AMPLIFY SPOTLIGHT: RADIN Rahimzadeh
Fore Transit initiatives and inspiration for impact are motivated by the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. We recognize that in order to contribute and work towards these goals in a meaningful way, we must center local communities. We seek to build knowledge, power, and impact with individuals, families, community-based nonprofits, businesses, and local governments first, and then scale to include more neighborhoods until we build a global force for collaboration against climate change.
More than 70 million people live near truck freight routes in the U.S. and are affected substantially from health impacts by heavy-duty vehicle emissions; and just as these vehicles travel across local neighborhoods and through various states, so do the emissions that trail behind them. These emissions are causing chronic health issues for all demographics, especially individuals and families living in Equity Priority Communities. Moreover, the emissions are difficult to track. Historically, key data has gone unrecorded or has been missed due to the stationary nature and distanced locations of air monitoring devices. The persisting gap of real-time and accurate air quality information underscores that solutions require neighborhood level data and moreover, cannot be one-dimensional or have participation from a single stakeholder.
Our Birdie Box IoT device is just the tool that will aid in a necessary multi-stakeholder cooperation. The Birdie Box is a lightweight attachment for private and municipal fleets, collecting critical air quality metrics, dynamically. Most importantly, our devices are active where pollution exists– on streets and thoroughfares. Dynamic real-time data insights can precisely paint the picture of a community’s ever-changing air quality. The accompanying data dashboard shows easy to digest real-time data and actionable insights, making our technology platform and community communication network accessible to all. Air quality has become an important factor in assessing the health of our communities and mitigating its harmful effects through individual and policy-driven actions. This is why local to global private, public, and community partnerships are key to achieve a collective clean air mission.
True air quality readings from our Birdie Box attached to heavy-duty vehicles convert pollution contributors to pollution change-agents. This local-to-global initiative will allow whole communities from individuals to organizations to work together and address new policies to improve the state of health in their localities. The initiative begins with a three-month pilot in Los Angeles County and grows to 235 national communities before expanding globally. You can’t fix what you can’t measure. Therefore, everyone and every entity deserves accessible information about their environment so that they can engage in and be socially impactful in the solution-making process.
Radin Rahimzadeh is a 2022 AMPLIFY Fellow.
Connect with her on LinkedIn.
Radin Rahimzadeh is passionate about sustainability and building products that result in better air, environment, and community health for all. Radin is the co-founder and CEO of Fore Transit where she and her team are innovating the efficient movement and eco-impact of goods and people with a suite of patent-pending hardware and software technologies. Recently, Radin and her team have been recognized by Forbes 30 Under 30 for pioneering the next generation of technology in the Manufacturing and Industry category. In 2021, Radin was recognized by the International Transportation and Automotive Summit (ITAS) as a Top 100 Leader in the Transportation and Automotive Industry.
Prior to founding Fore Transit, Radin supported the deployment of driverless systems and smart city applications at Advanced Mobility Group (AMG) by working alongside bold industry, public agency, and community leaders. It was at AMG that Radin was inspired to begin Fore Transit to achieve the social and environmental benefits of the vehicles of tomorrow, for the communities of today.
An advocate for diversity, Radin believes that innovation and progress require conversations and collaborations from inclusive and intersectional perspectives. To ensure that these core elements are driving the emergence of blockchain and Web 3.0, Radin is a founding partner of Meta Mural Inc., and leads a brilliant majority female team of technologists and creatives in this space.
Supporting the next generation of STEAM innovation and entrepreneurial change-agents, Radin also serves as board member of Stem in the Park nonprofit and helps organize entrepreneurial conversations and circles through Celon. Radin received her dual bachelor’s degrees from the University of California Davis in the fields of Economics and International Relations with a minor in Spanish. She then went on to receive her Master of Public Policy (M.P.P.) at the University of Southern California Sol Price School. Radin has been a member of Pacific Council since 2020 and is continuously learning from its thoughtful and inspiring community.
The Pacific Council on International Policy launched AMPLIFY in February 2022 as a leadership development program that provides learning and networking opportunities to early to mid-career professionals who have traditionally been underrepresented in foreign affairs. Through AMPLIFY, the Pacific Council aims to cultivate local-to-global leaders, strengthen diversity in foreign policy, and be an accelerator for local-to-global initiatives from the western United States.
UPDATED: AUGUST 2022