Equity at the Core of Planning and Implementation of Northern California’s 21-County Megaregion Rail Program

The Link21 Program aims to create a faster, more connected, equitable and accessible network of train service in Northern California. At the core of Link21 is a new train crossing between Oakland and San Francisco that will increase capacity and reliability for travelers.

The program will benefit the 21-county Northern California Megaregion, which stretches from Sacramento to Monterey and San Francisco to the Central Valley. Home to more than 12.7 million people, the megaregion is the fifth largest economy in the United States.

Link21 is sponsored by the San Francisco Bay Area Rapid Transit District and the Capitol Corridor Joint Powers Authority, with support from the California State Transportation Agency. Together, Link21 and its partners will transform the passenger experience, promote equity, support economic opportunity and advance environmental stewardship.

HDR provided public engagement and outreach services for the Link21 program, including significant work in prioritizing equity, as the agencies undertake this long-term effort.

One Team, Many Communications Strategies

Our strategic communications team joined the effort in late 2020. We supported Link21 in multiple ways, including wide information sharing through the development of project collateral, virtual webinars and more. Targeted grassroots awareness efforts included an in-depth co-creation process that involved community-based organizations from across the megaregion. This compensated co-creation process builds important relationships and trust with the communities that will be affected by the transit program.

To facilitate a unified message with interested parties and stakeholders, our team developed an equitable “one engagement program” that developed consistent messaging and tools for each level of conversation. This transparency and consistency meant that every person who interacted with Link21 received the same core message.

A key part of this “one engagement” approach was working with community organizations to find the best method of learning from them and compensating them for their participation. Instead of waiting for these organizations to approach the project with feedback, the team provided a menu of opportunities for community partners and asked them to share the best way they can be engaged. These opportunities included interviews, neighborhood tours, community events and more. For example, our team worked with organizations to do participatory mapping, in which groups walk around a community with its leaders and learn about the history and importance of specific locations. This information is then overlaid with demographic information and used to illustrate the community impacts of project concepts.

Consistently Focused on Equity

The advancement of equity is a key goal of the Link21 program, and the outreach team intentionally worked with historically marginalized communities to evaluate the impacts and benefits of project development. One key strategy has been the creation of an Equity Advisory Council. This group included 18 representatives of diverse populations from across the 21-county region. Meeting every other month, the EAC provided input on Link21 work and made formal recommendations to the program team to advance equity. HDR led the recruitment and selection of members and developed foundational documents such as the group’s bylaws, charter and honorarium pilot. Our team will facilitate and plan its ongoing meetings.

HDR’s team lived out this spirit of inclusion and equity through a collaborative team that included 16 small business subconsultants, seven of which are disadvantaged business enterprises. These small local firms may not otherwise have the opportunity to work on a large-scale infrastructure program, and the partnership with HDR allowed them to play a key role in the development of this transformative effort in the communities they live in. Importantly, as people passionate about the areas in which they live and work, they also provided key insights into the region as community liaisons.