Connecting People to Health, Independence & Economic Opportunity

Transportation affects far more than how someone gets from one place to another. It influences access to healthcare, employment, education, independence, family responsibilities, and opportunity.

The North Texas Transportation Insecurity Summit will bring together community members, transportation providers, healthcare organizations, veteran-serving organizations, aging-service providers, employers, workforce and education partners, financial institutions, public agencies, philanthropy, and community-based organizations to explore how we can build a more connected mobility ecosystem across North Texas.

Throughout the day, we will hear directly from riders, examine the transportation resources already available across the region, identify gaps, and explore practical opportunities for collaboration. This is a working summit. Our goal is not simply to talk about transportation challenges, but to identify resources, partnerships, research priorities, and actions that can move the work forward.

Summit Agenda

8:00–9:00 a.m. | Registration, Breakfast & Networking

Join fellow attendees for breakfast, introductions, and informal networking before the program begins.

9:00–9:10 a.m. | Welcome & Setting the Stage

Opening remarks from Catch a Ride Network and summit partners, including an overview of the goals for the day and the opportunity to strengthen mobility across North Texas.

9:10–9:25 a.m. | Understanding Transportation Insecurity in North Texas

A research-focused introduction to transportation insecurity and the Transportation Security Index.

This session will explore what transportation insecurity means, how it affects people's daily lives, and its connections to health, employment, education, economic stability, independence, and wellbeing.

9:25–10:10 a.m. | Community Voices: What Transportation Access Really Looks Like

Rider Panel - We begin with the people transportation systems are designed to serve. North Texas residents will share firsthand experiences of navigating transportation for healthcare, employment, education, family responsibilities, and daily life. Their stories will help ground the day's conversations in the realities of transportation insecurity—and in what becomes possible when dependable transportation is available.

10:10–10:55 a.m. | Aging in Place: Transportation, Older Adults & Independence

Transportation can play a critical role in whether older adults are able to remain healthy, connected, and independent in the communities they call home. This session will explore healthcare access, grocery and pharmacy trips, social connection, caregiver transportation burden, driving retirement, paratransit, volunteer transportation, microtransit, rideshare, accessibility, and rural and suburban mobility.

Guiding Question: How do we build transportation systems that allow older adults to remain independent in their communities?

10:55–11:10 a.m. | Break

11:10–11:55 a.m. | Serving Those Who Served: Transportation Access for Veterans

Veterans may rely on multiple transportation systems to reach healthcare, employment, education, benefits, and community resources. This session will examine VA and community transportation resources, rural and suburban access, disability-accessible transportation, employment and education, healthcare, volunteer transportation, flexible mobility options, and opportunities for greater coordination.

Guiding Question: How can North Texas make transportation easier for veterans to find, understand, and use?

11:55 a.m.–12:45 p.m. | Lunch

North Texas Leadership Address: Transportation, Growth & Opportunity

12:45–1:30 p.m. | Mobility Is Medicine: Perinatal & Infant Health

Transportation can influence access to prenatal care, high-risk pregnancy services, postpartum care, NICU visitation, pediatric appointments, pharmacies, nutrition services, and other essential supports. This session will explore transportation as part of maternal and infant health infrastructure, including Medicaid transportation, healthcare transportation benefits, transportation stress, rural and suburban access, and opportunities to incorporate mobility into the care plan.

Guiding Question: What changes when transportation is treated as part of the healthcare plan rather than something patients are expected to solve on their own?

1:30–1:40 p.m. | Economic Mobility & Regional Coordination - When a Ride Isn't Enough

Transportation needs exist on a continuum. Transit, Medicaid transportation, paratransit, community transportation, rideshare, volunteer drivers, and other services may meet many needs. For some households, however, employment schedules, geography, childcare, caregiving, or multiple daily destinations make reliable personal vehicle access especially important. This brief session will frame the transition into the afternoon's discussion of vehicle access and economic mobility.

1:40–2:25 p.m. | Vehicle Access as Economic Mobility

Reliable vehicle access can influence where someone can work, what hours they can accept, the education or training they can pursue, and the opportunities available to their family. This session will explore employment access, workforce retention, career advancement, education and training, credit, financing, vehicle affordability, insurance, reliability, and employer-supported transportation strategies.

Guiding Question: What would it take to make reliable vehicle access part of our economic mobility infrastructure?

2:25–3:10 p.m. | Beyond the Car Payment: Making Vehicle Access Sustainable

Getting a vehicle is only part of the challenge. Keeping it safely and affordably on the road requires insurance, maintenance, repairs, registration, fuel, responsible financing, and the ability to respond when something goes wrong. This session will examine the full cost of vehicle ownership and opportunities to make vehicle access more sustainable.

Guiding Question: How do we expand vehicle access without creating a new source of financial instability?

3:10–3:25 p.m. | Break

3:25–4:10 p.m. | Building a North Texas Mobility Resource Network

Connecting the Transportation Resources We Already Have

North Texas already has a wide range of transportation resources. The challenge is often knowing what exists, who qualifies, where programs operate, and how to connect someone to another option when one service cannot meet their needs.

This session will bring together the full transportation ecosystem, including:

• Public transit, paratransit, and microtransit

• Medicaid and healthcare transportation

• Older adult and disability transportation

• Veteran transportation

• Volunteer and community-based transportation

• Rideshare and flexible transportation

• Workforce and education transportation

• Vehicle access and repair programs

• Mobility navigation and transportation case management

• Technology and referral infrastructure

The discussion will explore opportunities to improve resource awareness, referral pathways, warm handoffs, navigation, technology, coordination, and cross-sector partnerships.

Guiding Question: How do we move from a collection of transportation programs to a coordinated North Texas mobility network that is understandable and accessible to the person who needs it?

4:10–4:45 p.m. | From Conversation to Action: Building North Texas Mobility Agenda

The day will culminate in a working session focused on turning ideas into action.

Participants will help identify:

• Transportation and mobility challenges that warrant additional work

• Existing resources that should be strengthened

• Gaps that remain

• Organizations and partners that can contribute

• Research and Transportation ROI questions

• Opportunities for collaboration

• Practical actions that could begin within the next 90 days

The goal is to leave with more than recommendations. We want to identify relationships, resources, and next steps that can continue beyond the summit.

4:45–5:00 p.m. | Closing: From Access to Opportunity

We will close by reflecting on what we heard from riders, what we learned from one another, the resources identified throughout the day, and opportunities for continued collaboration. Transportation isn't the destination. It is what allows someone to reach healthcare, remain independent, care for their family, attend school, serve their community, and go to work.

Our goal is not to choose between transit, Medicaid transportation, volunteer drivers, rideshare, community transportation, or personal vehicles. It is to build a North Texas mobility ecosystem with enough connected options that people can get where they need to go—and don't have to become transportation experts just to live their lives.

Thank You

We’re grateful to Capital One for generously providing the event space and catering that make this gathering possible. We also deeply appreciate Capital One's continued investment in the Catch a Ride Network and our shared commitment to helping more people reach health, work, education, and opportunity.