Fall 2021 Newsletter

Letter from the Chair

As we close out October and enter the last remaining months of the year, I want to take a moment to uplift the mental health discussion that has been at the forefront of this pandemic. September was National Suicide Prevention Month. During that month, mental health advocates, prevention organizations, survivors, allies, and community members unite to promote suicide prevention awareness. It is a time to raise awareness on this stigmatized, and often taboo, topic. In addition to shifting public perception, National Suicide Prevention Month is an opportunity to spread hope and vital information to people affected by suicide. A goal is ensuring that individuals, friends and families have access to the resources they need to discuss suicide prevention and to seek help.

This is something that has affected me on the most personal level and something I haven’t really shared with many until now. The day after Christmas 2020, my Dad died by suicide at the age of 61. The sadness, sorrow, and grief of this tragedy may never go away for me and I want to share this with others in a meaningful way, because my family had no indication that this was going to happen. My Dad will forever be remembered and loved for all that he was. By sharing, I hope to give light, create awareness to resources available, and if it relates or resonates with just one other person out there to say they are not alone, it was worth it.

Mental health concerns go hand-in-hand with the stress and strain that has disproportionately smothered women during this COVID-19 pandemic and in the wake of its aftermath. Women in particular are more exhausted, burned out, and under pressure than men are, according to the “2020 Women in the Workplace” study. If you have been feeling the additional weight in the past 18 months of staying safe at home, social distancing, workplace arrangements and rearrangements, zoom meetings, childcare juggling, distanced learning, navigating vaccines, all while trying to stay safe and healthy and supporting friends, family, and yourself, we see you, and we stand with you. Let us fully acknowledge this weight and the heaviness of pushing through each and every day.

“COVID-19 is hard on women because the U.S. economy is hard on women, and this virus excels at taking existing tensions and ratcheting them up. Millions of women were already supporting themselves and their families on meager wages before coronavirus-mitigation lockdowns sent unemployment rates skyrocketing and millions of jobs disappeared. And working mothers were already shouldering the majority of family caregiving responsibilities in the face of a childcare system that is wholly inadequate for a society in which most parents work outside the home. Of course, the disruptions to daycare centers, schools, and afterschool programs have been hard on working fathers, but evidence shows working mothers have taken on more of the resulting childcare responsibilities, and are more frequently reducing their hours or leaving their jobs entirely in response.”

Women around the world have been deeply affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, which has heightened the large and small inequities—both at work and at home—that women face daily.

“A woman's place is in the family and the workforce, if they so choose. We can’t bounce back from the COVID-19 recession without interventions to support them in both roles. But we also need to recognize that although the pandemic created an acute and visible crisis, the lack of support for families and workers was a pre-existing condition. Even with the progress made since the passage of the 19th Amendment, our economy was doing a disservice to millions of working women before COVID-19 hit. Returning to the status quo should not be the goal. Instead, we should aim higher—for an economy that compensates women fairly for their work, improves access to jobs through family-friendly policies, and supports women in their chosen roles as breadwinners, mothers, or some combination of the two.”

In this Division, we expose and champion the ways in which our profession can better support women in the workplace; enhancing equity, closing the gender wage gap, equally paying women for equal work, flexible workplace policies for home/work balance, providing affordable childcare options, and seeing gender parity in our most basic of institutional accolades; FAICP inductees. We will continue this message to overturn these stark differences that we see through our work as a Division, programming, networking, connecting, and on the national stage at NPC - we are committed to never staying silent about the needs of all of the women we represent, it is the core of our mission.

We are all living through something very traumatic. I hope we all can reach out to each other and support where we can, because in community there is strength.

Be Well,
Corrin Wendell, AICP
Chair, Women & Planning Division

Resources:
National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI.org) 
If you or someone you know is in an emergency, call The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 800-273-TALK (8255) or call 911 immediately.

Article:
“Why has COVID-19 been especially harmful for working women?” October 2020
By: Natalie Bateman and Martha Ross
Brookings.edu

What Makes a Feminist City?
A Conversation with Leslie Kern

Leslie is an associate professor of geography and environment and director of women’s and gender studies at Mount Allison University, in Sackville, New Brunswick, Canada. Kern's research has earned a Fulbright Visiting Scholar Award, a National Housing Studies Achievement Award, and several national multi-year grants. She is also an award-winning teacher. Kern's writing has appeared in The Guardian, Vox, Bloomberg CityLab, and Refinery29. She is also an academic career coach, where she helps academics find meaning and joy in their work. Kern's next book project is an intersectional guide to gentrification, forthcoming from Between the Lines Books in 2022.

Following the event, grab your favorite cocktail/mocktail and stay on for Zoom networking and conversations with Division members!

You can purchase Feminist City (now in paperback) here: https://www.versobooks.com/books/3842-feminist-city

Register for this virtual event by clicking the button below. This event is free for Division members, $5.00 for non-members. A limited number of tickets are available - secure your space by registering today!

2021 WPD Diversity Scholarship Recipients

WPD DESIGN CONTEST

• The object of this contest is to create a branded design for the Women & Planning Division of the American Planning Association.
• Entries must incorporate the WPD logo (vector file available on request) and Division color (Hex Code #86354d).
• The Contest is open only to individuals. The Contest is not open to companies, educational institutions, organizations, etc. or to groups associated with such institutions.
• Contestants are permitted to work in groups; however, only one (1) prize will be awarded.
• You do not need to be a member to participate, but preference may be given to member-submitted designs

1. A WPD “swag set” featuring your design (including, but not limited to a t-shirt and travel mug)
2. $100 stipend
3. Complimentary ticket to the WPD Annual Reception at NPC22
4. Bragging rights to identify yourself as the designer!

1. The contest begins on November 1, 2021. Submissions will be accepted through November 30, 2021. Winners will be announced via our website, social media, and by direct contact to the winners’ email accounts. All entries must be submitted by email directly to Caroline Dwyer at women.apa@gmail.com for consideration and review as an official entry of the Contest. Entries must be submitted as a scalable vector graphic in .ai format AND as a JPG.
2. The submission email must include: the full name(s) of the person(s) who created the branded design, age, postal address, phone number, and email address of the individual submitting the entry.
3. No more than three (3) Entries may be submitted by any one individual.
4. Entries must conform to the Submission Guidelines set out below. Entries which fail to do so will be rejected.
5. The deadline for Entries is 11:59 PM on November 30, 2021.
6. We will attempt to acknowledge all entries within one week of receipt; however, we cannot be responsible for entries or responses lost in e-mail.
7. There is no fee to enter the Contest.

1. The purpose of the contest is to create a branded design for the Women & Planning Division of the American Planning Association. The branded design must be appropriate for a professional business setting.
2. The will be used online, in print, and on merchandise. Flexibility is a key requirement, including the need to resize easily and to look good in black and white as well as in color. The final version of the logo will need to be suitable for high quality printing. It should be visually appealing on both small (as small as 2 cm x 2 cm) and large scales.
3. The design must integrate the Division’s official APA logo.
4. The design must integrate the following color (HEX color code #86354d) and also be useable in black/white.
5. This image should not be photographic (see below for information on graphic formats).
6. Designer is welcome to submit no more than two (2) variants of the design.
7. Due to the requirements for high quality printing and re-sizing, entries must submitted in scalable vector graphic format. We advise against the use of halftones and gradients unless created inside a vector graphics program. Color in this version must be CMYK, no spot colors.
8. If your submission exceeds 10Mb, even after compression, please send files individually and note clearly in your emails that you are doing so.
9. To recap, each entry must consist of two (2) files: the basic logo, in .ai and JPG format. We are able to handle most common file compression formats.

1. The winning design will be selected by the Executive Committee of the Women & Planning Division. Entries will be judged on their visual appeal, adherence to the concept prompting the contest, quality of design, and ease of reproduction for the purposes stated above.
2. WPD reserves the right not to select a winner if, at its sole discretion, no suitable entries are received.
3. WPD reserves the right to disqualify any Entrant or Entry at its sole discretion. No correspondence shall be entered into.
4. The winner will be notified via email and announced on WPD social media channels.

1. All Entrants affirm their submissions are their own original work, have not been copied from others or from previous designs, including their own, and do not violate the intellectual property rights of any other person or entity.
2. All Entries will become the sole property of WPD and may be used for any WPD purposes, including, but not limited to, display on websites and promotional materials.
3. WPD shall have the right to adapt, edit, modify, or otherwise use the winning submission in part or in its entirety in whatever manner it deems appropriate.
4. WPD reserves the right to choose not to use the winning entry as described in these contest guidelines.
5. WPD reserves the right to use any other entry for promotional or business purposes in the future.

1. WPD is not responsible for lost, late, misdirected, incomplete, illegible, or otherwise unusable Entries, including entries that are lost or unusable due to computer, internet, or electronic problems.
2. WPD reserves the right to cancel or modify the Contest and award the prize by alternate means if fraud or technical failure is determined at any time, including after the submission window has closed.
3. WPD is not liable, for the purpose of winner and prize notification and delivery, in the event the contest winner has provided incorrect, outdated, or otherwise invalid contact information.

To support members with obtaining and maintaining AICP credentials, the Women & Planning Division is proud to announce a new professional development initiative for Division members. Each year, the Division will distribute up to $3,000 to support:

1. AICP Annual Dues*: WPD will pay the AICP dues for a Division member one time per qualified applicant. An applicant can receive this support for an additional year if the program funding has not been distributed by Nov. 1, in the second year they apply.
2. Preparation for AICP Exam and Essay Review**: WPD will pay up to $200 towards AICP exam preparation course materials or other exam support one time per qualified applicant (examples of exam support include transportation to exam, childcare, and other situation-specific support needed to support exam taking or preparation). 
3. AICP Exam Application Fee, Exam Fee, and Essay Review Fee**: WPD will pay the current fee towards the AICP exam application fee, exam fee, and essay review fee, one time per qualified applicant.

*At this time, we are accepting requests for AICP annual dues support ONLY. If you would like to request dues support, please apply by November 21, 2021.
** Requests for exam fees and exam preparation funding will be accepted in 2022.

Applications will be accepted on a rolling basis; requests will be reviewed and funds will be distributed quarterly in January, April, July and October.  Apply today!

AICP Dues & Credentials Grant Application Criteria
Applicants will be asked to provide:

• Name
• Email address or contact information 
• Confirmation of desired funding type and amount of funding requested
• No more than 200 words describing your need for support or the impact the support will have on you
• No more than 200 words describing why the AICP credential is important to you
• If you are requesting AICP exam preparation support, please include your AICP exam target date and how you will use the funding to prepare (up to 200 words)
• If you are requesting AICP exam application fees, exam fees and essay review fees, please  include your exam date and essay review date

Application Review Criteria
Applications will be reviewed by a team of three people from the Women & Planning Division's Executive Committee.  Applications will be reviewed based on the provision of work product responding to diversity, equity and inclusion.  Responses will be evaluated on:

• Description of need
• Clear explanation of AICP credential's importance to applicant
• Overall thoughtful and compelling application

Post Grant Submission
Within 60 days of receiving funding (or completing the AICP exam), recipients must submit a short narrative describing how the grant was used and how it supported their efforts to obtain or maintain AICP credentialing. WPD reserves the right to use all or part of these narratives (excepting any personal identifying information) in Division materials.