Mission: Northwest Valley Connect Provides personalized support to connect area residents with available transportation services, while developing new transportation options for seniors to overcome existing service gaps.

Vision:Northwest Valley Connect will advocate, facilitate and coordinate accessible, adequate transportation services in the northwestern region of the Phoenix metropolitan area, thereby promoting quality of life amoung the residents we serve.

Providing Mobility Coordination and Senior Transportation Options

for Northwest Valley Residents

Sun Health and Benevilla, two nonprofit organizations serving the Northwest Valley, have partnered to create a new, 501(c)3 nonprofit organization called Northwest Valley Connect (NVC). NVC will provide coordination of existing transportation options for Northwest Valley residents while also creating new options to fill existing gaps in transportation services for seniors.

NVC was incorporated in March 2014 and has applied for tax-exempt status from the Internal Revenue Service. NVC is governed by its own Board comprised of three representatives of Benevilla, three representatives of Sun Health and three community representatives. Kathryn Chandler was hired as NVC’s Executive Director/Mobility Manager in June 2014.

NVC will be a one-call-does-it-all service for transportation needs in the Northwest Valley. NVC will provide a Mobility Management service that is able to direct community residents to available public, private and volunteer transportation resources based upon their needs. These resources would be available on a website and by phone using NVC volunteer operators, so that we may provide personalized service to help residents navigate transportation options in the area. In addition to Mobility Management services, NVC will also attempt to fill identified gaps in transportation services in the target market using a volunteer-based transportation services aimed at filling service gaps for seniors who need to get to medical appointments, to obtain food or medical supplies or to attend functions that keep them socially engaged.

At the current time, Dial-A-Ride services are available throughout the target service area. However, these services are sometimes limited by age (depending on the city) and are generally only available, Monday through Friday, 7 am - 5 pm, with 24-hour notice. The evening hours and weekends are times when services are not available and represent an opportunity for NVC to improve the availability of transportation services. Such transportation services would be helpful for those who need transportation to same day medical appointments, urgent care, after hours or weekend appointments, shopping, social activities or church, or who may need transportation home from the hospital after an emergency department or observation stay.

The NVC senior transportation service will be professionally managed using paid dispatcher services and transportation software to ensure efficiency of operations and trips. The service will be provided using passenger vehicles only -- a combination of both volunteer-owned vehicles and vehicles that will be donated by community residents. Because the service will be provided using passenger vehicles and will not have vans or buses with wheelchair lifts, NVC will not be a viable option for wheelchair-dependent residents. However, it is important to note that the NVC Mobility Manager will be able to help those in need of wheelchair transport to identify available resources in the service area.

Assistance from NVC’s mobility manager to help community residents access available public, private and volunteer transportation resources in the community would be available without a fee. Rides that are provided would have a fee that is comparable to or slightly lower than a taxi. Scholarship rides would be available for low-income seniors.

According to NVC’s pro forma budget, grant funding and donations will be needed to cover 70 to 88 percent of NVC program expenses in the first five years of operation. It is anticipated that NVC fundraising activity will be overseen by a joint coordinating committee of Sun Health and Benevilla staff, along with NVC Board members, who have specific expertise in community fundraising, grant applications and events. These committee members will provide their expertise on an in-kind basis to develop an annual fundraising plan with defined and measurable objectives, as well as develop fundraising materials and coordinate community philanthropists to provide grassroots fundraising leadership for NVC.

Some of the methods that will be considered in the fundraising plan include soliciting both cash and vehicle donations from the following:

· NVC clients and their families

· Individuals in the community

· Local and national private foundations

· Corporate foundations

· Corporate/business support including health providers, health plans, shopping malls or merchant associations, and pharmaceutical companies

In addition, grant funding will be sought from:

· Cities/Towns/County funding, including Community Development Block Grant funding

· Section 5310 funding to support mobility management funding

· Other state and national funding that may become available related to aging in place or senior transportation

For more information on NVC, please contact Kathryn Chandler, Executive Director/Mobility Manager, at (623) 282-9300 or kchandler@northwestvalleyconnect.org ..

http://northwestvalleyconnect.org