A Stronger Transit Alliance. A More Connected Region.

The Transit Alliance of Middle Tennessee and GNRC Announce a New Partnership for the Region’s Next Chapter

5 min read

Middle Tennessee is entering a new era.

Across our region, communities are growing. Major transportation investments are moving forward. Conversations about how we connect people to jobs, education, healthcare, and opportunity have never been more important.

And the Transit Alliance of Middle Tennessee is ready for what comes next.

We are excited to announce a new partnership between the Transit Alliance and the Greater Nashville Regional Council (GNRC), one designed to expand transportation education, deepen civic engagement, and strengthen the Transit Citizen Leadership Academy for years to come.

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For the Transit Alliance, this is an opportunity to focus even more intently on the work at the heart of our mission: helping people understand the transportation decisions shaping Middle Tennessee and developing informed, connected community leaders who are ready to participate in those conversations.

Building on What Works

For nearly two decades, the Transit Alliance has brought people together around one of our region’s most consequential issues: how we move.

Through the Transit Citizen Leadership Academy, public programs, regional events, and community partnerships, we have worked to make complicated transportation issues accessible, connect leaders across communities and sectors, and demonstrate why mobility matters to nearly every part of our lives.

Transportation influences where businesses invest, whether workers can reach jobs, how families access healthcare and education, how communities grow, and whether our region remains competitive and connected.

That work is becoming more important, not less.

Through this new partnership, GNRC will provide administrative and staffing support that allows the Transit Alliance to direct more of its energy and resources toward programming, leadership development, and community engagement.

The Transit Alliance remains an independent nonprofit organization governed by its Board of Directors, with its own mission and programs. What changes is the strength of the infrastructure supporting that work.

And we believe that opens the door to tremendous possibilities.

The Right Partnership at the Right Time

GNRC and the Transit Alliance have been partners in regional transportation conversations for many years. Fun fact: Michael Skipper, Executive Director of the GNRC was part of the team of regional leaders that created the Transit Alliance in 2009!

GNRC serves as one of Middle Tennessee’s most important sources of regional transportation planning and data, bringing together local governments, state and federal partners, and communities from across the region. The Transit Alliance brings a complementary strength: translating transportation planning and policy into meaningful civic education and building a network of leaders who can engage thoughtfully in the decisions ahead.

Together, we have an opportunity to connect those strengths in new ways.

As Middle Tennessee makes significant investments in transportation and prepares for continued growth, our region needs more people who understand not just individual projects, but the larger systems, policies, funding decisions, and partnerships behind them.

We need residents who feel equipped to participate in public conversations. And we need spaces where people with different perspectives can learn together, ask better questions, and build a shared understanding of the choices before us.

That is where the Transit Alliance can make a real difference.

Growing the Transit Citizen Leadership Academy

One of our greatest opportunities is the continued growth of the Transit Citizen Leadership Academy, or TCLA.

For 27 class cohorts, TCLA has introduced rising and senior leaders from across Middle Tennessee to the people, places, policies, and decisions that shape our transportation system. Participants do more than sit in a classroom. They ride transit, visit communities, hear from public officials and industry leaders, explore the connections between transportation and economic development, land use, healthcare, workforce access, and quality of life, and build relationships with one another along the way.

The result is a growing network of informed community leaders who understand that transportation is not simply about roads, buses, trains, sidewalks, or bike lanes.

It is about connection.

Under this partnership, we see an opportunity to strengthen TCLA, expand its regional reach, engage its alumni in new ways, and build even more opportunities for civic education across Middle Tennessee.

The 2026 Transit Citizen Leadership Academy begins this August, and we could not be more excited about the class ahead.

A New Chapter for Leadership

This transition also creates a new opportunity for me personally.

As part of the partnership, I am joining the GNRC team in a new role that allows me to continue leading the Transit Alliance’s educational work while also contributing to GNRC’s broader outreach and public engagement efforts, including but not limited to transportation.

For me, this feels less like building on the foundation we have set together since I came aboard in 2017.

I get to continue doing the work I care deeply about, growing the Transit Alliance, strengthening TCLA, building community leadership, and helping people understand the transportation choices shaping our future, while working alongside a team with an extraordinary depth of regional knowledge, expertise, and an unmatched research team.

This new chapter is the most exciting one yet!

The Transit Alliance Still Needs You

A stronger partnership does not eliminate the need for strong community support.

The Transit Alliance remains a nonprofit organization, and generous financial contributions from businesses, foundations, partners, alumni, and individuals remain essential to delivering award-winning programs, convening regional conversations, and expanding transportation education throughout Middle Tennessee.

CONTRIBUTE TO THE WORK OF THE ALLIANCE

This partnership gives us a stronger foundation from which to work. Your support is what allows us to put that foundation into action.

Contributions help us bring leaders together from across the region, create high-quality educational experiences, make programs accessible to a broader range of participants, engage TCLA alumni, and develop new opportunities for Middle Tennesseans to better understand and participate in the transportation decisions affecting their communities.

There has never been a more important time to invest in an informed and engaged region.

Onward

We believe the future of Middle Tennessee will be shaped not only by the transportation investments we make, but by how well we understand those investments, how thoughtfully we talk about them, and how many people are prepared to help shape what comes next.

This partnership positions the Transit Alliance to do more of what it does best, with stronger support behind it and a wider horizon ahead.

We are grateful to our Board of Directors for their leadership, to GNRC for seeing the possibilities in this partnership, and to every sponsor, graduate, speaker, volunteer, partner, and supporter who has helped build the Transit Alliance over the years.

The next chapter starts now. We are excited to have you along for the ride.

Stay Connected

Follow the Transit Alliance on socials and visit TheTransitAlliance.org for upcoming programs, events, and opportunities to get involved.