This study is being conducted in the interest of discovering changes that can be made in transportation and workforce policy to promote economic development. These changes will revolve around the amalgamation of place-based and people-based strategies with an emphasis on investment in people. The people-based strategies will relate to transportation policy, while place-based strategies will pertain to workforce policy. The following research questions will be answered: What people-based policy changes need to occur through collaborative efforts to foster environments in urban areas that synthesize upward mobility through workforce development? What are the advantages of place-based and people-based strategies? How can transportation policy like Job Access and Reverse Commute grant programs, a people-based strategy, be changed to produce greater outcomes? What lessons can be learned from products of workforce development policy such as one-stop centers, a place-based strategy, in terms of performance? To answer these questions, the investigation uses case studies of Job Access and Reverse Commute grant and one-stop center programs, with the intent of deriving a framework for interagency coordination strategies. The case studies include the Northern Jersey Transportation, the Baltimore Metropolitan Regional Transportation and the Portland, Oregon Tri-Met Plans. In addition, one-stop centers within the same three regions were examined for potential connections. A comparative analysis of all the case studies will be performed focusing on six major components in order to propose a policy framework that includes federal influence, governance structure, mechanism to connecting with the marker, feedback mechanisms, incremental career step provisions, and accountability systems. / Master of Urban and Regional Planning

This study identifies factors that fosters and hinders coordination among key agencies operating in One-Stop Centers in Zambia such as the police, health and social welfare that provide coordinated medical, social and legal services to the victims of gender-based violence. This is a primary qualitative study in which data was collected using interviews from participants selected from the key agencies operating from five One-Stop Centers in Lusaka province of the Republic of Zambia. Thematic content analysis was used to generate categories of data with similar meaning based on frequently recurring themes. Findings showed that although there is positive coordination among One-Stop Center agency players, there are a host of coordination challenges among them. The study gathered that information sharing, communication, clearly defined goals and agreed outcome, increased knowledge of inter-disciplinary roles and inter-agency philosophy foster effective inter-agency coordination among key players in One Stop centers . On the other hand, hindering factors such as lack of adequate resources, high attrition of staff, loss of membership interest and commitment, and lack of motivation and heavy reliance on unmotivated volunteers were identified as major setbacks to effective operation of One-Stop Centers in Zambia. The study further found that adequate allocation of resources, joint capacity building trainings and permanent attachment of staff to One-Stop Centers as panacea to the various challenges that encumber effective operation in One-Stop centers in Zambia. Implications and future research direction are discussed.