The role of the DVRPC is to gather elected officials and government planners to improve transportation, promote smart growth initiatives, and protect the environment.
In February 2011, DVRPC unveiled "Eating Here: Greater Philadelphia’s Food System Plan" and announced $500,000 in implementation grants at an event at Reading Terminal Market.
The Plan is the result of a two-year collaborative effort to provide recommendations to increase the security and economic, social, and environmental benefits of the regional food system.
DVRPC Board Chair and Montgomery County Commissioner Joe Hoeffel presented "Plate of Distinction" Awards to seven local organizations already working to achieve the recommendations laid out in the plan.
[3][4][5][6] In response to several requests for information from the Pennsylvania Transit Expansion Coalition (PA-TEC), DVRPC previously argued that it was exempt from the state law, as it was a multi-state agency that did not perform any essential function, despite being funded almost entirely by taxpayers.
[3][7][8] The OOR overruled DVRPC's assessment, stating that the RTKL eliminated the requirement than an entity perform an essential governmental function in order to be considered an agency.
"[3] The DVRPC eventually appealed the ruling to the Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania, which overturned the OOR decision on October 3, 2012, on the basis that the planning organization "is not a 'commonwealth agency' under the Law because it does not perform an essential governmental function.
[13] Despite several attempts, including a formal right-to-know request,[4] DVRPC did not produce any records documenting the suspension and redistribution of voting rights at the RCC's Action Task Force, or alterations to the federally mandated Public Participation Plan.
[14] On May 17, 2011, the meeting opened with Aissia Richardson reading a statement about diversity, Nazi concentration camps,[13] and insisting her name be spelled and pronounced correctly each and every time she was addressed (demanding repeatedly "say my name, say it for the record!").