONext – the $7-billion transit plan for the next 20 years – delivers faster, more accessible, on-time service day and night to high-need areas first, a departure from how improvements were prioritized in the past.

Our ongoing engagement on the NHHIP (IH-45 North expansion) has shed light on the disproportionate risk of displacement and other adverse impacts of highway development on Black and Latinx communities. Partnering with Air Alliance Houston and other Make I-45 Better Coalition members, we successfully urged the Mayor to listen to what communities want through a year-long engagement endeavor, changing the standard for public engagement on an infrastructure project and successfully winning $51.5 million in additional funds for communities like Independence Heights and Near Northside.

In our Where Affordable Housing Meets Transportation report , our latest analysis and tools aim to align affordable housing and transportation planning , changing how the City, County, and developers decide where to invest in affordable housing so that families and individuals can truly benefit from much needed affordability.

We are proud to serve as a voting member on the Houston-Galveston Area Council’s Transportation Advisory Committee, which evaluates billions of dollars in infrastructure projects for our 8-country region. By participating in the bylaws committee and the nominating committee, we are helping to change the rules for who can be a voting member in these bodies and successfully nominated diverse stakeholders from across Houston to serve in expert advisory roles.


Oni K. Blair
LINK Houston | June 18, 2020

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