AIANJ Takes home Component Excellence Award from Grassroots Convention

March 19, 2015

Submitted by Justin A Mihalik, AIA, Co-Chair, AIA Regional Recovery Working Group

The AIA Grassroots Leadership and Legislative Conference is always a great event to kickoff the new year as an AIANJ Leader.  This year it was even sweeter as AIANJ took home a Component Excellence Award for Expanding & Sharing Knowledge through the AIA Regional Recovery Working Group (AIARRWG).  The AIARRWG was formed in the wake of Superstorm Sandy by Illya Azaroff AIA, AIANYS, and co-chaired by Justin Mihalik AIA, AIANJ.  The Group organized three workshops focusing on the effects of Sandy on Jersey City, Hoboken and Newark, the Jersey Shore, as well as the State’s infrastructure and critical buildings.  Some of the comments received from the jurors included,

“This is a very strong submission demonstrating collaboration among components and states to promote knowledge of resilience best practices.”

“This is a great example of how components can work together to achieve measurable results on a topic of great importance to the profession. We can all learn from this program!”

“This very strong effort brought together various players to the table in a symbiotic manner with a collective vision and shared goals. I am not aware of any such other strong showing of organizational achievements lead by the AIA, specifically to assess a post-disaster situation, to the extent of what occurred with Sandy. I would hope that these efforts remain in the forefront with the state and federal agencies that have jurisdiction over events such as Sandy.”

On behalf of the AIARRWG, we are very proud of the work we have done and the honor of being recognized by AIA.  The AIARRWG will continue its work to help connect the victims with the various resources in the State, as well as share information with our allied professional organizations and the State of NJ.  If you are interested in joining the AIARRWG please contact Justin Mihalik AIA at jmihalik@jam-arch.com.

By admin | Posted in AIA-NJ News, Disaster Response, Members & the Community, NJ Architect Newsletter | Tagged: AIA Grassroots, AIA Regional Recovery Working Group | Comments (0)