IFMA Silicon Valley Student & Community Outreach

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The Silicon Valley Chapter of IFMA strives to foster good relations with students of facility management, as well as with the larger community of which we are a part. The chapter offers several programs and activities in these areas.

The chapter has sponsored several student events, including "Faciliday", in which students were paired with chapter members for a day of 'shadowing' them in their jobs, and learning more about the field. The Silicon Valley Chapter also provided seed funding for a student scholarship fund.

In 2003 IFMA Silicon Valley expanded it's community outreach by setting up a committee to work within the community on a variety of new projects. The IFMA Silicon Valley Community Outreach Committee will continue to plan the annual Beach Clean Up to help beautify and preserve this natural resource. The 2003 event took place in Santa Cruz on August 27.

In the spring IFMA Silicon Valley sponsored a design competition for a new outdoor auditorium to be built at the Children's Discovery Museum. Local IFMA member design firms were invited to submit design concepts for the new space. Each firm was given a $1000 stipend to help with their expenses, with the winner, HOK, being awarded a $3000 prize to finalize the design. Chapter volunteers will manage the project.

IFMA Silicon Valley Community Outreach Committee is working with Design Response to add a new dimension to the services they provide. Design Response is a local nonprofit organization that improves the living and working environments of human service agencies and schools. Together we've established a Facility Advisor Program that will pair up non-profit executive directors with an IFMA Silicon Valley facility manager. The facility manager will aid the non-profit organization in developing and implementing a basic site maintenance program.

The chapter is also working on a joint project with Design Response. With help from our IFMA Silicon Valley membership, a volunteer team will assist Design Response with a facility upgrade of the East Community Resource Center's (ECRC) new site in San Jose.