February 2007

The High Cost of Getting to Work: Finding Ways to Increase the Mobility of Low-Income Workers

On February 16th, JOTF co-hosted another sold-out installment of the High Cost of Being Poor Lunchtime Discussion Series with the Baltimore CASH Campaign and the Maryland Asset Building Initiative. This month’s forum explored the high cost of getting to work, and focused on strategies for increasing the mobility of low-wage workers.

Transportation is one of the key barriers to finding and keeping a steady job. This is especially true in Maryland, where almost half of all workers must travel to another county for their job. This places a heavy burden on low-wage workers. The public transit system has serious gaps, but the expense of buying and maintaining a car often places this option out of a low-income family’s reach.

Henry Kay and Margy Waller opened the discussion with thoughts on the key transportation barriers facing low-wage workers. Kay is Director of the Greater Baltimore Committee’s Baltimore Transit Alliance & former Planning Director for the Maryland Transit Administration, and Waller is Director of The Mobility Agenda and Co-Founder of Inclusionist.org. The event took place at the Baltimore City Community College.

For more information about the event, or about upcoming forums in the series, please contact Andrea Payne at 410-234-8303.

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