Metro Mobility Wallet

In 2024 North Star Alliances partnered with Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (Metro), Los Angeles Department of Transportation (LADOT) to raise awareness and build participation in phase 2 of the Mobility Wallet project. The pilot project’s phase 2 goal is to build and test a mobility wallet that will serve 2,000 low-income LA residents living in areas identified as federal transit empowerment zones. The wallet is meant to act as an all-in-one mobility account payment solution that can be used for public transit and private on-demand options like Uber, Lyft, and Lime scooters. 

As a longstanding community engagement partner to Metro, NSA immediately sprang into action to lead outreach for this project. NSA’s efforts primarily involve developing a Mobility Wallet Community Partnership Program. The intent behind this program is to increase equity and reach deeper into marginalized communities to actively recruit and engage stakeholders not typically engaged in traditional outreach methods, but who would benefit from the Mobility Wallet. As part of this work NSA is:

• Providing overall project management, including reporting, planning, staffing and scheduling.
• Identifying 50+ community-based organizations (CBOs) that are the right fit for the program, including faith-based groups, neighborhood groups, health-related non-profit organizations, economic development organizations and community organizations.
• Recruiting target CBOs and onboarding them, which involves management of $150,000 CBO stipend budget, hosting a roundtable meeting for the CBOs where the group will go over roles, responsibilities, project schedule, and engage in discussions with the team.
• Managing the overall work of CBOs in the program which involves a myriad of collaborative communications activities (e-blasts, newsletters, social media posts, etc.) and flyer distribution, as well as hosting pop-up booths and workshops.
• Hosting booths at more than 30 community events throughout Los Angeles County between July and August to inform the community stakeholders about the program and assist in the application process.
• Planning and executing 20 private workshops in disadvantaged communities; comprising 10 workshops to educate stakeholders about the program and assist in completing applications on the spot using iPads, and 10 workshops to distribute the cards to 350 individuals and provide instructions for use. NSA conducted the workshops in English, Spanish, and Korean.

Since NSA’s extensive outreach and engagement efforts began, over 57,000 applications have been submitted by potential program participants between July and August 2024, substantially exceeding Metro’s outreach goals. As a result, NSA’s outreach efforts have been recognized as immensely successful.