Malinda Bradley knows how important transportation is for helping people get (and keep) their jobs.

As the workforce development services coordinator for Goodwill Industries of Michiana, which serves Northern Indiana, Southwest Michigan and parts of Chicago, Bradley has helped job seekers who face barriers to employment complete 90-day job training programs in a variety of fields.

But for years, there was a barrier to the training (and, later, employment) itself: Many participants lacked access to reliable transit.

That all changed in 2021. Goodwill Industries of Michiana partnered with Commuters Trust, a public-private partnership run by the City of South Bend, Indiana that subsidizes bus passes and rideshare rides to residents to help them get to work and access essential services.

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