Year One Summary 2013

Who are we?At MyRIDE-Tarrant, our Navigators offer Transportation Options Counseling (TOC) one-on-one to people with disabilities that keeps them mobile. Our goal is to increase awareness of transportation options and services for those with disabilities, so that every Tarrant County citizen can get where they need to go accessibly, safely and affordably.

What’s the problem?In Tarrant County, transportation barriers

significantly affect the quality of life for people with disabilities. According to a 2010 survey by

Mental Health Mental Retardation of Tarrant County (MHMRTC), more than half of the over 1500 disabled adults surveyed said that trans-

portation is their main barrier to work. The same survey reported that transportation challenges

left 62% of respondents unable to travel to recreation, 52% unable to travel to evening

events, and 45% unable to go shopping. When asked what specific transportation barriers

respondents faced, 65% reported “difficulty understanding transit schedules, forms,

application, and/or eligibility processes.”

3 in 5 callers requested TOC to reach health care

1 in 5 callers requested TOC to reach employment, school, and/or training

Is MyRIDE-Tarrant making a difference?In 2013, our goal was to provide Transportation Options Counseling to 500 county residents with disabilities. We exceeded this goal by more than 80%, providing Transportation Options Counseling to 903 residents. Three in five (59.3%) callers needed transportation to medical services. One in five (19.4%) callers needed transportation to employment, school, or training. Of all people who called us, three in five (57.5%) of those persons with disabilities, their families and allies used one of the options identified by MyRIDE-Tarrant to make their trip. At MyRIDE-Tarrant, we keep you mobile.

Where Callers are Going

“I didn’t know what I was going to do. Who would have thought a simple trip to Walmart would make such a big difference?”

3 in 5 callers were able to reach their destinationsbecause of MyRIDE-Tarrant’s TOC

TOC Success Rate

What do we do about it?

Tarrant TOC Target

Tarrant TOC Actual

58.5% of all callers were ages 55 and older

10.2% of callers were veterans

500

903

2013 TOC Target and Actual

At MyRIDE-Tarrant, we offer Transportation Options Counseling (TOC) either face-to-face or by phone. Our navigators identify the transportation services for which the individual is eligible, personally link and support access to these services (i.e., assistance with applications, connect-ing them to travel training), and provide follow-up as needed. MyRIDE-Tarrant’s immediate value lies in providing increased access to life-sustaining and life-enriching events, such as work, medical appoint-ments, and grocery shopping, for people with disabilities. The data generated from MyRIDE-Tarrant’s TOC also provides long-term value by highlighting gaps in service that we can partner to close.

1 in 5 are calling on behalf of family members

2 in 3 callers have disabilities

Callers

Demographics

Multiple Disabilities

Mobility Impairment

Visual Impairment

No Impairment

Psychiatric Disability

Cognitive Impairment

Hearing Impairment

Intellectual Disability

34.1%16.9%

13.3%

15.5%8.0%

6.7%

3.4%

2%

I have the ability to get home from college without relying on my mother or others. It just makes things easier on the family.”

“

“Our stress levels have been lifted. We don’t have to bother people to provide transportation. The program has been a blessing.”

Get Going! Preparing students with disabilities as they tran-sition into adulthood, from ages 16 to 22, is a major focus for public school systems across the county. In recent surveys of these students in Fort Worth ISD, 80% described their mobility as “severely limited,” with 40% citing transportation as a major barrier to work. Despite living in the Fort Worth Transporta-tion Authority’s (the T’s) bus service area, 89.7% of respondents said they did not use transportation services because they had “difficulty understanding transit schedules, forms, applications, and/or eligi-bility processes.”

Get Going! is a partnership between MyRIDE- Tarrant, the T, Fort Worth ISD, and Easter Seals Project Action (ESPA). Through Get Going!, we will partner with students, parents, their educators, and the T to provide intensive training. ESPA will also provide intensive fixed-route travel training to FWISD staff who support transition-aged students.

Equipped with tools and skills, these educators will become value-added partners, actively eliminating barriers as they train these students and their par-ents with the skills to expand mobility post-gradua-tion.

Tarrant MobilityAcademy

In June 2011, MyRIDE-Tarrant surveyed human service professionals that work with persons with disabilities throughout Tarrant County.

Three in five professionals reported they were not familiar with available transportation

services or supports. Tarrant Mobility Academy will intensively train 40 health and human

services agencies’ staff members. These staff members will become the “go-to”

transportation resources for their agencies and with their clients. Equipped with information and

skills, Academy graduates will serve as critical partners in minimizing the transportation

barriers many of their clients currently face.

ReadyVetGo!Tarrant County veterans with disabilities often face mobility challenges. Whether because of disability, age-related changes, financial challenges, or involvement with the judicial system, some Tarrant County veterans do not have reliable access to transportation. These challenges may make it difficult for veterans to get to school, training, work, doctors appointments, the VA, shopping, and other required activities.

Through ReadyVetGo!, MyRIDE-Tarrant will train 62 coaches who can assist their peers in identifying and linking to both veteran-specific and general transportation services. A low-cost, high-value force, these coaches can promote mobility options as vet-erans transition to their “new normal.”

37.5% had used publictransportation before they

called MyRIDE-Tarrant

Future Goals

2.0%+

1.5-2%

1.0-1.5%

.5-1.0%

0-.5%

Density of TOCs by Zipcode

Fort Worth

Lake Worth

Benbrook

KellerGrapevine

Mansfield