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2007 Chapter Initiative Program Open for Applications
ASLA seeks applications that are innovative, creative, and supportive of the ASLA strategic plan.
The Chapter Initiatives Program (CIP) was developed to provide ASLA chapters with financial resources to develop innovative projects or programs that are in line with the ASLA strategic plan and to advance the profession of landscape architecture. Through this program, chapters may receive matching funds from ASLA to complement money allocated by the chapters for projects through their regular budget processes, but for which they do not have enough resources to implement on their own. Since the program’s launch in 1998, more than $365,000 has been awarded to the chapters.
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The planting plan for the courtyard at the University of Wisconsin’s Agriculture Hall. The rehabilitation of the courtyard was partially funded with a CIP grant. (Click the image to downlaod a .PDF of the planting plan.) |
As part of post-9/11 budget reductions, total funding for CIPs was reduced from a high of $70,000 in FY 2002 to $40,000 for FY 2003 and remained close to that level over the next few years. Although the chapter outcry about the funding cut was significant, since FY 2003, the number and quality of CIP applications from chapters has been declining. In most years, budgeted funds have exceeded requests received.
Over the past few years, other forms of chapter support provided by ASLA national have increased, including:
- Chapter website templates and free web hosting for chapter websites have been offered by ASLA since FY 2003 as a more efficient way of supporting chapter websites than through CIP requests.
- A separate grant program for licensure advocacy providing $25,000 in funding debuted this year; funding will increase to $50,000 by 2008.
- The position of chapter public relations coordinator was added to the public relations department. The primary responsibility of the position is to work directly with the chapters on National Landscape Architecture Month and other public relations activities throughout the year.
- Best practices guidelines for maintaining chapter archives were developed and are now part of the Chapter Operations Workbook (COW) in response to repeated CIP grant requests related to archives development.
These initiatives at the national level are addressing most of the chapter needs originally met through the CIP program. That shift is clearly reflected in the steady decline in CIP proposals. However, the funding for the program has grown steadily. For FY 2006, the funding was at $50,000—just $10,000 below pre-9/11 levels, and this year, the program will be funded at $52,000.
The ASLA Executive Committee appointed a task force to evaluate the effectiveness of the CIP program in light of the decreasing applications for funds over the past several years, in particular this past year, when only 52 percent of the available funds were awarded. The task force members include:
Pamela Linn, ASLA, Wisconsin, Task Force Chair—Medium Chapter
Vanessa Warren, ASLA, Michigan, CPC Chair/2006 Juror—Large Chapter
Scott Siefker, ASLA, Indiana, CPC Chair Designate/2006 Juror—Medium Chapter
Keith Wilson, ASLA, Sierra, 2006 Juror—Medium Chapter (ABSENT)
Ken Romig, ASLA, New Mexico—Small Chapter
Melissa Evans, ASLA, Arkansas—Small Chapter
Dick Powell, ASLA, Upstate New York, 2006 Juror/Finance Committee—Medium Chapter
Michael Gammill, ASLA, Mississippi, 2006 Juror—Small Chapter
Andy Dance, ASLA, Florida—Large Chapter (ABSENT)
Steven Rodie, ASLA, Great Plains—Small Chapter
Janet Meisel-Burns, ASLA, Colorado, Member Services Chair, Immediate Past CPC Chair—Large Chapter
The task force’s charge is to make recommendations to the ASLA Executive Committee as to the future direction of the program. Options for the program include:
- Changes to the current guidelines to level the playing field for all chapters such as in the matching fund requirement;
- Changes to the current guidelines by refocusing the grant program to one annual initiative, e.g., executive directors/staffing initiatives; or
- A change to the current strategic focus of the program to mirror national's top strategic initiatives, such as public relations, especially in light of the newly established advocacy grant program and chapter public relations staffing.
During its first conference call, the task force concluded that it would need more information as to the challenges and obstacles for chapters in applying to the current program in order to make any recommendations. At the CPC Annual Meeting in Minneapolis, the CPC was surveyed to determine the awareness of the program among the chapter leadership and to pinpoint the obstacles to applying across large, medium, and small chapters. And, the CIPs were on the CPC agenda, which led to a very productive discussion as to the CPC’s recommendations for the program based on the survey results. The CPC’s recommendations to the task force were that the program did not need to be eliminated but rather focused to meet different size chapters’ limitations; marketing needed to be heightened over the following months before the applications were due; clarification should be provided on what projects can and can not be funded under the program; and successful examples needed to be posted on the COW.
To address the CPC’s recommendations even before the task force’s recommendations, successful CIP projects will be featured in LAND Online’s Chapter Chat. As in past years, the aim is to provide examples to all chapters of good projects and also to highlight the lessons learned about what worked and what did not. As the jury that reviews the proposals each year is different, certain proposals that were funded in the past may not be funded in subsequent years. In highlighting outstanding proposals—including lessons learned—through LAND, we hope to elevate the quality of the applications across all chapters by sharing innovation between chapters. Here is one project from the Wisconsin chapter that should serve as a model for other chapters:
Last October, students from the University of Wisconsin completed the first stages of a student project to rehabilitate a small courtyard adjacent to the landscape architecture studio at the University of Wisconsin’s Agriculture Hall. Students worked on the project for two days, and 15 sponsors chipped in to donate supplies, work, and time. Plants will be installed in the spring and will be donated by Dave Watts, owner of Watts Landscaping. Watts recently returned to UW to receive a master’s degree in landscape architecture.
According to Dan Williams, ASLA, the site is historically significant and was originally designed by Professor Franz Aust. The stone wall Aust designed and built is still in place and forms the northwest corner of the courtyard. The site will be submitted to the Historic American Landscape Survey (HALS) in the near future.
The projected received a CIP grant from ASLA and was undertaken after student groups submitted proposals to the Wisconsin Chapter as part of a design competition. Williams, who served as a member of that jury, said the students formed teams of sophomore, junior, and senior members and that each team prepared outstanding submittals, with the winning team ultimately incorporating ideas from all submittals into the final design.
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