President’s Message – From Leah Jaramillo

This is an exciting time to be a member of IAP2 USA. The US affiliate recently surpassed in membership the total amount of international members that existed before our organizational restructuring in 2010. We now have over 850 members, and we're continuing to grow. We're branching out from an organization founded by P2 practitioners to an organization that serves a variety of people in roles that touch P2. This poses some great advantages for all of our members and gives us the opportunity to provide a more robust level of P2 in a variety of processes throughout our country.

We strive to promote best practices in P2. As more members join us from a variety of disciplines we can enhance our knowledge base by including additional applications, processes and projects that affect Americans in their daily lives. We have a wonderful opportunity to learn more from members and friends who are doing P2 across the spectrum of engagement. As members, it is our responsibility to ensure our Core Values are reflected in these opportunities to engage.

Run for the IAP2 USA Board of Directors!

Yes, it is that time of year. The time to start thinking about what you can contribute to your Association. What would you like to see happen? How do you think you can add value? Nominations for the 2017-2019 IAP2 USA Board will open on October 19th and close on Wednesday, November 9th.

Are you interested and want to learn more? Take a look at the Board Information Package and the Application Form by clicking here.

Are you Attending the Skills Symposium in 2017?

Here are five good reasons to join us in San Diego for the February 27 to March 3 Symposium:

1. Diversity of training – something for everyone
2. World class trainers – yes, take the time to find out about these incredible trainers
3. Great networking opportunities – we are expecting people from around the world - think what you could learn from your fellow participants!
4. By popular demand we are bringing the “Big Hairy Problems” back. What is a BHP? It is a current complex and/or difficult P2 issue/process faced by one of our sponsors and they are looking for your help. This is a great opportunity to roll up your sleeves and work hand in hand with your trainers and others to put what you are learning into action.
5. San Diego – yes, work hard during the day but take time to enjoy this beautiful city!

Funding the Future

Did you know IAP2 USA has a Scholarship Program? Well we do, and it is brand new. We will be announcing the details and the application process in October - so stay tuned. While we finalize this exciting new initiative we need to ensure that we have the funds to support it so …

Last year we raised almost $2,000 dollars at the North American Conference in Portland – thank you! Building on last year’s success, this year’s fun(d)-raiser will also be a silent auction. It will take place at the IAP2 North American conference in Montreal September 28th to 30th and we are asking Chapters, individuals, and organizations to help by donating items for auction.

Consider providing something that represents your area: something classic or unusual. All items are welcome, so have fun thinking up things that will be of interest to attendees from Australia, Canada, England, France, New Zealand, the U.S., and more. Having a variety of items for conference attendees to bid on will help make the conference more fun and the fundraiser a greater success.

Ready to help? Email your contribution idea to Amelia Shaw at ameliaiap2usa@gmail.com and bring your silent auction donation with you to the conference! If you would prefer to mail it, let us know and we will send you the coordinates.

Thank you for your participation in this event!

Member Spotlight: Traci Ethridge

Traci Ethridge, Assistant Director of Corporate Communications & Marketing for the City of Charlotte, North Carolina, first learned about IAP2 from colleagues who had attended the IAP2 Foundations in Public Participation program. “I was part of a working group tasked with examining how the city was engaging with the community and developing an overall strategy moving forward. We wanted to make sure that we were bridging the gap between the community and local government. Our organization has success around a lot of projects and initiatives and we wanted to implement a standard practice such as the IAP2 Spectrum.” The Spectrum will become the foundation to community engagement planning and a key piece in shaping the city’s overall strategy.

P2 & Decision-Makers – the IAP2 September Webinar

This month’s Learning Webinar has an exciting twist, as we welcome four civic politicians – elected decision-makers – to discuss a topic we haven’t tackled before: how do elected officials decide to buy into the concept of letting those affected by a decision have a voice and influence on that decision?

On Monday, Sept. 19 (11am Pacific / 2pm Eastern), we'll hear from Mayor Dennis Coombs of Longmont, Colorado, and city councillors Blair Lancaster of Burlington, Ontario, Marianne Alto of Victoria, BC and Leslie Pool of Austin, Texas, on how they were convinced of the value of meaningful public engagement. Did they need much convincing? What did it take? Did they feel like they were surrendering a "right" to make the decisions? Did they get flack from staff experts?

Don't miss this unique opportunity to gain insights on this important aspect of the profession!

Coming up in October and November ...we'll meet the Core Values Awards winners. On Tuesday, October 18, we'll hear from the Project of the Year winners (register here); on Tuesday, November 8, the Organizations of the Year take center stage (register here).

Of course, we can't tell you their names until after the Core Values Awards Gala, Sept. 29 in Montreal.

WEBINAR REWIND – “White Papers – August 9”
In our August webinar we did a deep dive into what good P2 evaluation could look like and what needs to be considered and when. As well, we learned about different techniques and discussed what to use and why when we are faced with conflict in our P2 processes. How do you support conflict? Do you embrace it?

The IAP2 Canada Research Committee commissioned its first two white papers in late 2015, and they were released earlier this year. The authors of the papers shared what they found in the August webinar.