This message has been cross posted to the following Discussion Forums: Residential Knowledge Community and Committee on Design .
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AIA Members,
The AIA Board Advocacy Sub-committee on Public Engagement has developed a strategy for speaking out on issues by providing "templated opinion pieces" to component leadership and all members that can either be submitted as letters to the editor or as op-eds to local print and online media.
These letters or opinion pieces will "tee up" an issue that has yet to receive coverage or in some cases respond to issues that have been covered in the media - such as jobs, small business stimulus, pending national legislation, sustainability, design relevance. etc. They are intended to assist you in speaking out on issues important to the profession.
We cannot be the authoritative voice for the profession if we do not speak out on issues that are important to architects. This strategy will only be effective through the participation of AIA members across the country.
May 2011 - Enabling the Good Samaritan in All of Us
The May opinion piece topic focused on how we live in an increasingly fragile world coping with fragile economies across a wide spectrum of regions and geographies, where the ability to provide immediate help to the afflicted can frequently make the difference between quick recovery and harmful delay.
April 2011 - Spending Cuts: Assault on Architecture Profession
This month's opinion piece topic is the timely issue posed by the struggles on both the federal and state levels to balance budgets by cutting spending. These efforts have a direct bearing on the ability of our profession to find and have work, and the piece this month tackles head-on the move by some state to cut spending on school construction, or, worse still, adopt "stock school" programs that in some cases delete architects from the design process altogether. Given the debate at both the federal and state levels on this subject, this piece may have a reasonably wide appeal.
See the complete op-ed series at: http://www.aia.org/components/AIAB086495
If you have ideas for future topics or comments on the program, you can contact the Public Engagement Subcommittee of the AIA Board Advocacy Committee:
Russell A. Davidson, AIA - Regional Director, New York State
Jeff Gill, AIA - Regional Director, California
Bill Wilson, FAIA - Regional Director, Texas
Bill Bishop, AIA - Regional Director, Florida
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John Schneidawind
Director, Media Relations and Public Affairs
The American Institute of Architects
Washington DC
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