Climate

A next evolution to advance equitable solutions for transportation, community planning, and development in Massachusetts.

Written by Najah Casimir, Lisa Jacobson

Barr’s Climate Program began in 2010 with the goal of helping Boston and Massachusetts reduce greenhouse gas emissions in the energy and transportation sectors – the two largest greenhouse gas contributors in the state. In 2015, the transportation work became Barr’s Mobility Strategy, with a dual focus on transportation and how we design our communities.

With all that has changed in the world since 2015, and with the Foundation adopting a new value to center racial equity, we recently embarked on a strategy refresh process, and leaned into new possibilities for how to better express the scope and ambitions of our Mobility grantmaking.

A Changing World and Changing Work

In 2020, COVID-19 altered every facet of people’s lives – including transportation. More people than ever started working from home. The use of public transportation and driving declined dramatically, while biking and walking increased in many locations. Traffic patterns and congestion shifted. People also started thinking about and using public spaces differently – not just parks, but sidewalks and streets – and these became vitally important for people’s physical and mental health. Meanwhile, Spring 2020 brought new attention to race-based violence, which led many people across the country to learn more about the long history of colonization and anti-Blackness in the United States, including the role of transportation in that history.

These changes prompted several shifts in Barr’s Mobility grantmaking through 2020 and 2021, including:

In 2022, we felt it was time to take stock of these changes, what we learned along the way, and to refresh the mobility strategy to better align with current contexts and needs.

“In 2022, we felt it was time to take stock of these changes, what we learned along the way, and to refresh the mobility strategy to better align with current contexts and needs.”

Key Lessons From Grantmaking

To look forward, our first step was to look back. We wanted to reflect on our role and the power we hold as grantmakers, what worked well, and our mistakes. Four key lessons stood out for us:

Where We’re Headed

By digging into our work, we affirmed our commitment to the overarching goal of reducing transportation-related greenhouse gas emissions in Massachusetts. The refresh process helped us clarify that our role in advancing this goal combines support for:

“By digging into our work, we affirmed our commitment to the overarching goal of reducing transportation-related greenhouse gas emissions in Massachusetts.”

Our work is built on a diverse set of partnerships with community-based organizations, advocates, municipal and state agencies, researchers, the business community, and others involved in design, planning, policy development, and implementation.

In our strategy, we incorporated the new approaches we had adopted since 2020 to ensure they would continue. This included uplifting the following in the strategy:

We remain devoted to supporting the reduction of transportation-related emissions in Massachusetts, for the benefit of communities across the state and the globe; and focused on maintaining strong relationships with existing partners while staying open to new ideas and partners. Together, we can reduce and prevent climate change through equitable solutions for transportation, community planning, and development across Massachusetts.

authors and contributors:

Lisa Jacobson poses for a headshot. She has shoulder-length wavy hair and wears a plum colored top. She smiles joyfully.

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