Advancing DEI Initiatives

In the transportation industry, we recognize that achieving success in diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) is a long-term and evolving process. It starts with encompassing fundamental workplace changes that require open mindedness, plan development and adoption of new norms, along with ongoing reviews to confirm we are on track towards a fully sustainable DEI culture.

As organizations, agencies, community partners and others implement and strengthen DEI initiatives, we can clearly see that progress is being made and HNTB is committed to moving forward daily to be a better corporate citizen. As we reflect on our programs, we are learning from prominent transportation organizations and incorporating best practices to move us towards a fully equitable future.

Under the leadership of CEO Stephanie Wiggins, the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (Metro) is an outstanding DEI leader whose goal is a community that thrives because everyone has access to their destination and feels welcomed. Their approach ensures DEI is part of Metro’s DNA and a model for public agencies throughout the country.

Metro Transit’s Equity & Inclusion department cultivates leaders who make the community stronger by offering services that are accessible, providing a welcoming experience and respecting the individual value of employees, customers, and community members. The team champions Equity & Inclusion by promoting activities to make employees feel valued, respected as their unique selves, and supported in their work.

Metro developed its Equity Platform framework in 2018 to guide the implementation of equity within the agency. In 2020, the Office of Equity and Race (OER) was launched to create tools, programs, and internal groups to increase “equity fluency” within Metro, and to ensure its work supports equitable results for the community. The objective is to use equity as the guiding principle as Metro partners with marginalized communities at the center of its work.

The OER team leads Metro’s efforts to center equity in its decision-making and continues to make great strides in understanding and implementing initiatives in support of DEI in transportation.

They reach out to Community Based Organizations (CBOs) to better understand local concerns and needs from those who live and work in their communities and are considered trusted leaders. With their support, Metro is reaching a much deeper level of understanding than if they followed traditional outreach efforts.

Monthly, the Metro Board of Directors are informed of any equity issues that may be associated with a Board Action. A separate section is included in Board items that demonstrates staff has applied an equity lens to any item that might affect the communities it serves.

An early adopter of President Biden’s “Justice 40” initiative, Metro continues to go above and beyond its guidelines with educational and community involvement. They believe all students, regardless of their circumstances, deserve an equal chance to pursue their career dreams.

Metro recently participated in HNTB’s annual SPARK LA educational outreach program that supports a STEM curriculum aimed to attract more students to pursue degrees and professions in the fields of science, technology, engineering and mathematics, highlighting transportation and infrastructure opportunities with Metro and others. SPARK started seven years ago at LAUSD’s Girls Academic Leadership Academy and now includes Schurr High School in Montebello.

During the free four-week after school program at Schurr High School last year, CEO Wiggins along with board chair Hilda Solis made a personal visit during one of the sessions. The eagerness and enthusiasm of the students to learn impressed her, which resulted in Metro’s decision to expand its GoPass Fareless Transit program that offers unlimited free rides to K-12 and community college students in participating districts on LA Metro and 13 other LA County transit agencies.

“We are pleased that the successful Metro’s GoPass pilot program is celebrating more that 10 million free transit rides to students in the last eight months,” said Art Hadnett, HNTB senior vice president and regional growth officer. “Congratulations to CEO Wiggins for surpassing a goal she set in her 2022 State of the Agency Address by giving the benefit of equitable transit to our future young professionals.”

Metro is representative of the decisive actions local transportation agencies are taking to utilize their capital programs to open opportunities to deliver DEI. At the state level, the largest infrastructure program in California history is likewise embedding a DEI platform into the CAHSR program.

Brian P. Kelly, chief executive officer of the California HighSpeed Rail Authority (Authority), has been a champion for DEI, serving as a true pioneer in the transportation industry. Under Kelly’s leadership, more than half of the Authority’s total workforce is female – as well as most of the executive team, many of whom are appointed by Governor Gavin Newsom.

Kelly established the DEI Task Force and Advisory Group whose objective is to ensure the Authority is a diverse organization, incorporating DEI efforts into all aspects of its operations and strategic communications. These efforts embrace hiring, procurements, human resources, and program delivery processes.

Together with regional partners and Labor, the Authority established the Workforce Training Center in the City of Selma, offering pre-apprenticeship and hands-on construction training for veterans, at-risk young adults, minority and low-income populations so they can work on the nation’s first high-speed rail project. As of today, more than one hundred graduates have access to a better future.

The Authority’s student outreach program “I Will Ride” received the prestigious Rosa Parks Diversity Leadership Award from the Women’s Transportation Seminar (WTS) Sacramento chapter. This annual award recognizes a transportation organization that has contributed significantly to promoting diversity, inclusion and multi-cultural awareness. The Authority is dedicated to connecting students to information and career opportunities on the nation’s first highspeed rail system currently under construction.

“California high-speed rail is about providing safe, efficient and sustainable transportation for the next generation,” said Authority CEO Brian Kelly. “We are proud to lead the industry in providing opportunities for students and educators to take on these jobs in the future of transportation.”

At the local, state and federal levels, we are taking action and successfully implementing meaningful programs that are making measurable progress related to DEI. By working collaboratively, sharing experiences, and reflecting on areas for improvement, we will continue to make strides to achieve a more diverse, equitable and inclusive environment that will provide sustainable benefits for everyone well into the future. DEI is a process, requiring all of us to make sustained efforts to grow and develop programs that are truly long-term investments for our society and culture.

As organizations, agencies, community partners and others implement and strengthen DEI initiatives, we can clearly see that progress is being made and HNTB is committed to moving forward daily to be a better corporate citizen.