MISSION

WHY WE'RE UNIQUE

OUR TEAM

HISTORY AND
JOHN A. VOLPE

VISITING VOLPE

Volpe Team

The strength of the Volpe Center lies almost entirely in its people - their knowledge, experience, enterprise, perspective, and commitment. The Volpe Center team represents a world-class transportation resource, with broad technical and institutional expertise, not replicated elsewhere. Nearly two-thirds of our 550-member federal workforce is comprised of technical professionals, many of whom have advanced degrees in disciplines such as engineering, physical and social science, economics, and information systems. Please view the Volpe Center organizational chart to obtain further information about the Volpe team.

The Volpe Center's federal employees work with more than 500 on-site contractor employees from major private-sector consulting firms. Moreover, our Multi-Contractor Resource Base (OMNI) permits rapid implementation of specific task directives as the need arises. In addition, the Volpe Center has extensive relationships with leading organizations in both industry and academia.

The Center offers innovative programs for worker-trainees and co-op students (both graduate and undergraduate), and the new John A. Volpe Internship for graduate-level students. We are also developing plans to expand our access to and use of specialized senior-level expertise through Intergovernmental Personnel Act (IPA) agreements.

We recruit aggressively to ensure a diverse workforce, and we invest heavily in training for our employees to ensure that they possess the technical, administrative, and professional skills required of a highly productive, 21st-century workforce.

In short, we can quickly bring the combined talents of government, industry, and academia to bear on national and international transportation priorities.

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NAGE Local R1-195

The National Association of Government Employees, Local R1-195, was certified in November 1970 within 4 months of the establishment of the Transportation Systems Center. The Local is the exclusive representative of the Volpe Center's non-supervisory technical, administrative, and professional employees in all labor-management matters.

Since 1970, in addition to its traditional collective-bargaining role, the Local has worked with Center management to promote a strong Volpe Center, empowered workers, highly satisfied customers, a respected value system in the workplace, and Congressional support for our work.

For more information about NAGE at the Volpe Center, please contact Steven Walkinshaw at 617/494-2024 or walkinshaw@volpe.dot.gov.

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Our Role in the Community

Talk with anyone who works here, and they'll tell you that the Volpe Center is a good neighbor and corporate citizen. The Center's staff generously contributes to the local community-serving in homeless shelters, painting homes in inner city neighborhoods, participating in food drives. We open our campus to community groups and local youth, and each year the Center continues its tradition of 100 percent participation in the federal government's annual charity drive. And, as part of our formal TEAM (Tutoring, Educating, and Mentoring) Effort, our staff serves as volunteers in a variety of education activities in the City of Cambridge.

For example, twice a month, as part of our Lunch Buddies program, volunteers from the Volpe Center walk to the Robert F. Kennedy Elementary School in Cambridge to spend a half-hour reading to second graders. At the Cambridge Rindge and Latin High School, volunteers work with students on transportation-based projects. Finally, in the Adult Basic Education/English as a Second Language (Kendall Square Learning Project - KSLP) operating out of the Volpe Center, volunteers help adults to either learn or improve their English.

These volunteer opportunities benefit both volunteers and program recipients by increasing mentoring skills, helping to prepare for an increasingly diverse work force, and transferring technology, information, and transportation career opportunities to others. We have been honored by the Cambridge Chamber of Commerce for our community outreach work.

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Research and Special Programs Administration