LAKE TAHOE, Calif./Nev. – A first of its kind Transportation Equity Study for the Tahoe region won a diversity award named after a civil rights activist.

The Rosa Parks Diversity Leadership Award honors organizations promoting diversity and cultural awareness in transportation.

The equity study put on by the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency found that nearly 1,000 households have no car, with many living below the poverty line in the Tahoe region.

“We heard firsthand accounts of the challenges of evacuating during the Caldor Fire with only one vehicle for eight people.”

That’s reported by Senior Transportation Planner Kira Richardson who was one of the lead staff members on the TRPA’s study.

This and many other insights were discovered through the almost two year study published in September, along with proposed policy changes. This study will guide future decisions regarding area transportation plans, including the Lake Tahoe Regional Transportation Plan update underway this year. 

The agency won the award almost two months after the 68th anniversary of Rosa Park’s refusal to give her bus seat up to a white passenger on Dec. 1, 1955. Some historians say this helped spark the Montgomery Bus Boycott that followed.

Richardson and Community Engagement Manager Victoria Ortiz accepted the award on behalf of the agency alongside Kendall Flint of DKS Associates, the project consultant. They received the award at the Sacramento chapter of Women’s Transportation Seminar International annual awards and scholarship event on Wednesday, Jan. 31.

A part of the study involved conducting multi-lingual community engagement. The TRPA says many citizens are underrepresented in traditional transportation planning and that’s something they want to change here in Tahoe by making sure all community members are heard and engaged.

“These transportation recommendations come from the people who need them most,” says Richardson, “It’s a privilege to be able to amplify their voices in this study.”