ABOUT CATCH A RIDE NETWORK
We Believe Where You Can Go Should Not Determine What Is Possible.
Catch a Ride Network is a nonprofit mobility initiative of Feonix – Mobility Rising. We work with communities to remove transportation barriers and build dependable local networks that help people reach healthcare, employment, education, food, family, and community.
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Mobility Solutions for the Health and Wellbeing of Every Person in Every Community.
Transportation is often treated as a separate issue. We see it differently.
It affects whether someone can get to treatment, keep a job, pick up groceries, complete training, visit family, access childcare, attend school, or remain independent as they age.
Our work is about helping communities make sure transportation is not the reason someone misses what matters.
Vision
Mobility solutions for the health and wellbeing of every person in every community.
Mission
Catch a Ride Network serves communities across the United States by removing transportation barriers, working alongside local leaders, using innovative technology, and building dependable and safe transportation networks.
Transportation Barriers Are Rarely Just Transportation Barriers.
A missed ride can become a missed medical appointment. A broken-down car can become a lost job. A rural distance can become a delayed diagnosis. A lack of accessible transportation can become isolation for an older adult, a person with a disability, a veteran, or a parent with young children.
Communities often have transportation resources, caring organizations, dedicated staff, and people willing to help. But those resources are frequently disconnected, difficult to navigate, limited by funding rules, or unavailable when someone needs them most.
Catch a Ride exists to help communities connect the pieces already around them into a more dependable system.
“Transportation should not be the barrier between a person and the life they are working to build.”
Catch a Ride Began With a Simple Question: What Happens When Someone Cannot Get There?
Feonix – Mobility Rising was founded in 2018 around a clear belief: transportation should never be the reason someone misses healthcare, work, education, food, family, or opportunity.
From the beginning, the work focused on listening to communities and recognizing that transportation challenges rarely have one simple cause—or one simple solution.
In one place, the issue may be a rural worker unable to reach an early shift. In another, it may be an older adult trying to get to dialysis. In another, a parent may need a safe way to reach prenatal care, food, or a child’s appointment. In every community, the common thread is the same: people need transportation that works around real life.
“The goal has never been to create one more transportation program. The goal is to help communities build systems people can depend on.”
— Valerie Lefler, Founder and CEO
We Do Not Replace Local Resources. We Help Them Work Better Together.
Catch a Ride is built as shared mobility infrastructure. Local partners remain central to the work. Catch a Ride provides the coordination, technology, human support, provider connections, flexible tools, reporting, and operational backbone that help communities expand access without duplicating systems.
The network model is designed to connect local partners with shared technology, call-center support, Mobility Wallet tools, reporting, and coordinated transportation options.
Local Leadership Stays Local.
Community organizations, healthcare providers, employers, public agencies, transit partners, and local leaders know their communities best. We build alongside them.
Flexible Options Work Better Than One-Size-Fits-All Programs.
We help communities use the transportation options available to them—public transit, volunteer drivers, rideshare, taxis, accessible transportation, mileage support, local fleets, and more.
Human Support Matters.
Technology can make transportation easier to coordinate, but people still need help navigating real-life challenges. Catch a Ride combines digital tools with real person-to-person support.
Data Helps Communities Learn.
Every ride, referral, support request, and partner interaction can help communities understand what is working, where people are still getting stuck, and what should grow next.
Built for Local Communities. Supported by Shared Infrastructure.
Catch a Ride helps communities connect people to transportation through a model that combines local partnership with shared tools and support.
Local Partners
Healthcare providers, nonprofits, employers, schools, public agencies, housing organizations, transit providers, and local leaders identify needs and help connect people to support.
Mobility Support Center
Riders and partners can access real people for help with planning, booking, trip changes, questions, and problem-solving.
Mobility as a Service
Communities can choose the level of support that fits their goals—from fully managed transportation coordination to Mobility Wallets, staff-guided transportation support, and public-transit partnerships.
Shared Data and Learning
Catch a Ride helps communities understand transportation use, barriers, partner activity, rider needs, and opportunities for more effective local investment.
COMPLEMENTING NEMT WITH
PATIENT-CENTERED SUPPORT
One Shared Mission. Different Local Solutions.
Catch a Ride works across urban, suburban, rural, and small-community settings. Every local model looks different because every community starts with different transportation options, funding sources, service gaps, and priorities.
Michigan
Mobility Wallets, perinatal and infant access, veterans, older adults, housing stability, workforce transportation, and regional coordination.
Wisconsin
Rural workforce access, healthcare transportation, local business engagement, public-transit coordination, and countywide mobility planning.
Tennessee
Workforce transportation, rural and small-community mobility, and connections to employment and essential services.
South Carolina
Access to Care, older-adult transportation, dialysis and specialty care, healthcare partnerships, and public-transit collaboration.
Texas
Veteran transportation, cancer-treatment access, community booking partnerships, accessible transportation, and regional mobility coordination.
Every Community Teaches Us Something.
Catch a Ride is building more than transportation programs. We are building a stronger understanding of where transportation barriers occur, how they affect health and opportunity, and what kinds of solutions work best in different communities.
By learning from riders, partners, trip data, support requests, and local implementation, we can help communities make better decisions about healthcare access, workforce mobility, public transit, older-adult independence, family stability, and community investment.
Rider experience
Local service data
Community learning
Stronger programs
Better policy conversations
We use transportation data to improve services today while building evidence that can inform future funding, planning, and policy decisions.
Where We Are Focused Now.
Catch a Ride is investing in the people and communities where transportation barriers most often affect health, stability, and opportunity.
Veterans
Supporting access to healthcare, behavioral health, benefits, employment, essential services, and community connection.
Older Adults
Helping people remain connected to treatment, food, pharmacies, caregivers, family, and community as they age.
Pregnant and Postpartum Families
Supporting prenatal care, postpartum care, pediatric appointments, food access, counseling, and essential family resources.
Workforce and Education
Helping people reach jobs, interviews, training, certifications, school, and long-term mobility stability.
Shared Community Infrastructure
Building the data, technology, partnerships, coordination, human support, and local capacity communities need to make transportation more dependable over time.
Led by People Who Believe Mobility Is Essential Infrastructure.
Feonix - Mobility Rising's program, the Catch a Ride Network, is guided by leaders with experience across nonprofit management, transportation, public policy, healthcare, mobility innovation, philanthropy, workforce development, and community engagement.
Board of Directors
Charnelle Hicks
Board President
President, CHPlanning, Ltd.
John Peracchio
Board Corporate Secretary
Managing Member, Peracchio & Company, LLC
Sylvester Hester
Board Member
President & CEO, LM Manufacturing LLC
Ipek Sener
Board Member
Research Scientist, Texas A&M Transportation Institute
Warren Whitlock
Board Member
Leadership & Society Fellow, University of Chicago
Karina Ricks
Board Vice President
Partner, Cityfi
Crissy Ditmore
Board Member
Founder & President, Edgewise Partners
Dr. Mary-Anne Joseph
Board Member
Associate Professor, Alabama State University
Kelly Stumpe
Board Member
CEO & Founder, The Car Mom
Peter Appel
Board Treasurer
Director, AlixPartners
Nicole Fincham- Shehan
Board Member
Assistant General Manager, Transdev
Joe Provenzano
Board Member
Director of Mobility & Volunteerism, Ford Philanthropy
Kristin White
Board Member
Transportation Industry Executive & Head of Strategy and Partnerships, Google Public Sector
Leadership
John Doherty
Volunteer Program Manager
Shelley Maddox
Senior Business Manager
Kate Schramm
Senior Strategy Officer
Valerie Lefler
Founder and CEO
Jeremy O'Hearn
Director of Operations
Jocelyn Vasquez
Senior Mobility Services Lead
Shelley MacAllister
Director of Engagement
Melody Pierce
Senior Communications Manager
Toriano Watson
Technology Manager
The Values That Guide Our Work.
People do not miss opportunities because they lack motivation, talent, or care. People don't miss opportunities because they lack motivation. They miss opportunities because transportation doesn't always match the realities of everyday life.
Compassion
We treat every rider, partner, driver, volunteer, and community member as a whole person—not a transaction, trip number, or case file.
Trust
We build trust through clear communication, dependable follow-through, accountable stewardship, and respect for local relationships.
Perseverance
Transportation barriers are rarely easy to solve. We stay with communities through complexity, changing needs, and the work required to build durable solutions.
Built Through Partnership.
Catch a Ride works alongside local organizations, health systems, employers, transit agencies, public agencies, funders, and national partners to strengthen mobility access in communities across the country.
Build What Communities Can Depend On.
Catch a Ride is working to make transportation more dependable for people today—and more sustainable for communities tomorrow.