MTC Public Information Officer Wins WTS Rosa Parks Award
Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC) Senior Public Information Officer Catalina Alvarado has won the Women’s Transportation Seminar’s (WTS) Rosa M. Parks Diversity Leadership Award. Alvarado was honored in New York last week by WTS International and will receive another award next month from the Bay Area WTS Chapter. This honor recognizes Alvarado for her 30-plus year career at MTC dedicated to making the transportation policymaking arena more accessible to those who often do not have a voice.
“Her efforts reflect well on us all, and it’s very fitting that we take a moment to acknowledge her decades of work,” noted MTC Chair Jake Mackenzie during the Commission’s May 24 meeting. Alvarado’s achievements include helping craft the Commission’s principles on Environmental Justice, launching MTC’s High School Internship Program, advancing MTC partnerships with nonprofit groups to involve residents in low-income communities and communities of color in MTC’s long-range plans, and developing MTC’s first language assistance plan to help non-English speakers access MTC’s documents and services.
Speaking to the Commission, Alvarado noted that she was especially proud of her work to launch MTC’s High School Internship Program. Since its creation in 2000, the program has opened the eyes of more than 300 teens to the possibilities of a career in transportation. The internship program makes a special effort to recruit young women and students from underserved communities.
