The Federal Transit Administration (FTA) recently selected CALSTART, a Pasadena, Calif.-based nonprofit organization that works on sustainable transportation, to administer the agency’s new Research to Practice (R2P) Initiative.
The cooperative agreement totaled $545,000.
CALSTART will take the best FTA-funded research projects and help rollout the programs in communities nationwide. To achieve this goal, it will partner with the University of Florida’s Transportation Institute and the National Transportation Center at Morgan State University.
R2P supports FTA research activities by identifying strategies to promote the widespread adoption of innovative solutions to improve public transportation for America’s communities. It also identifies the best communication methods for sharing FTA’s past research with public transportation professionals.
To be eligible for funding, applicants must be national nonprofit organizations with experience in R2P, marketing, and communications that can accomplish the goals and tasks described in the funding notice.
In August, the FTA posted a Notice of Funding Opportunity soliciting project proposals for the R2P Program. Funding was for projects that develop a dissemination plan to share successful findings from FTA-funded research projects.
The deadline for proposals was Oct. 12, and $545,000 of fiscal year 2014 and 2015 funds will be awarded.
This year, the FTA published 28 research reports on several topics.