Class I – Polk County Transit Services

Target Audience: Riders, future riders, federal, state, and local officials
Project Cost: $750
Description: $750 doesn’t go very far these days, but in Polk County, we used it to generate record setting attendance, increased ridership and extensive news coverage. The “Get the Dirt on Transit” groundbreaking for the $3.1 million Winter Haven Area Transit terminal featured 200 riders and dignitaries breaking ground together. Since the event, ridership jumped 14 percent on the routes that would use the terminal. The event earned extensive coverage in three daily newspapers, several weeklies and radio news with an advertising value of over $2,200.

Class II – Miami Dade Transit
Name: Hispanic Heritage Tours
Target Audience: Residents and visitors in Miami-Dade County
Project Cost: $30,000 (plus $10,250 in sponsorship donations)
Description: Each Saturday, during Hispanic Heritage month in October, Miami-Dade Transit offers a unique view of the area’s rich Hispanic history through the tours, which are free for the public. Already, more than 500 residents and tourists have registered to enjoy the tours on board full-size, comfortable buses that depart from downtown Miami. The tours, which are narrated in English and Spanish, travel to the streets, the buildings, and monuments that stand as symbols of Miami-Dade’s Hispanic past. In its sixth year of the tours, MDT has teamed up with prominent Miami historian, Dr. Paul George, to bring the community more in-depth narratives and additional historic sites. Included in the tours stops this year are neighborhoods in Wynwood, Allapattah, Little Havana, Downtown Miami and the Orange Bowl area. Further, the tours’ promotional materials feature a one-of-a-kind painting created by local artist Rámon Unzueta. The tours’ last stop will be a street fair at the Latin Quarter in Little Havana.