Cecilia Latiolais is 22 years old. She graduated from the University of Michigan last year and now works as the membership coordinator at the Ann Arbor Hands on Museum. She walks to work and to the People's Food Co-op for her groceries and to volunteer at 826Michigan's downtown Ann Arbor office and just about anywhere else she needs to go from her home on the city's Old West Side. She does this because she doesn't own a car. She doesn't own a car because she can't easily afford one, doesn't really need one, and doesn't have much interest in owning one.
"Most of the time I find a car to be a hassle," Latiolais says. She's part of a growing trend, young Americans who have decided against auto ownership.
What Latiolais wants instead is to lend more of a hand to those who need it. She enjoys volunteering at 826Michigan, working with kids who take advantage of the non-profit's free events and workshops. However, she wants to work with these children more directly, through one-on-one tutoring and other mentoring opportunities.
What holds her back is the challenge of getting from Point A to Point B and back again. Point A is her home in Ann Arbor. Point B is the Ypsilanti area where much of the demand for tutoring resides.
"I'm limited in what I can do with 826Michigan because I can't easily get to Ypsilanti," Latiolais explains. "I can only volunteer for the programs downtown at the Robot Shop (826 Michigan's storefront headquarters) unless there are people going to an event I can ride with."
Latiolais can't afford her own car without putting great strain on her finances. Purchasing a car means dipping into her savings, taking out a loan, paying for gas, maintenance and parking. That adds up quickly for someone who makes little more than $20,000 per year. Latiolais can take buses from Ann Arbor Transportation Authority's fleet but she finds the system doesn’t have the reach and speed she needs to get to kids she wants to tutor on the east side of Washtenaw County. Her experience isn't unique in a place where many of the young people who need help live in one section and many of the young people who can and want to help them live in another.
"Not many people (who volunteer at 826Michigan) have cars - maybe a quarter of them," Latiolais says. "More people would love to go to Ypsi to volunteer but don't have the opportunity."
This isn't an indictment of AATA's effectiveness. The transportation system connecting Ann Arbor and Ypsilanti is renowned for its promptness, cleanliness and ability to accommodate many passengers. Where the system comes up short is in coverage. AATA is not a transportation authority that comprehensively serves Washtenaw County because it's not a transportation authority that represents all of Washtenaw County.
Often those who suffer from this situation are those who can do the least about it, young people who, more often than not, can't vote and are reliant on their own feet, public transit or adult people of means with personal transportation. These are usually the kids of working parents trying to participate in after-school activities, children who can ride their bikes to the end of the block but not over a freeway overpass, or young adults who have more time on their hands to do good than money in their pockets.
826Michigan runs into that last group more than its organizers would like. The non-profit helps support primary and secondary school students with their creative and expository writing skills, and helps teachers inspire their students to express themselves with words. The nonprofit services about 2,500 school-aged students each year thanks to more than 10,000 hours of volunteer time. 826Michigan's volunteer list has 1,700 names on it, but the organization's leadership estimates only about 450 people are active each year.
"We feel like we have a really rich resource in tutors here because of the University of Michigan," says Amanda Uhle, executive director of 826 Michigan. "Part of the problem is a lot of these tutors at the university don't have transportation. A lot of our programs take place in Ypsilanti, which isn't walkable from here. It makes it difficult to get our tutors where we want them."
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