SERVICES
Through a partnership with United Way of Central Oklahoma and Drop Mobility, Upward Transitions provides e-bikes (electric, battery-powered bikes) as a temporary means of transportation for its recently housed clients whose absence or loss of a reliable source of transportation prohibits them from finding or maintaining employment, travel to medical and other important appointments, and leading a productive life. Case management is provided to participants, the primary goal of which is to empower clients to save money for vehicle repairs or purchases to exit transportation poverty. *
Applications require a referral from your Upward Transitions Case Manager or a Case Manager from a partner agency.
* One of the many major hurdles facing people coming out of homelessness is the need for reliable transportation. In particular, recently housed individuals often struggle to take advantage of employment opportunities or maintain employment and to maintain access to medical services and benefits due to a lack of a vehicle, a loss of a vehicle, or expensive repairs needed making their vehicle inoperable. While they may now be able to save funds to solve their transportation problem, the temporary loss of transportation may result in a loss of employment and/or benefits which will make saving those funds impossible.
Transportation Poverty (TP) is defined as a “poverty trap” caused by an individual’s inability to fully access services, infrastructures, and resources due to limited means of transport. A study observed that people experiencing poverty “are most often located in peripheral locations at the edges of cities with a low amenity value, where there are few local employment opportunities and an absence of local services and basic facilities.” This conflates with their lack of access to public transportation options, “which limits their wider access to jobs, education, and health facilities,” according to Lucas, Verlinghieri, Mattioli, and Guzman in Transport Poverty and Its Adverse Social Consequences (March 2016)