These Victories Are Clear
These Victories Are Clear
Colleagues,
As the vote count continues, we are getting a clearer picture of how this election will turn out at the top of the ticket. As it stands right now, however, we are thrilled to share that Proposition A for "Project Connect" in Austin and Advanced Transportation District (ATD) Proposition A in San Antonio were approved with 58% and 68% of the vote, respectively!
We partnered with the campaigns for both measures as part of our Transit and Infrastructure work, led by our Campaigns Director, Helen Hwang, and our Senior Advisor, Yusef Robb. Together, these measures will invest more than $8.6 billion to improve quality of life and create middle class careers for generations.
Accelerator for America's mission is to find and develop solutions to economic insecurity and share them with localities to create national change from the ground up. Our organization started working in the Transit and Infrastructure space three years ago because of its superior ROI in terms of creating and sustaining community wealth.
Longstanding funding streams for Transit and Infrastructure not only promote a community's overall economic health, but the jobs they create are long-term, pay well, and promote the sort of careers that enable home ownership, retirement savings, and college savings. Each $1 billion of investment in Transit and Infrastructure creates more than 22,000 jobs; we have supported the approval of more than $30 billion in the three years of our existence and we are immensely grateful for your partnership in helping us to do so.
We're proud to help pass these critical transit measures that will have a lasting impact on the cities in which we work for generations to come. To quote our partner Josh Cohen, Executive Director of the American Public Transportation Association's Center for Transportation Excellence: "The success of public transit at the ballot box this year has been a testament to innovation, thoughtfulness, and the collaboration of the plans themselves. The measures put forward improve access and frequency to bus and rail, fund anti-displacement initiatives, make sidewalks and bike lanes safer — they’re bold and reflect voters’ hopes for the future."
We will be in touch soon with more updates about our work. Thank you for your partnership and support.
Aaron Thomas | Acting President and CEO
Accelerator for America