Committee on the Environment

Many of you are aware that the COTE National Leadership Group has a COTE Advocacy Committee. This group is comprised of volunteers from across the country actively involved in supporting legislative engagement. We meet to exchange ideas, connect the dots between committees, and amplify legislative calls to action. During a working session earlier this year our teammate, Julie Hiromoto, proposed an idea the group determined was worthy of development. A quick start primer titled "Value of an Architect to Legislators and Policymakers" emerged. The collective experience of the COTE Advocacy Committee indicated that the first steps to legislative engagement are the toughest. It is intimidating to meet with a legislator or policymaker! So, we started with a few ideas we thought can act as a quick start brief introduction, to supplement longer pieces from AIA about becoming a Citizen Architect. Some of the principal questions we answer in the document include:

• Why are Architects particularly suited to helping legislators?
• How do you stay on point and leave a strong and clear impression?
• What does your script look like?
• Who do you build a coalition with to underscore the validity of your points?

We consistently hear at our COTE quarterly calls and annual Open Forum that volunteers are passionately interested in raising the legislative floor to improve communities and the built environment. We hope "The Value of an Architect" will inspire more AIA membership to actively engage in legislative issues. This is a working document, and we welcome feedback for subsequent revisions. Time and time again we see that those that have a plan and long-term engagement yield results across the country. We open the door for those interested in new on ramps for positive change. Thank you for becoming a Citizen Architect!

Contributors to the "Value of an Architect" are: 

• Kjell Anderson FAIA 
• Clark Brockman AIA 
• Arathi Gowda FAIA 
• Julie Hiromoto FAIA 
• Joyce Raybuck AIA (COTE Advocacy lead, thank you for keeping us organized and moving forward!) 

For further, in depth resources, consider engaging with:
Member Home - Government Affairs Forum 

Image credit: "Broadway Corridor Open House #4" by Prosper Portland

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Arathi Gowda FAIA
ZGF Architects LLP
Washington DC
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Attachment(s)

20250814_Value of an Architect.pdf   133 KB 1 version

Hi Dominique! 

I'm jumping into this discussion to introduce myself. My name is Amal Mahrouki, and I am the Senior Director of the State and Local Government Affairs team here at AIA. I started in January and have been working with state and local components on building their advocacy and government affairs capacity, with a focus on best practices and developing practical how-to guides on important issues. Before joining AIA, I spent more than 10 years as a state lobbyist, so I have a lot of tips and tricks to share.  

As Arathi noted, the Government Affairs Forum has a wealth of guidance and resources for state and local components. I invite anyone who is involved in government affairs and advocacy to join us as part of that community. Our team will be working closely with state and local components, the COTE Advocacy Committee, and other Knowledge Communities as we develop our strategies and resources to support states and cities in their upcoming legislative sessions. I am always happy to meet with any AIA component to chat about all things government affairs and advocacy in more detail.  

Best,

Amal

Dominique and Amal,

Great question and thank you Amal for your outreach to components! This is exactly the dot connecting that COTE Advocacy was hoping for at the local level. Also, of note this is version 1 of the document. If ideas for improvement emerge as chapters read through the COTE Advocacy team would be glad to learn about them for future updates.

Best,
Arathi

Thank you, Amal!

It's great to be introduced and I'll be sure to share your information with our local leaders and advocacy committee members, in case they don't already have your contact. It's great to know we have you working with us on the National level as we continue to navigate challenging times with both energy codes and now DEIB initiatives and municipal/federal contracting of RFP's. Our component is working on pulling together information to share with national regarding the latter changes on our local letting processes. 

Have a great holiday weekend,

Dominique