As a student at Virginia Tech's Washington Alexandria Architecture Center, I became involved in Emerging Leaders in Architecture (ELA)—a Northern Virginia AIA program. ELA's mission is to accelerate the growth of emerging architects, providing tools and experiences to help advance their careers, and support their future endeavors as leaders in their communities.
The 11-month program holds one session per month in different Virginia cities. Four sessions are dedicated to a class project, and seven sessions are intensive day-long seminars focusing on a skill or set of skills that architects should possess:
- financial management
- presentation and communication skills
- negotiating techniques
- legal and ethical issues
- public service
The Orange Dot Project
The 2012 class project, The Orange Dot Project, is based off of the Orange Dot Report which brings to light the large income deficit that exists in Charlottesville. Our class has been tasked with developing a plan to create jobs and bridge the gap within the community—all in 11 days. It seems like a huge undertaking for 15 people with full-time jobs from all over the state to solve, but we divided ourselves into two teams: Prototype and Community Awareness. We are halfway through the sessions, and I believe we are halfway to a solution.
Our next session is Friday, July 13, and our project goal is to design a prototype business incubator in Charlottesville that provides a self-sustaining wage for families in an unrecognized and under-served part of the community. We've met with the original authors of "The Orange Dot Project," identifying their original goals in writing the report.
It's All About Teamwork
The Prototype team has been researching successful business incubators, light industries, and community projects aligned with our task. The Community Awareness team has been reaching out to community members, grassroots organization leaders, and UVA faculty within Charlottesville. Half of our July session will be devoted to generating a cross-disciplinary conversation about our goals and exactly how we can work together to meet the community's needs.
Looking Forward to Success
So far this has truly been an incredible experience. Although the project sometimes seems overwhelming, our class has already created connections between< organizations in Charlottesville with similar goals that would have otherwise remained unknown. My hope is that we succeed in designing and implementing our prototype, but the fact that the conversation has begun and awareness has been raised is a step in the right direction.