Project Summary
This project examines transportation barriers faced by adolescent girls and gender-expansive youth in Altadena and Pasadena during recovery from the January 2025 Eaton Fire. In partnership with Altadena Girls, a community-based nonprofit co-founded after the wildfire, and RAHOK, a community-based organization supporting racial justice and youth-centered Active Streets education, this study centers youth voices in post-disaster transportation planning. Using a participatory mixed-methods design, the project co-adapts Transportation Security Index items for youth, administers a co-designed survey to adolescents ages 13–17, and embeds a discrete choice experiment to estimate preferences for youth-centered mobility solutions. The survey will assess transportation insecurity, perceived safety, school and community access disruptions, and use of the Altadena Girls recovery space. Factor analysis will identify trends in transportation insecurity, while the discrete choice experiment will evaluate preferred features of potential interventions. Findings will inform LA Metro, Pasadena Unified School District, and California policymakers about how to improve access to community-based recovery infrastructure. Deliverables include an open-access report, policy brief, academic presentations, and a community share-back event co-developed with Altadena Girls and RAHOK. The project advances equitable, youth-centered wildfire recovery and transportation resilience planning, offering a replicable model for engaging youth in transportation decision-making after climate disasters.