Collaboration Is Connecting: How the Transit Alliance Builds Regional Momentum

In December, I was the recipient of the Greater Nashville Regional Council’s (GNRC) Marshall S. Stewart Award for Excellence in Collaboration, which “honors an individual or organization with a strong commitment or innovative approach to improving intergovernmental coordination.”

The namesake, Marshall S. Stewart, was the Mayor of Burns and a Dickson County Judge. He was an early champion of working across county lines to achieve shared goals—how apropos for my work at the Transit Alliance since 2017.

It was an honor to be nominated by my peers and people I admire. Then, to be recognized publicly for my life’s work over the past eight and a half years—well, humbled and grateful doesn’t begin to scratch the surface.

I’ve been thinking a lot about what it means to be recognized in this way. My first reaction was disbelief. Now, I’m trying to see it from another perspective.

The award citation reads:

2025 Recipient: Jessica Dauphin, Transit Alliance of Middle Tennessee

Dauphin was honored for her years of tireless advocacy for regional transit solutions. Under her leadership at the Transit Alliance, she has engaged civic leaders, businesses, neighborhood champions, and residents in understanding the importance of a modern transportation system. Her efforts, including the Transit Citizen Leadership Academy and broad community outreach, played a pivotal role in shaping regional transportation strategies and building support for Metro Nashville’s Choose How You Move referendum.

Reading those words back, I’m struck by how meaningful they are because of the people behind them—all those whom I have had the pleasure of working with over the years. The committed and the curious. The elected officials, business leaders, and community members. Collaboration involves many people. It also demands that someone stay focused to keep it going.

If anything, my role over the past eight and a half years has been to find ways to create space for conversations that don’t always fit within jurisdictional boundaries; for ideas that require patience to take root; and for people who don’t often sit at the same table to begin listening to one another.

That’s the work of collaboration. And it’s exactly as complicated as it sounds.

It’s much easier to stay siloed, focused on municipal- or county-level needs. Those needs are real and deserve attention and energy. They can be so all-consuming that we become mired in them and lose sight of broader, regional concerns. But Middle Tennessee is not a collection of isolated places. We are a region defined by connections, geographic, economic, and human.

Our transportation challenges reflect that reality. Any meaningful solution must reflect that. The GNRC understands this. They have been leading regional conversations that seek solutions for decades--especially transportation solutions.

At the Transit Alliance of Middle Tennessee, we’ve been intentional about our role. We don’t show up with a prescribed set of answers. We arrive with the intent of actively listening. Our commitment is to helping people think strategically together. And with the resources entrusted to us, we persist in that work long after the meeting ends.

We aim to be a respected convener, networker, and thinker. We strive to be a sounding board where people can share ideas and ask questions. A place where regional potential can be explored honestly.

A place where collaboration is treated not as a buzzword, but as a discipline.

That’s why this recognition feels so deeply meaningful.

I accept this award with a commitment to continue honoring the collective effort it represents: the elected officials who ask hard questions; the community members who show up again and again; the donors and partners who invest time, trust, and resources; and the countless participants in the Transit Citizen Leadership Academy who choose to think beyond current constraints.

Marshall S. Stewart believed in working across county lines long before it was common practice. That belief feels especially relevant today. Our region’s future depends on our ability to see ourselves not as separate entities competing for limited resources, but as interconnected communities working toward shared goals.

I’m grateful for this recognition—and more than that, I’m grateful to be part of a region committed to working better together.

The work belongs to all of us.

And it continues.

See you at the next community meeting,