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Next Chapter: The Future of Transportation in Central Ohio

In Partnership w/ United Way of Central OH & City of Bexley

What will the future of transportation look like around Central Ohio and how will it impact our quality of life? Learn from an expert panel with MORPC, Transit Columbus, and COTA representatives.

Michael Wilkos, Sr. Vice President of Community Impact at United Way of Central Ohio, will moderate a panel discussion with representatives from Mid-Ohio Regional Planning Commission (MORPC), Transit Columbus, and COTA. Discover what the future of transportation will look like in Central Ohio and how it will change the way we live around Columbus.

The Next Chapter series is a partnership with the City of Bexley and United Way of Central Ohio that will examine trends in population growth, demographics, job outlook, housing, transportation, education, and other aspects that affect the quality of life around Central Ohio. Learn about how we became the city we are today and how we can best prepare, influence, and embrace the city we are growing into.

About the Presenters:

Michael Wilkos is the Senior Vice President of Community Impact at United Way of Central Ohio.  His team develops effective strategies to improve our community and invests in programs provided by funded partners to implement these strategies. Prior to joining United Way, Michael was Director of Community Research at The Columbus Foundation. During his tenure at the foundation, he initiated, led, and managed more than $9 million in competitive grant-making to support holistic community revitalization in Weinland Park, an effort to stabilize and revitalize a mixed-income community near The Ohio State University. Before working at the Columbus Foundation, Michael served as Senior Impact Director and Director of Neighborhood Development at United Way of Central Ohio.  In that position, he managed program allocations supporting neighborhood development strategies. Among many other duties, he also directed volunteer involvement in developing and implementing strategies supporting housing and community safety programs.

Kelsey Ellingsen is the Local Government Affairs Director at Central Ohio Transit Authority (COTA). Previously, Ellingsen had served Columbus City Council as a legislative aide to President Pro Tempore Elizabeth Brown. She also served in public policy roles for the Ohio House of Representatives and the Ohio Department of Education and on campaigns for the Ohio Democratic Party, United States Senator Sherrod Brown, and We Are Ohio, among others.

Stevie Pasamonte is the Board Chair for Transit Columbus. From Stevie's Transit Stories for the National Campaign for Transit Justice: "But we have an incredible opportunity ahead of us. Our city is growing at a rapid pace, and as we begin to rebuild our lives and our communities after the hardships of the last couple years, we can choose to invest in the things that bring us together. For my family, and for so many families in Ohio, that means investing in more reliable, more frequent transit. It means building bus shelters and elevated stops for accessible boarding. It means creating and expanding ‘last mile’ solutions. It means ensuring that our transit authorities have the funding to hire operators and improve and expand service. We can choose to do all of this—and we must."

Elliott Lewis, P.E. is the Senior Planner with Mid-Ohio Regional Planning Commission (MORPC), specializing in multimodal transportation planning and programming. Lewis holds two master's degrees, Civil and Environmental Engineering from West Virginia University (2014) and Urban Planning and Policy from University of Illinois Chicago (2021), and is a certified Professional Engineer (P.E.). Previously, Lewis worked as an Associate Analyst for Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning.

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