Partnerships. MVP originated as an ongoing research partnership between North Carolina State University and the Women’s Center of Wake County to improve the mobility of homeless women in Raleigh, NC. MVP partnerships continue to grow to include other community stakeholders in the hope of engaging many diverse groups in promoting positive change related to mobility in our community.
Importance. Access to transportation is of great significance to an individual’s well-being. A strong sense of mobility allows us to freely move about from day to day and therefore heightens self-reliance and control over our everyday lives. Transportation and mobility research has often overlooked the needs of transportation-disadvantaged populations, including low-income individuals, homeless individuals, seniors, youth, and individuals with disabilities. The available research regarding how to improve the mobility of these populations is scarce.
Mission. Our mission is to provide a strengths-based mobility intervention to our participants that will help to empower them and emphasize their personal strengths so that they may regain autonomy over important aspects of their lives including, but not limited to, mobility.
