On Board With… Darnell Grisby, Executive Director, TransForm
A national thought leader in transportation policy and the mobility justice movement, Darnell Grisby joined TransForm as Executive Director in 2020. In March, he was appointed to serve on the California Transportation Commission by Governor Gavin Newsom.
Growing up in Southern California, limited transportation options, and under-investment shaped Darnell’s perspectives and set him on a path to public service and advocacy. He believes that by providing more mobility choices and combating our housing crisis we will ensure another generation of the California Dream--and this time it will be more equitable and better for the planet.
Prior to joining TransForm, Darnell spent nine years as Director of Policy Development and Research at the American Public Transportation Association (APTA), where he helped to raise its profile and the impact of its advocacy. Previous to that he served as a legislative director and senior advisor in the California State Legislature and as a lobbyist in Sacramento.
Transit California:
Before we turn our focus to you, let’s talk about TransForm. When was TransForm founded and what is its core mission?
Darnell Grisby:
TransForm was founded in 1997 by Bay Area environmental and social justice groups that recognized the region had to turn the tide on sprawl and redefine transportation in terms of access, health, justice, and sustainability. In the years since TransForm’s founding, often alongside the same groups we started with, we have helped win tens of billions of dollars and groundbreaking policies in support of public transportation, smart growth, affordable housing, and bicycle/pedestrian safety.
TransForm’s mission is to promote walkable communities with excellent transportation choices to connect people of all incomes to opportunity, make California affordable, and help solve our climate crisis.
Transit California:
How do you see the work of TransForm relative to other transportation stakeholder groups?
Darnell Grisby:
TransForm takes a pragmatic approach to uprooting racism and oppressive systems in transportation and housing, with a strong climate justice lens. We bring both lived experience and analytical rigor to advance solutions at the local, regional, statewide, and market levels. We engage in both policy advocacy and project implementation, so we know our issues from the inside out. These approaches give us a unique perspective and credibility.
Transit California:
Some of our readers may know you from your time at the American Public Transportation Association, a key partner for the California Transit Association. What was it about the opportunity at TransForm, in the midst of the pandemic, that made you want to become its next Executive Director?
Darnell Grisby:
The pandemic and the movement that coalesced after the killing of George Floyd helped focus the mind. California and its particular set of challenges and gifts shaped who I am today. In my admissions essay for graduate school, I stated that I wanted to return to California to address our housing and transportation crises. Though decades have passed since I wrote those words, they still ring true to me. The mission of TransForm, which sits at the nexus of these issues, spoke to my own mission as a professional and a Californian. My time at APTA was quite special and prepared me for the work I do today.
Transit California:
It’s been a little over half a year since you joined TransForm, what are your top priorities for the organization and of what early initiatives and/or successes are you most proud?
Darnell Grisby:
We are working to reduce vehicle miles traveled, increase housing production and affordability near transit; along with the availability and knowledge of alternatives to driving. These efforts require advancing transit as an option for more Californians, which means supporting interventions that increase ridership—such as enhanced funding, reducing excessive parking near transit, and protecting and enhancing bus priority projects. These strategies center transit and its supportive ecosystem in ways that address racial equity, climate change, and economic growth simultaneously.
Transit California:
Throughout your career, you have articulated your commitment to confronting the systems that have consciously oppressed people of color, leaving them with fewer opportunities, decreased life expectancy, and limited mobility options. How are you further positioning TransForm to confront these systems and to deliver on racial, economic, and transportation justice? What role should California’s transit agencies and the broader transportation industry play in this fight?
Darnell Grisby:
I am leading a strategic planning process at TransForm to sharpen our focus on antiracist policies that will increase Californians’ affordable access to convenient, climate-friendly transportation options near their homes. Between the Newsom Administration, the Biden Administration, and the racial reckoning underway for many Americans, we have a rare window of opportunity for public investment that can advance mobility justice. Furthermore, these approaches simultaneously address climate change as well as economic growth.
Transit California:
In March the Governor appointed you to the California Transportation Commission (CTC), which is responsible for programming and allocating funds for all major transportation infrastructure in the state, and advising on transportation policy and planning. What perspectives do you hope to bring to the CTC and what specific funding or planning outcomes will you pursue?
Darnell Grisby:
As a Commissioner, I have three areas of interest—our economy, our environment, and equity. Our prior transportation investments supported the development of one of the most dynamic and innovative economies on the planet. As we seek to perfect and fine-tune our economy to be more inclusive and climate-friendly, our transportation system can provide a path forward once again.
I believe that more equitable, sustainable transportation investments can power a just transition to a cleaner, fairer economy that will create another generation of the California Dream.
Transit California:
In our last edition of On Board With we focused on CAPTI with Darwin Moosavi of the California State Transportation Agency (CalSTA). What is your perspective on CAPTI? Are there specific strategies you believe our readers should support?
Darnell Grisby:
CAPTI is absolutely essential for California to make a just transition to a sustainable economy that enables people and the planet to thrive. I’ve been very impressed with CalSTA’s leadership on this. In particular, I’m excited about the Highways to Boulevards Conversion Pilot Program. Far too often, past transportation decisions literally put up barriers, divided communities, and amplified racial inequalities, particularly in our Black and Brown neighborhoods. This pilot program would help address these inequities, create opportunities for affordable housing and economic development, create good-paying union jobs in road and building construction in the process, and reconnect communities with multi-modal access. It should create opportunities for public transit along those corridors as well.
CAPTI also includes strategies to leverage transportation investments to incentivize infill housing production. This provision acknowledges the direct connection between the location of housing and transit and the impact that has on our climate, our communities, and our economy. We want to see the combined cost of housing and transportation reduced for families struggling to make ends meet, and creating more affordable homes near jobs and transit is a key strategy to make that a reality. We just released a report, Measuring the Promise of Transit-Oriented Development, about what it takes to create TOD that increases transit ridership. Basically, it needs to be as affordable as possible, while avoiding excessive amounts of parking.
Transit California:
As a leader in the transportation industry, what additional thoughts or policy goals would you like to share with our readers?
Darnell Grisby:
The challenges and opportunities facing the transit industry may best be shown in ridership decline, which began pre-pandemic and could be made more sticky by societal changes in the culture of work (such as working from home) introduced during the pandemic.
This moment requires a return to the fundamentals, such as advancing transit priority. Transit priority creates fairness in the operating environment and gives transit a fair shot to succeed as an industry. However, it may be one of the hardest things to pull off. This along with supportive land use and first/last mile solutions will be the anecdote to ridership decline over the intermediate and long-term. TransForm is committed to this work and we look forward to working with transit agencies to build greater political support for these efforts. We seek to not just increase ridership, but reach mode share shift, as well.
Transit California:
The California Transit Association staff and members look forward to working with you in your new role as Executive Director of TransForm. What is the best way for Transit California readers to stay informed of your activities and with ongoing TransForm news?
Darnell Grisby:
Follow us on Twitter at @TransForm_Alert. We’re also on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, and YouTube. You can also sign up for email updates on our website, www.transformca.org.