President's Update: December 2020

President’s Update: December 2020

By by Courtney Landoll, PLA, LEED AP

NEW MONTHLY NEWSLETTER

As your new NCASLA President, let me start by saying hello and welcome to the first edition of NCASLA’s monthly newsletter! To streamline our communications with you and provide consistent and direct communication with our members, please look to the monthly newsletter for most of your Chapter updates.

THANK YOU OUTGOING EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE MEMBERS AND WELCOME NEW MEMBERS

First, I would like to extend my thanks and gratitude to our recent President, Kevin Barnes. Kevin’s sound leadership helped guide our Executive Committee and Chapter through one of the most trying years we have had in recent history. In addition to navigating the Chapter through the economic and social challenges associated with COVID-19, we also managed to accomplish a lot of things we can all be proud of. Please see Kevin’s report regarding our 2019-2020 accomplishments.

I would also like to extend my thanks to our other outgoing Executive Committee Members: Lora Greco, Auggie Wong, Katie Llloyd, Robert Minert, Josh Karrick, Elizabeth Frere, and Howard Capps. It is a team effort at NCASLA and though they will not be serving on the Executive Committee, being the committed volunteers they are, we know they will not be strangers and will continue to serve NCASLA.

Second, please join me in welcoming our new Executive Committee members: Sahar Teymouri, Dan Lambert, Emily Rothrock, Darneka Walters, and Mike Askin! You may notice that is not a one to one replacement ratio to those that we have lost. We currently have vacancies in the following positions: Mountain Section Chair, Triad Section Chair, and Coastal Section Chair. If you are a member that lives in one of these regions and may have an interest in serving on the Executive Committee, please contact the President-elect Hollie Colony.

STRATEGIC PLANNING

The new Executive Committee met the first week of December for our annual strategic planning retreat. 2020 taught us all about the need for both efficiency and accountability. Accordingly, we condensed our two and a half day planning retreat into nine hours. At the conclusion of our retreat, we left with a firm understanding of our annual budget and goals for 2021. Additionally, 2020 saw the birth of several new sub-committees. During strategic planning we established Executive Committee Member Liaisons to each those committees with the goal being that each committee will have a committee chair and members outside of the Executive Committee. The more we can become a robust, volunteer led organization, the more successful we will be. 2021 will also see the establishment of two new committees: Sponsorship and Continuing Education & Events.

THE YEAR AHEAD: BUDGET

Regarding our budget, I am not going to sugar coat it; 2020 saw our Chapter hit with a sizable loss of revenue. As you may or may not know, our budget is set December the year prior. Our largest revenue generator, our conference, was cancelled; sponsorship revenue went down due to the lack of events, and membership revenue went down as many deferred payments of dues or let their membership lapse. 

Our outlook for 2021 is better, as we have cut our expenses significantly and hope to emerge from the pandemic and return to in-person events, but as much is still unknown, many events will remain virtual. This year’s loss is projected to be less, but that will depend on both the success of our events and our annual sponsorship program. To help keep our members informed, we will provide a quarterly report from our Treasurer, Crystal Ross, beginning in April.

A big thank you to those of you who have maintained your membership and the sponsors who have continued to support us throughout this unusual year. To our lapsed members, if you now find yourself stable, we hope you will renew! Please note that ASLA now has monthly payment options.

THE YEAR AHEAD: EVENTS

We are organized this year! We have a whole calendar of events mapped out, month by month. There are too many to explain in depth here, but I can tell you briefly we are planning:

  • A minimum of 5 continuing education webinars worth 1PDH. The first two happen in January and February, so do not miss out!

  • A week long virtual Advocacy Blitz in April (see the Legislative Affairs Committee Update below)

  • Social media takeovers of our Instagram Account in April and May

  • A conference in May, PDH to be determined, but worth at least 6PDH.

  • A hike in the Blueridge in June

  • A sketch crawl in June

  • A virtual Awards Gala worth 2PDH in August with in-person screening events throughout the region

  • An LARE roundtable and an LARE Review (stay tuned to the Emerging Professional Committee for more information)

  • Parking Day in September

  • And with your help, even more!

THE YEAR AHEAD: NEW PROGRAMS

To continue to support diversity and growth in the profession, NCASLA is going to be launching a Landscape Architecture in the Schools, K-12 initiative. If you are interested in helping to plan or participate in this program, please see our call for volunteers below. Additionally, NCASLA will be exploring the possibility of a mentor program with NCA&T. Stay tuned for more information.

HAPPY HOLIDAYS

The NCASLA office will be closed on December 24 - 25 and January 1.

We wish you peace for this holiday season and hope for the New Year! See you in January!