Choose How You Move: Sabrina Sussman on Building Trust and Transforming Transit in Nashville

What does it take for a city to bet big on its future and actually bring the community along for the ride?

In this episode of Beyond Streets, we sit down with Sabrina Sussman, former USDOT official, longtime Zipcar leader, and now head of Nashville’s Choose How You Move program. After voters approved a bold ballot measure to raise local funds for mobility improvements, Nashville is embarking on a generational investment in sidewalks, transit, and safe streets.

We talk with Sabrina about:

• Why she left D.C. for Nashville and how Civic Match helped connect national talent to local needs.
• The years of community input and trust-building that made this ballot measure possible.
• How focusing on basics first—sidewalks, signals, safety, and service—helped secure public buy-in.
• What “trust” really means when government asks residents to invest.
• Why Choose How You Move is as much a talent and workforce initiative as it is a transportation one.

It’s a story about public trust, civic courage, and what it means to deliver visible change in a city that decided to invest in itself.

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