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2024 Enhanced Mobility for Seniors and Individuals with Disabilities Program

Overview

The Orange County Enhanced Mobility for Seniors and Individuals with Disabilities (EMSD) Program was developed to support local agencies in the delivery of FTA 5310 eligible activities, retaining all beneficial elements of the federal program using local funding. The EMSD program offers grant funding for capital (vehicles and equipment) and operating mobility management and operating assistance) type projects.

Consistent with the FTA 5310 program, the OC EMSD Program is intended to meet the transportation needs of older adults and people with disabilities when transportation services provided are unavailable, insufficient, or inappropriate to meet these needs. The goals of the OC EMSD are to:

  • Improve the mobility for seniors and individuals with disabilities in Orange County.
  • Support local agencies and non-profits providing service within their communities.
  • Augment the OCTA Senior Mobility Program, OC ACCESS, and OC Bus fixed-route service.
  • Provide seamless service through improved first- and last-mile connections.
  • Incorporate and encourage technology-based solutions to improve mobility options.
  • Promote non-profit and public agency outreach to senior and disabled patrons with an emphasis in reaching disadvantaged, underrepresented, and/or diverse communities to ensure services will meet their needs.
  • Prioritize funding for agencies that:
    • Collaborate through partnerships to create efficiencies and lower operating costs for service, and/or
    • Increase vehicle revenue hours beyond the minimum ten hours per week.

2024 Call for Projects

On May 28, 2024, the OCTA Board of Directors (Board) approved the use of up to $8.5 million for the 2024 EMSD Call for Projects using local funding support based on Federal Transit Administration Section 5310 (FTA 5310) amounts allocated to Orange County. The staff report can be viewed here. See approved guidelines and official application templates under Application Materials.


Program Workshops, Office Hours, and Workshop Materials

OCTA staff hosted a program information session on April 17, 2024, at 1:30 PM via Teams.

OCTA will also be offering one-to-one style applicant discussions upon request from June 3 – June 7. Reach out to Staff or the general inquiry email below to discuss your options about setting up a meeting or if you have questions about filling out applications.


Schedule (Subject to Change)

Date
title
April 17,2024 EMSD Program Workshop (Virtual )
May 28, 2024 OCTA Board consideration of EMSD Guidelines/Call for Applications Opens
June 3 – June 7, 2024 Applicant Office Hours (Upon Request)
June 27, 2024 Application Due Date (4:00 PM)
June – August, 2024 Application Reviews and Scoring
September, 2024 Planned OCTA Board consideration of EMSD Funding Recommendations
September, 2024 Awarded Applicant Office Hours

Application Materials

Submittal Instructions

The application templates provided above will be the only acceptable forms of applications, applications not following these templates will not be considered.

No hard copy applications will be accepted. Electronic application submittals must be made by uploading project applications to the OC EMSD Program SharePoint site. Please contact Denise Sifford at dsifford1@octa.net (714) 560-5489 or Vic Mireles at vmireles@octa.net (714) 560-5025 to or the general inquiry email at OCTAEMSD@octa.net to set-up agency/organizational access when the submittal date approaches. OCTA recommends inquiring about access one to two weeks before the submittal date of June 27, 2024.

Additional Resources


Contact Information

EMSD Program Managers
Denise Sifford

Senior Transportation Funding Analyst
(714) 560-5489 | dsifford1@octa.net
Vic Mireles
Associate Transportation Funding Analyst
(714) 560-5025 | vmireles@octa.net
Alternate
Louis Zhao

Programming and Grants Development Manager
(714) 560-5494 | lzhao@octa.net
Project Implementation
Martin Browne

Community Transportation Coordinator
(714) 560-5431 | mbrowne@octa.net
General Program Inquiries
OCTAEMSD@octa.net

On July, 12, 2021 the OCTA Board of Directors approved the 2021 Enhanced Mobility for Seniors and Disabled (EMSD) grant program and released a $4 million Call for Projects for fiscal year 2021-2022 through 2022-2023, which makes funding available for non-profit organizations and local public agencies to help meet the transportation needs of seniors and individuals with disabilities.

The program goals are to:
  • Improve the mobility for seniors and individuals with disabilities in Orange County.
  • Support local agencies and non-profits providing specialized service within their communities; thereby reducing the demand on ACCESS Service in the County.
  • Augment service gaps of the Senior Mobility Program (SMP), ACCESS and fixed-route service.
  • Provide seamless service through improved first and last mile connections.
  • Incorporate and encourage technology-based solutions to improve mobility options.
  • Promote non-profit and public agency outreach to senior and disabled patrons with an emphasis in reaching disadvantaged, underrepresented, and/or diverse communities to ensure that services are meeting their needs.
  • Prioritize funding for agencies that collaborate which is demonstrated by:
    • Partnerships to create efficiencies and lower operating costs for service, and/or
    • Increasing vehicle revenue hours beyond the minimum 10 hours.

Announcements

The 2021 EMSD Grantee Workshop was held on Tuesday, January 25th. The recording and PPT presentation are provided below. The next Call for Projects cycle is anticipated in 2023.

Reporting, Invoicing, and Amendments

Schedule

The estimated timeline below is subject to change:

Event
Date
Call for Applications Opens July 12, 2021
Grant Applicant Workshop July 26, 2021
EMSD Application Deadline September 9, 2021
Proposal Review and Scoring September-October 2021
OCTA Board Approval of the Projects November 22, 2021
Awarded Applicant Workshop December 7, 2021

Contacts

Questions regarding this program can be directed to:

EMSD Program Managers

Denise Sifford
Senior Transportation Funding Analyst
(714) 560-5489 | dsifford1@octa.net

Louis Zhao
Section Manager, Discretionary Funding Programs
(714) 560-5494 | lzhao@octa.net
Outreach

Nora Yeretzian
Principal Marketing Specialist
(714) 560-5356 | nyeretzian@octa.net
Implementation

Joanne Jacobsen
Senior Community Transportation Coordinator
(714) 560-5660jjacobsen@octa.net