Region Dues Increase

AIA-SWO members may or may not realize that our chapter pays dues to support the activities of the AIA Northwest & Pacific Region component. The AIA-NWPR Executive Committee and Leadership Development Team (LDT) have asked the region board of representatives (of which I am a member) to consider a region dues increase. The purposes of this increase are to:

• Augment funding for American Institute of Architecture Students (AIAS) attendance at AIAS Grassroots



• Provide grants to components to fund leadership development



• Offer a subsidy for region conference hosts to encourage inclusion of leadership development in the conference programs
  
  

The LDT already funds grants to promote attendance at AIA Grassroots, as well as financial support for the region associate director and region student director. The proposed dues increase includes $5 per associate member and $5 per architect member. Both Jody Heady (AIA-SWO president) and I support the goals of the LDT; however, we share the opinion of several of our region colleagues that a more detailed accounting of the true costs associated with the LDT initiatives would be helpful in advance of a vote by the region board. This vote will occur sometime during the next few months. If you have any questions or comments regarding the proposed region dues increase, don’t hesitate to contact either Jody (jody@heady-architect.net) or me (rnishimura@robertsonsherwood.com).