"TRB's Transit Cooperative Research Program (TCRP) Report 101: Toolkit for Rural Community Coordinated Transportation Services examines strategies and practices used to coordinate rural transportation services, and identifies model processes used for local coordination efforts in rural communities. A stand-alone executive summary of the report provides information, instructions, and lessons learned from rural communities that have implemented coordinated transportation services"--Publisher's description.
The research, presented in the form of a guidebook, provides a valuable resource to many people who may implement or adapt new concepts to improve public transportation in their community. Much of the information was derived from a careful review of innovative public transportation initiatives undertaken in rural and small urban communities throughout the United States. The guidebook is divided into two parts: Part I addresses the culture for change and innovation and Part II presents more than 40 initiatives and innovations implemented by an array of organizations, including public and nonprofit transit systems, regional planning agencies, state transit associations, and state departments of transportation.
This report will be of interest to individuals and groups with a stake in the location and design of bus stops. These groups include public transportation organizations, public works departments, local departments of transportation, developers, and public and private organizations along or near bus routes. The research evaluated bus bulbs, an innovation in the design of bus stops found in several major North American cities. A bus bulb is a section of sidewalk that extends from the curb of a parking lane to the edge of a through lane. They are also known as curb extensions, nubs, and bus bulges.
The rapid growth of kinship foster care--full-time parenting of children by relatives or other adults who have a kinship bond with a child--has caught many child welfare agencies off guard. This monograph presents information needed by professionals, agencies, institutions, communities, and organizations to develop and provide services to kinship caregivers, kinship families, children, and parents. The monograph contains discussions of common clinical issues, suggests intervention strategies, examines kinship care's legal implications, and offers policy and program recommendations. Chapter 1 compares relative or kinship care to traditional family foster care, and outlines the characteristics of kinship care that necessitate changes in outlook and practice. Chapter 2 analyzes the clinical issues that must be considered in serving children, parents, and kinship caregivers. Chapters 3 and 4 provide guidance on child welfare practice with kinship families. Chapter 5 considers the effect of culturally based child-rearing practices, gender roles, and hierarchy of authority on child welfare practice with kinship families, as well as the impact of parental incarceration, substance abuse, and HIV/AIDS. Chapter 6 looks at the legal rights, responsibilities, and status of kinship families, caregivers, parents, and children. Chapter 7 discusses federal and state issues for program and policy development; this chapter also examines the philosophy and values underlying provision of financial support to kinship families, the emerging federal role, state policy directions, and permanency planning. Contains 40 references. (KB)
