Kaleidoscope: Understanding Workforce Diversity in the Transit Industry

This webinar presents findings from a recent Mineta Transportation Institute study that provides baseline data on the status of the racial/ethnic and gender diversity of the transit agency workforce in the U.S. and identifies potential barriers and promising practices for diversifying this workforce. Public transit agencies function best when the diversity of their workforce represents the communities they serve, yet previous research finds an underrepresentation of women and minorities in senior and managerial roles, along with an overconcentration of men and workers of color—particularly Black workers—in operational roles (e.g., drivers, janitors).

Moderator:

• Dr. Natoya Walker-Minor, First Vice-Chair, APTA Diversity and Inclusion Council and Deputy General Manager, Administration & External Affairs, Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority

Panelists:

• Asha Weinstein Agrawal, PHD, MTI National Transportation Finance Center and Professor of Urban and Regional Planning at San José State University.
• Evelyn Blumenberg, PHD, Professor of Urban Planning and Director of the Lewis Center for Regional Policy Studies in the Luskin School of Public Affairs at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA).
• Anastasia Loukaitou-Sideris, PHD, Interim Dean of the Luskin School of Public Affairs and Distinguished Professor of Urban Planning at UCLA.