Jordan Walker’s passion for transportation is rooted in his belief in justice and equity and desire to improve communities’ access and build healthy neighborhoods. Growing up in New York City, Jordan saw municipal government’s ability to do good by the people it serves, and came to understand transportation to be an intersectional good. At age 13, he embarked on his first endeavor in transportation activism by organizing with his local civic association to lobby New York’s Metropolitan Transportation Authority to improve his neighborhood’s commuter rail service. Several years later, he interned at the New York City Council and worked to regulate app-based for-hire vehicles companies that had brought unprecedented levels of congestion to city streets, primarily impacting low-income drivers and public transit riders. In addition to supporting a minimum wage for drivers and a reduced number of for-hire vehicles, Jordan also worked on legislation that would create bus-only streets to mitigate the effects of the closure of one of New York City’s busiest subway lines.
Jordan will graduate from Occidental College in May 2021 with a bachelor’s degree in Economics. As vice president of Financial Affairs of Oxy’s student government, he partnered with the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority to provide every Oxy student a transit card entitling them to unlimited free rides on ten different Los Angeles-area transit agencies. His research in development economics led him to study the impact of transportation infrastructure investment on ethnic minorities in Vietnam. He is currently a senior fellow in the Occidental College Office of Admission and director of Oxy’s Blyth Fund, a student-managed investment portfolio. Jordan recently completed an internship at Cambridge Associates, serving investment goals for not-for-profit endowments and foundations. He plans to pursue a juris doctorate to continue to advocate for stronger communities where public transit is the best option and owning a car is optional.