Since the onset of the discussion that has led to the establishment of a
continuing education requirement to maintain the AICP designation, the Small
Town and Rural (STaR) Planning Division has expressed a concern about the
equity of this requirement as it pertains to many of our Division’s members.
Unlike their metropolitan “cousins”, small town and rural planners
frequently earn less salary, do without training budgets, and quite often
are solo practitioners that can not leave their place of employment during
the work day.
To address these equity concerns, STaR is happy to announce the
establishment of a subsidy program designed to help defray the expenses
involved in maintenance of the AICP certification. To be eligible for the
subsidy, you must be a member in good standing of AICP and STaR, and earn
less than $50,000 a year from planning.
Here is how the program works:
1. Only APA-approved Certification Maintenance coursework and/or study
materials are eligible for the subsidy. The applicant must submit the course
to STaR before registration. This allows STaR to analyze the content of the
course, its eligibility with APA requirements, and also to advertise the
course to other members.
2. Proof of attendance at a seminar is required. As for self-paced
materials, STaR reserves the right to ascertain whether the materials were,
in fact, studied. Subsidy payments are contingent on submission of an
article of no less than 300 words for publication in the STaR newsletter.
The article should explain what was learned as a result of the certification
maintenance work, as well as its application to small town and rural
planning. The article need not directly mention that the member received a STaR subsidy.
3. Reimbursement checks would be sent to qualifying members as received
by the Secretary-Treasurer after receipt by the Newsletter Editor of the
required newsletter article. A maximum subsidy of $500 per two-year
maintenance period is allowed. The maximum subsidy per course is $100.
If this is a program that interests you, feel free to contact STaR Chair
Dale Powers at drpowers@co.pine.mn.us or 1-800-450-7463 x 6707.
