October 2024 I Will Ride Newsletter

This newsletter, designed for students and professionals who work with students, will provide the latest high-speed rail news, jobs, and transportation-related scholarships! Check back every month for updates or sign up to receive this newsletter at hsr.ca.gov/i-will-ride. 

I Will Ride Homepage Gets a New Look, New Newsletter Sign-Up Forms

The Strategic Communications team had a big update to the student outreach Voy a montar home page! In addition, the mechanism to sign-up for the I Will Ride program has changed. There is no longer a “membership” associated with the I Will Ride program. Moving forward, folks can now sign-up for the monthly I Will Ride Newsletter (formerly referred to as the monthly update) with the click of a button and the completion of a simple user-friendly form. The high-speed rail team will continue to work on updating the three additional I Will Ride pages that include Internships, Jobs, and Fellowships, Presentaciones y actividades estudiantiles, Recursos para estudiantes, y el Boletín mensual de I Will Ride. If you have any ideas, suggestions, or questions about the student outreach I Will Ride program, you can email our team at iwillride@hsr.ca.gov.

Small Business Diversity Fair at UC Merced

Last week, the Authority made their way out to Merced, CA on the UC Merced campus for the Annual Small Business Diversity Fair. This year’s event, hosted by the Authority, brought together over two dozen Authority prime and potential contractors and other state agencies and partners to connect with 100+ small businesses and members of the public with information and resources to get to work on the high-speed rail program. The event included a certification workshop with Caltrans and the Department of General Services (DGS), matchmaking sessions, a financing workshop, a discussion panel with UC Merced students, and a resource fair with prime contractors, the Authority, and other agencies that provided resources for small businesses.

High-Speed Rail Reaching Northern California Communities

The Northern California Outreach Team completed its fall Bay Area Open House series in October. Over 450 members of the public attended the series of four open houses. Attendees learned about the project’s status, viewed detailed and interactive maps, experienced virtual reality tours, and engaged with Authority staff and regional partners. The question that surfaced the most was “when will we get to ride?”

Career Prep and Exploration with Regional Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers, Sacramento, and San Joaquin County

Earlier this month, the Authority participated in the annual Bomba Blast event put on by the Delta Valley Professional Chapter of the Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers (SHPE) at Sacramento State. In preparation for the esteemed SHPE National Convention, students and young professionals at the Bomba Blast event were able to attend workshops, review their resumes, participate in mock interviews and participate in a career fair. The Authority was one of the sponsors with two staff members in attendance to talk with the students about the different opportunities available on the California High-Speed Rail Project. This year, 52 individuals and students from different SHPE collegiate chapters attended, including Sacramento State, UC Davis, Chico State, American River College, and University of the Pacific. The Authority is committed to supporting student groups like SHPE to develop their professional careers in the transportation industry given the tremendous engineering opportunities with California high-speed rail.

Meeting Sacramento’s Newest Executive Fellows, Eager to Learn About High-Speed Rail

For the first time since the pandemic, the Executive Fellows Program of Sacramento State held their placement fair for the latest class of fellows. In this fair, fellows are searching for the agencies and departments in California government to host them for their 10-month service term in the program. The Authority has been a proud host of fellows for the last half a decade and is eager to welcome a 6th fellow in a row this cycle. All the bright minds in the room seemed to light up talking to us—and when they got a model paper train of their own too. Placement interviews will take place before the end of the year.

Former fellows with the Authority so far have become stellar employees, gone on to other exciting public work around the state, or headed to grad school.

Mineta Transportation Institute Event with Professional Organizations, Networking and Scholarship Resources

WTS-SF Bay Area and the Mineta Transportation Institute (MTI) of San Jose State invite you to join them for a free virtual event “Connect for Your Career: An Introduction to Professional Associations in Transportation.” The event aims to introduce university students and emerging professionals to transportation organizations that offer networking, professional development opportunities, and/or scholarship opportunities.

In the News: CalSTA’s TIRCP Allocates More Than $1.3 Billion To Transit Partners All Over California

Covered in Streetsblog California, the California State Transportation Agency’s Transit and Intercity Rail Capital Program (TIRCP) Cycle 7 made twenty-seven awards totaling $1.3 billion. These investments help create an interconnected interregional rail and sustainable transportation future. TIRCP is funded by Cap-and-Trade auction proceeds.

Lee mas