The Merrimack Valley Planning Commission (MVPC), located in northern Massachusetts, seeks two regional mobility planners to help advance planning across 15 diverse member communities. The MPO fulfills the region’s federal aid planning process, but also performs boots-on-the ground planning work for its 15 communities and transit authority, MeVa.
About the region: MVPC serves a diverse array of communities along the Merrimack River, including:
• Lawrence, a mill city with a rich industrial past and a present-day migrant-led economy;
• Haverhill, a city with a river-oriented downtown, currently in the midst of re-envisioning its future; and
• Newburyport, a historic coastal community popular for tourists, beachgoers, and whale watchers.
MVPC also serves Amesbury, a town which typifies the Strong-Town land use approach, and several rural communities with significant amounts of open space and conservation land.
About the transportation team: The transportation team works closely with local communities and federal partners to secure and program funding for its member communities. As a federally designated MPO, we fulfill both the administrative federal aid process, but also provide field work, such as safety audits, transportation engagement, and street re-envisioning projects for our member communities. We continually look to fill gaps in local capacity and offer services to meet local needs, such as design oversight and grant application technical assistance.
The transportation team works closely with the regional transit authority, MVRTA—recently rebranded as MeVa—and performs transit planning work, such as route planning, bus stop planning, and data collection.
MeVa offers a fare-free bus system and is in the process of modernizing its services, including re-envisioning its routes, rebranding its buses, and simplifying its service maps for users. MeVa has also been awarded a federal aid grant to develop small solar-powered ferries for future transit service on the Merrimack River.
The transportation team views itself in the broader context of planning. We collaborate with partners in the Commission’s environmental and economic development programs to advance the region.
About the positions: The transportation team and broader Commission hosts a young, supportive staff that embraces the opportunity to acclimate recently-graduated professionals into the world of regional planning. We invite those who are curious to learn, progressive by perspective, and pragmatic by approach to consider applying.
A full job description and application instructions can be found at https://mvpc.org/about/careers/.