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week 3: Adya rAJPAL

6/27/2022

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“MoGo is a Detroit-based non-profit organization that strives to serve a wide range of people and needs. Whether by offering affordable pass and payment options, providing innovative programming that promotes health, safety, and connectivity, or forming partnerships with other organizations to reduce barriers to biking.”  

Over the last three weeks, interning at MoGo, working closely with Adriel Thorton, the Executive Director and Jacob, Rory and Jeremy, respective managers of Program, Logistics and Marketing, I have seen this mission of equitable transportation come to fruition, both in thought and action. 

In terms of thought: whether it’s sitting in on board meetings who’s unwavering, primary focus remains “transportation for all”, or personally hatching ideas to increase usage of MoGo bikes by a diverse community–different races, ages, regions, nationalities, physical and mental capabilities, MoGo is constantly attempting to transform this startup into a social-platform where detroiters can come together, transcend these superficial barriers and explore all that Detroit has to offer. Each meeting, each brainstorming session, and each upcoming change is planned and executed with the idea of equity behind it. Contrary to most transportation agencies around the world, whether its cars, trains, buses or bikeshares, their growth is determined and derived from the monetary profits the company makes. MoGo however, the blooming lotus of change in these muddy waters, emerges as a beacon of hope for the underserved and underprivileged communities who are unable to actively participate in society due to lack of resources, one of them being the ability to commute in a cost effective way. 

In terms of Action: Our work with MoGo is four-fold–Create a Revised Annual Survey for Casual and Member Users, Create a Consulting Proposal to increase usage of the Transit App specifically, and MoGo in general, determine the effectiveness of the SendinBlue Email Automation Platform, and finally enhance the working of the RiderPerks Program. While at surface level, all these tasks seem purely business motivated, upon digging deeper one can find the hidden hues of social change embedded into them. Our revised survey includes particular questions targeted towards the Adaptive Mogo consumer base as well the Access Pass user base, and asks for program specific feedback from both these, often neglected, communities of society. Our consulting proposal again involves particular events for the aforementioned communities as well as aims at bridging the gap between the disadvantaged and senior citizen community and the latest technology by promoting the Transit App through workshops on how to maneuver phones, apps, etc. Determining the most effective emails sent out by SendinBlue involves creating new email templates which not only include discounts and bonuses particularly for the vulnerable, but moreover for the community at large. And finally, Riderperks allows other aspects of Detroiters daily lives to become more affordable by targeting food and clothing businesses–necessities of everyday life that people constantly vie for to become more affordable. 

The goal is to make Detroiters view these resources–transportation, food, clothing, etc– as rights rather than luxury commodities; the mission is to raise the standard of living of every single member of the Detroit community through accessibility and affordability–the pillars of MoGo.

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