November Nonprofit: Tasks for Transit
/By Dani Babineau
There are a lot of charitable people and organizations in Worcester. From local branches of big nonprofits, to folks who run road races to raise awareness, to the small and scrappy organizations that tackle huge challenges, the city is full of people that just want to help.
Our November non-profit helps helpers help even more by filling a critical, and often overlooked, need: transportation.
Tasks for Transit helps local nonprofits and government departments better serve people in need by providing free bus passes and other resources. As you’ll see below, reliable transportation is big catch-22 for nonprofits and the people who rely on them, and Tasks for Transit has done a remarkable job taking on this challenge.
We spoke to Steve McClure, its co-founder, about their mission and the work they do. Read on to learn more.
What’s the mission of Tasks for Transit and what does the organization do?
Tasks for Transit's (TFT) mission is to provide transportation to the economically disadvantaged in greater Worcester so that they can access the services offered for them at the various charities and government departments in the Greater Worcester area, get to and from medical appointments, job interviews or other similar needs.
We accomplish this with a couple of programs. TFT's first program is its Free WRTA Bus Day Pass Program. Every month, TFT distributes 10 single-day WRTA bus passes to selected partner charities (we currently have 30) known to be in direct contact with the economically disadvantaged on a daily basis. These charities then dispense individual passes to those in need. This program is in its fourth year in operation.
TFT's second program, called Job Fare, distributes kits with one 31-day WRTA bus pass to persons just starting a new job and who won't see a paycheck until the third week. The customized kits also contain information and things useful to someone starting a new job. This program distributes each kit on an on-demand basis, and only TFT partner charities can request a kit.
Why is Tasks for Transit's mission important to the Worcester area?
For the large majority of Worcester charities, transportation is not a first priority. For the economically disadvantaged clients of these charities, a contradiction is exposed - sort of a "Catch 22." The client needs the service of the charity, but can't afford to get to the charity to receive the service.
In 2016, we performed two complementary analyses on the state of transportation and its impact on local nonprofits, which we’ve used to inform our overall policy and operational strategy.
For the first analysis, we looked at how many charities in the Greater Worcester area are able to provide transportation with their programs. Answer: less than a third. We deal with the other two-thirds that can’t provide transportation, which means that TFT spending on transportation is not replacing money already being spent by the Partner Charity for this purpose.
The second analysis determined what role transportation plays in the fulfillment of a charity's mission to the economically disadvantaged. The answer was overwhelmingly clear: we found that 75 percent of charities said transportation is "extremely important" to fulfilling its mission. And a whopping 93 percent said it’s either "extremely important or very important."
We also found that the need for day passes averaged over several dozen charities is 80 passes per month. TFT supplies one eighth of that, 10 passes per month. As a result, TFT Partner Charities are very careful about the use of their free day passes.
By providing sets of WRTA bus Single-Day Passes to a Partner Charity, TFT enables it to better fulfill its mission to the economically disadvantaged. For example, unemployed clients get to job interviews and get jobs, and as a result, welfare costs go down. Tasks for Transit provides the missing transportation key for an under-served population. As a result of this small measure - a One-Day Bus Pass - many clients see improvements in their quality of life.
What has Tasks for Transit accomplished that you’re most proud of?
We have built a network of 30 partner charities to ensure the bus passes go to persons with no income or low income. Since our founding, we have dispensed over 8,000 day passes, including 2,980 day passes so far this year. We have also dispensed 120 Job Fare Kits.
How might donations from Redemption Rock customers help Tasks for Transit in the future?
We have additional programs that we’re considering, and donations from Redemption Rock could help us get started.
