PLANNERS PROMOTING PLANNING
By Courtenay Mercer, APA-NJ Chapter President

Did you know that October is National Community Planning Month? That’s right, we have our own month! Every year, APA promotes and publicizes the important role of planners and planning. This year, the APA aptly chose “Green Communities” as the month’s theme, which dovetails nicely with all the publicity “green” has received in the past year. The APA-NJ is participating in this effort in a number of ways and I hope you, the member’s of APA-NJ, can also assist in promoting our too often overlooked profession.

The APA created a website describing the many opportunities to promote planning (http://www.planning.org/ncpm/ index.htm). They suggest ways to engage students, elected officials, planning boards and the general public. The APA also produced a number of Public Service Announcements (PSAs) that were distributed to radio stations across the country. In addition, the APA will announce the 10 “Great Places in America” during Community Planning Month.

The APA-NJ will also participate in activities to promote Community Planning Month. We will be following up with radio stations and distributing the PSAs to local stations that APA missed. We will also hold our inaugural pro bono Planning Assistance Program in October, in hopes to garner publicity for planning and the APA-NJ. In addition, we are working to have New Jersey communities and organizations adopt proclamations in support of planning. For example, the New Jersey Meadowlands Commission will soon adopt a resolution in support of community planning, and is holding a Sustainable Communities Planning Seminar in line with this year's APA Green Communities theme.

We hope that our members will support this effort in any way possible. Probably the easiest way you can assist, is by asking communities you work and/or live in to adopt a resolution in support of community planning. A sample proclamation can be found at http://www.planning.org/ ncpm/proclamation.rtf. If you are feeling particularly ambitious, you could reach out to a local school about doing a presentation. Or, if you know of a local festival during the month of October, create a display. Take a look at the APA website for other ideas, and whatever you do, don’t forget about the press release to publicize the activity. Also, please keep us informed of anything you do to promote planning during October and feel free to contact me if you need assistance.

This is a great opportunity to promote our profession and show that we really do have an impact on quality of life. I thank you in advance for anything you do to make this a successful Community Planning Month.

As always, I welcome your thoughts. Please contact me at pres@njapa.org.

The President’s Corner reflects the President’s opinion and not necessarily that of the NJAPA Executive Committee or NJAPA membership.