It’s a busy time for the MZ Strategies team. We are excited to be involved with several national and local clients ranging from Transportation for America and the Natural Resources Defense Council’s Urban Solutions Team to Hennepin County and the Minnesota Chapter of the Urban Land Institute, among others.

Earlier this week we kicked off a new project working with national and local foundations to identify emerging areas of innovation and collaboration in the transportation reform field. We recognize that in many communities transportation is being transformed - with mobility seen as a tool to support climate resiliency and public health, regional competitiveness, inclusive economic opportunity, community development, and access to opportunity. Shared use mobility, open source data and new technologies are revolutionizing how people access and use transportation, and how they engage in the decision making process. This project, a partnership between the Funders' Network for Smart Growth and Livable Communities, the Ford, Rockefeller and Surdna Foundations and TransitCenter, seeks to frame market and policy innovations and characteristics, investigate the role of philanthropy in supporting innovation and accelerating reform, and identify regions for strategic coordination between local and national advocates.

To better understand the sphere of national transportation reform, we are conducting an on-line survey to gain insight from professionals like you who are working on transportation-related innovation. We invite you to participate in a short survey to share the work that your organization are doing. The survey can be accessed at http://tinyurl.com/MZStrategies2 and shared with other groups or individuals who are working to advance transportation reforms at the national, state, regional or local levels. Please complete the survey before Friday, May 16th.

Mariia Zimmerman, Principal and Founder of MZ Strategies, LLC will be speaking this spring at the APA Conference in Atlanta, and the Transportation Research Conference in St. Paul, MN — Mariia Zimmerman, Principal and Founder of MZ Strategies, LLC will be speaking this spring at the APA Conference in Atlanta, and the Transportation Research Conference in St. Paul, MN

This weekend, Mariia Zimmerman, Principal and Founder of MZ Strategies, travels to Atlanta, Georgia for the American Planning Association’s Annual Conference. She is speaking on Sunday, April 27th (4-5:15 pm) about Funding Corridor Revitalization. Zimmerman was recently elected Vice Chair of Regional and Metropolitan Planning for the APA Regional and Intergovernmental Planning Division. The Division’s current newsletter features an article written by Zimmerman reflecting on the US Department of Housing and Urban Development’s Sustainable Communities Initiative, of which she helped launch during her tenure as HUD’s Deputy Director of Sustainable Housing and Communities (Now the Office of Economic Resilience). The article can be downloaded here.

Zimmerman will also be traveling to Minnesota in May, where she is working with regional leaders to examine land use and affordable housing strategies along the proposed Southwest Light Rail Corridor, and exploring opportunities for accelerating the build-out of the region’s transit system. The Central Corridor Light Rail line (aka Green Line) – connecting downtown St. Paul, the University of Minnesota, downtown Minneapolis, and many ethnically and racially diverse neighborhoods is set to open on Saturday, June 14th! Zimmerman is also moderating a session on May 22 at the Center for Transportation Studies 25th Annual Transportation Research Conference on “Transforming Communities Through Transitways.”

Look for updates and copies of Zimmerman’s presentations on the MZ Strategies Projects Page in the coming weeks! We look forward to connecting with you, hopefully, at one of these exciting venues.