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Archive for jfederico

Oct. 19: Join the Engagement Committee Call

Have ideas for how APA Pennsylvania Southeast section can reach its members? Have suggestions for how better to get value from your membership? Share them during the Engagement Committee call. The Engagement Committee’s next call is Thursday, October 19, 2017 from 12:00-1:00 pm. Any interested section members are welcome to join by calling 1-866-499-7054, conference code 735 289 0020.

The tentative agenda is below, but feel free to add ideas for discussion during the call or in advance by emailing chair@apapse.org. For more details on the groups we wish to engage with and to see past notes, take a look at our running notes.
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Aug. 25: Engagement Committee Call

Have ideas for how APA Pennsylvania Southeast section can reach its members? Have suggestions for how better to get value from your membership? Share them during the Engagement Committee call. The Engagement committee’s next call is Friday, August 25, 2017 at 2 pm. Any interested section members are welcome to join by calling 1-866-499-7054, conference code 735 289 0020.

The tentative agenda is below, but feel free to add ideas for discussion during the call or in advance by emailing chair@apapse.org. For more details on the groups we wish to engage with and to see past notes, take a look at our running notes.

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EarthFest 2017: Planning and Youth Engagement

A warm, sunny, and windy day was the setting for EarthFest 2017 on April 28th at Temple University’s Ambler Campus.  EarthFest is an annual event promoting environmental awareness to elementary and middle school students from across the region.  This year, the Southeast Section (APA PA SE) partnered with Temple’s Student Planning Organization (TSPO) to host a combined booth focused on sustainability and planning.   Our volunteers engaged students in two planning activities – one related to transportation and the other land use – to give them a basic idea of what many planners do on a regular basis.  The booth also had informational materials, including an APA brochure explaining “What Planners Do.”  

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Future City Philadelphia – Volunteers and Mentors Needed

 

The Future City Philadelphia program is part of a national program to encourage middle-school students to design a city. This can be as simple as improving an existing neighborhood, or starting from scratch at the bottom of the ocean or on another planet. The kids are asked to envision and plan for all the systems needed to make their city work, including transportation, utilities, power, and water. They write a paper, build a model, and then present at a culmination event in January. It is a great introduction to the ideas of city planning and may well introduce some new students to the planning field.  Several different ways to get involved are outlined in the request below from the program’s volunteer coordinator, Karen R. McManuels:

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EarthFest 2016 Recap – Youth Engagement and Planning

 

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Over 200 curious young visitors stopped by the APAPA-SE activity booth at Temple University’s EarthFest 2016 on April 22nd.  An annual event at the Ambler Campus, EarthFest promotes environmental awareness to elementary and middle school students from across the region.  Continuing a multi-year tradition, APAPA-SE hosted a booth to support the effort.  This year, our four volunteers engaged students in two planning activities – one related to transportation and the other land use – to give them a very basic idea of what planners do on a regular basis.

The transportation-related activity had students placing stickers to indicate whether they walk, bike, drive, or take the bus to get to school, visit friends/family, visit park/playgrounds, and go shopping. While not exactly scientific, this informal survey had over 230 responses and provided some interesting results (see the tally we put together and feel free to draw your own conclusions). Overall, the kids were really excited about the activity – especially the stickers – and it got them thinking about the pros and cons of how they travel, both for their own personal health and the health of the environment.
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Volunteers Needed for EarthFest 2016 on April 22

 

EarthFest 2016

Continuing a multi-year tradition, APAPA-SE will be hosting a booth at Temple’s EarthFest with educational materials and activities related to the planning profession.  We are looking for volunteers to help staff an interactive booth.  Volunteers can sign up for the full event, a portion of the event, or even just the setup period (begins around 8:00 AM).  It is a great opportunity to share our profession with local students while spending the day outside in a festival atmosphere!  No need to be a Temple alumni or student (although they are certainly welcome).

If you are interested in volunteering or have any questions about the event, please contact John Federico at jefederico@urbanengineers.com.

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EarthFest 2015 Recap – Youth Engagement and Planning

EarthFest 2015

“If you could do whatever you wanted with this lot, what would you do and why?”  David, age 9, responded, “I would plan a kingdom so that I could be king.”  If only we could all have the visionary powers to dream up a kingdom like David (and if only it were that easy)!  Along with David, hundreds of curious young visitors stopped by the APAPA-SE activity booth at Temple University’s EarthFest 2015 at the Ambler Campus on Friday, April 24th.  They each were prompted to respond to that same question we asked David.

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