Transform Manager in Advisory Group Designing Better Community Engagement

Transform Program Manager Sheila Islam has been sitting on the Community Engagement Advisory Committee (CERAC) for the Sustainable Transportation and Communities Research Engagement Project. The project is a joint effort by the California Air Resources Board (CARB), UC Berkeley’s Institute of Urban and Regional Development, and Just Cities. Chosen for her work lifting up often underrepresented voices in her work with Transform, Islam is part of a group helping design better research processes to prioritize impacted communities.

The advisory committee meets once a month for 12 months from August 2024 through October 2025, and participants are compensated for their work on the project. Led by two Berkeley researchers, the project will inform CARB’s Sustainable Transportation & Communities Division. Committee members come from environmental justice organizations around California that work with marginalized communities.

Islam helped recruit a member for the advisory board from Kern County and one from her hometown of South El Monte, bringing often underrepresented voices to the table. She also partnered with Transform Housing and Parking Policy Manager Julia Gerasimenko to create a focus group to learn about transportation needs in San Jose’s Little Portugal neighborhood.

CERAC’s goals are to come up with research priorities and determine the most effective methods of community engagement around that research. The committee will hold focus groups with community representatives to uncover research needs. In addition, committee members get additional trainings on community-based participatory research, so Islam’s work with CARB is building a skillset she will bring to her work with Transform.