February 16, 2023

AIA 2023 Leadership Summit 

AIA New Jersey is being represented by a delegation of 19 leaders from across the state at the AIA 2023 Leadership Summit (formerly Grassroots) in Washington DC, February 14th through 17th. Our AIA NJ summit representatives will bring back ideas and information to share with  our component members.

This year’s summit theme, “Architecture’s Generations at Work,” focuses on building bridges to create a better world and a stronger profession. In addition to networking and attending architecture leadership seminars, attendees held in-person meetings with our New Jersey House and Senate congressional representatives’ offices during the advocacy Hill Day.

AIA advocacy this year focused on promoting two bipartisan bills. The first piece of legislation is the Democracy in Design Act which will ensure that communities across the country maintain a voice in the design of federal buildings in their areas. Officially maintaining a style-neutral position respects this country’s regional differences, and safeguards the GSA’s Design Excellence Program, which guides the GSA’s process to acquire, design, and construct public buildings.

The second bill is the Resilient Assistance for Mitigation for Environmentally Resilient Infrastructure and Construction by Americans (AMERICA) Act (Resilient AMERICA Act) to improve and equip community efforts to prepare for these challenges. This bipartisan bill would increase allocations to one of the federal government’s most effective pre-disaster mitigation programs (FEMA’s BRIC Program).

The vacancy of the Architect of the Capitol position this week after the firing of the agency’s controversial non-architect presented the opportunity for AIA to advocate that the next Architect of the Capitol be a licensed architect.

By Stacey Ruhle Kliesch, AIA, AIA NJ Advocacy Consultant | Posted in AIA Central New Jersey, AIA Jersey Shore, AIA Newark and Suburban, AIA South Jersey, AIA West Jersey, AIA-NJ News, Architects League of Northern New Jersey, Associates, Diversity, Emerging Professionals, EquityInArchitecture, Legislative & Government Affairs, Women in Architecture | | Comments (0)