Towards Equitable Electric Mobility for Michigan

TRU is proud to be part of a special community of practice called Towards Equitable Electric Mobility, or TEEM.

The Latest: TEEM Video Premier 3/19

TEEM believes transportation needs to be clean, fair, and work for everyone. That means both electric and equitable. We interviewed a range of Michiganders to discuss what equitable mobility means to them, which are available in three ways:

• Watch the 12 minute compilation video (below)
• Watch any or all of the individual videos
• And/or watch the recording of the virtual video premier event we hosted on 3/19, including an introduction to TEEM, our values, the videos, and a panel discussion with several interviewees and several TEEM members.

TEEM Partners

• BlueGreen Alliance
  • The BlueGreen Alliance unites labor unions and environmental organizations to solve today’s environmental challenges in ways that create and maintain quality jobs and build a clean, thriving, and equitable economy.
• Clean Fuels MI
  • Accelerating the transition to clean transportation, Clean Fuels Michigan brings together stakeholders from across the clean transportation industry to show a unified voice for the industry. We are committed to advancing clean transportation in Michigan.
• Eastside Community Network
  • Eastside Community Network develops people, places and plans for sustainable growth on Detroit’s east side. For 40 years ECN (formerly Warren Conner Development Coalition) has worked tirelessly to develop programs and resources that center the needs of east side residents and amplify their voices with respect to the development of their communities.
• Ecology Center
  • Founded in 1970, the Ecology Center serves one purpose: protecting healthy people and a healthy planet. We believe that the central question of our time is how human beings are going to thrive in the world without destroying the earth’s ability to sustain us.
• Michigan Clean Cities
  • Since 1997, Michigan Clean Cities has been supporting fleet and fueling station operators as well as the general public in cutting pollution, cost, and increasing the variety of transportation options toward transportation system that meets 21st century needs and beyond. Michigan Clean Cities is affiliated with and staffed by NextEnergy, a nonprofit organization accelerating smarter, cleaner, more accessible solutions for communities and cities.
• NAACP, Grand Rapids
  • As part of the worldwide network of more than 2,200 branches of The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, the Greater Grand Rapids NAACP is proudly dedicated to eradicating racial discrimination and building a stronger society in which all individuals have equal rights.
• Southwest Detroit Environmental Vision
  • Our mission is to improve the environment and strengthen the economy of Southwest Detroit. We work together with residents, community organizations, government agencies, schools, businesses and industry to combat environmental issues, including air quality, blight (illegal dumping, graffiti, abandoned homes), and incompatible land use.
• Community Collaboration on Climate Change
  • Although we are all negatively impacted by climate change, Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) are disproportionately impacted and aren’t genuinely represented in the current environmental and climate change movement. C4 provides the resources for our communities in the fight for climate justice.

TEEM-MI Values Framework

The State of Michigan spends over $6 billion a year on transportation. But are those dollars well spent? Do they really serve the needs of Michigan communities? As President Biden has often said, “Don’t tell me what you value. Show me your budget and I’ll tell you what you value.” State leaders have a lot of very nice things to say about tackling the climate and inequity crises; now it’s time for them to demonstrate it in their budgets.

TEEM-MI developed the below Values Framework to evaluate Michigan’s transportation, electrification, and related investments to hold Michigan’s elected officials accountable for putting their words into budget actions. 

If your organization agrees that State of Michigan’s transportation investments should meet the below values, please sign on to this Values Framework. Your support will be shared with elected officials and you’ll be invited to participate in community-legislative conversations about bringing these values to life. 

The State of Michigan’s investments on and related to transportation and electrification need to meet these values:  

• Affordable Access for All
  • Everyone in Michigan should be able to get where they need to go, affordably and reliably. Yet Michigan families spend nearly 1/4 of their entire household budget on their cars and many still struggle to get to work and school. Michigan transportation investments must provide reliable options for people that don’t require driving and improve affordability of sustainable mobility.
• Equity & Justice
  • The state and federal governments have committed that 40 percent of the benefits of climate and water investments should flow to communities that are marginalized, underserved, and overburdened by pollution. As a climate mitigation strategy, transportation investments should be prioritized similarly, with a focus on engaging local voices to communicate local needs. 
• Sustainability
  • Michigan has committed to be carbon neutral by 2050 including 52% reductions by 2030. Michigan transportation investments must explicitly cut climate pollution by including both electrifying vehicles and providing attractive alternatives to driving. Both are necessary.
• Health & Safety
  • Our transportation system should not be killing us. Transportation investments, including road design, multimodality, and manufacturing subsidies, need to substantively and rapidly decrease harm from car crashes and air pollution, especially for kids, elderly, and other vulnerable populations. 
• Accountability & Responsibility
  • Our state has a moral and fiscal responsibility to workers, communities and taxpayers to require that state investments and subsidies are allocated through a transparent, accountable and fiscally responsible process and to ensure they are creating or retraining good-paying, family-sustaining jobs and addressing historic racial, environmental and economic inequities whenever possible.

TEEM Background

The Greenlining Institute and Forth launched the Towards Equitable Electric Mobility Community of Practice in 2020. TEEM is a peer-to-peer community of advocates that share policy goals, build capacity, and develop a mutual commitment towards advancing racial equity in electric mobility and climate change goals. There are state cohorts in Colorado, Illinois, Michigan, North Carolina, and Virginia.

Our current transportation system is the largest source of air pollution in the United States. Exposure to transportation pollution in low-income communities of color is tied to redlining and decades of racist government policy that relegated communities of color to areas surrounded by busy roads, freeways, ports, and other freight corridors filled with toxic tail-pipe emissions at high rates. Today, transportation is the second-highest household expense for most people, and a person’s commute time plays the most critical role in their chances of escaping poverty.

Innovative programs utilizing electric transportation can address many of these challenges. Ensuring that these programs are approved, funded, and implemented equitably and successfully requires partnerships between racial equity advocates and traditional environmental organizations. If electric mobility programs are designed to work for historically underserved communities, they will work better for all communities and maximize their environmental and economic benefits.

A Community of Practice 

TEEM was established to create a community of advocates that share policy goals, build relationships, and develop mutual commitments towards advancing equity, electric transportation and climate change goals.

A community of practice is a group of people who share a collective overall view of an issue and bring their individual perspectives on problems to create a social learning system that goes beyond the sum of its parts. TEEM provides hands-on support directly to member organizations in states across the U.S., while also building a community among these teams in which they can learn from and support one another across state lines. 

The ultimate goal of TEEM is to advance state and local level policies and programs that foster a more sustainable and just transportation system. With the networks built and lessons learned from across the country, we are developing a national agenda for equitable electric mobility.