What’s new?

Nominations for Chair-Elect of the Federal Planning Division 2008

Download the ballot form (MS Word) and follow the instructions to submit your vote.
The deadline for receipt of ballots is March 14, 2008.

For more information, please review bios of the nominees: 
(PDF format)Michael Graham
Dhruv Jain
Mark Sanchez
Announcing the 2007 FPD Award WinnersA list of the 2007 FPD Award Winners has now been posted in the Training Conference section of the web site.

Training Conference 2008

Planning is well underway for next year’s National Training Conference for Federal Planners to be held in Las Vegas. The dates for the conference are Tuesday, April 22 through Saturday, April 26 including specific training activities such as free LEED AP exam prep. We are just posted a tentative Session Schedule. The award nomination form, exhibit space registration form and the session schedule are now available in the Training Conference section of the web site.

The conference will be held at Circus Circus on the north end of the strip. The hotel has been completely remodeled and modernized and will provide impressive personal accomodations and workshop space. You can begin registering for the hotel now.

Keep checking back for the latest information on the upcoming conference.

FPD Training Program AnnouncementEducation is an important aspect of the planning experience and, with only those few words as the premise, we am pleased to announce the activation and launch of a new training program exclusively for Federal Planning Division members and affiliates. This new program is an outgrowth of the successful ESRI and SketchUp classes held at the 2007 Federal Planning Division Workshop in Philadelphia. Download this file explaining the basic structure of the program, which includes on-line course work in ESRI and live training classes in SketchUp. In addition, we will continue to offer ESRI and SketchUp classes at the 2008 National Training Conference for Planners, as well as exam prep sessions for both AICP and LEED AP applicants. The subsidized portion of the program will only run for one year (until November 2008) and be reevaluated to determine if it should continue. Course offerings at future conferences will be at the discretion of the serving conference Chair.

The subsidized portion of the program is restricted to members or affiliates (an affiliate is a division-only member) who have been active in the division for at least three years; however the conference sessions are open to anyone registered for the conference. Once you have a chance to read the program requirements and criteria, Stan Mael will serve as your coordinator for the program. If you would like to participate (and meet the criteria), simply send an email to [email protected] and he can provide you with instructions and access codes to get you started. For conference sessions, simply register for the conference to attend either the AICP or LEED AP classes. The ESRI and SketchUp courses will be handled the same as before where the first twenty folks signing up will have direct access to a computer, although everyone is free to attend. (More information about the conference program can be found on the FPD website under Training Conference.)

Two other things to mention. First, the subsidized course work has not been and will not be submitted to APA for Certification Maintenance credit (however, you should ask the provider if that is available directly through them). Second, anyone participating in the subsidized course work is on their honor not to reveal the access details of the program to those ineligible to participate. The AICP code of ethics is in effect here whether you are AICP or not.

Finally, as always, thanks to everyone for your continued support of the Federal Planning Division. If there is anything the Executive Committee can do to assist and/or support your federal planning work, please let us know. We look forward to speaking with many of you about this important endeavor and seeing you this coming April in Las Vegas.