Paper Details

TRB 91st Annual Meeting (January 22-26, 2012)

Event Number:	279
Event Title:	Environmental Justice, Transit, and Mobility
Event Date:	Jan 23 2012 10:15AM- 12:00PM
Event Location:	Hilton, Columbia Hall 5
Event Description:
Event Agenda:

An Investigation of Local Funding Sources For the Job Access and Reverse Commute Program (12-0762)

Adequate access to employment is a primary factor in providing means to self-sufficiency for disadvantaged populations. To secure and retain employment, people must have a degree of mobility. The federal Job Access and Reverse Commute (JARC) program enhances mobility for low-wage workers and low-income individuals by offering federal funding for locally planned and developed access projects. Funding for JARC projects is a combination of federal and local funding. Local funding derives from local sources, such as dedicated taxes, other local-level government-funded programs for disadvantaged populations, businesses or general accounts. The objective of this research was to identify local-level funding sources for JARC projects and identify associations between types of local funding and utilization of JARC funding. Little research had been conducted on the implications of local-funding measures on federally funded JARC projects. How do the different methods of generating matching local-level funds interact with JARC projects? For fiscal years 2005-2009, this research combined JARC program data with a survey of JARC recipients to analyze funding techniques and performance. Statistical results showed JARC recipients have tapped a wide range of local sources to fund projects and JARC projects quickly receive federal funding respective to application. While the most prevalent sources were local agency and local general funds, approximately 27 percent of JARC projects draw upon multiple local sources for federal matching.

Authors
     Combs, Fred , University of Kansas
     Dunning, Anne E., University of Kansas