Professional Development
Below are a list of resources students can use to further prepare for the professional planning world during their time in school. If you are aware of any additional resources, please contact the Chapter Office to discuss adding it to the list.
Mentoring
There are several programs at planning schools around Florida offering mentoring services to current planning students. Mentor A Planning Student (MAPS) was launched in 2012 as a way to help students in graduate level planning programs gain a greater understanding of planning as a profession.
The goals of MAPS are:
- to expose students to the actual work environments, responsibilities and interactions of professional planning positions in Florida
- to bring students into a mentor relationship with a practicing public or private sector planner in their region;
- to help planning students begin to develop their professional career networks;
- further facilitate the relationship between university planning programs, APA Florida, sections and planning professionals
MAPS is not intended to be an internship program – rather it is a mentoring program which pairs an experience planner with a first year planning student. The structure for each mentoring experience is flexible.
Mentoring programs are offered at Florida State University through the Capital Area Section, at the University of South Florida through the Sun Coast Section, and at Florida Atlantic University through the Broward and Treasure Coast Sections.
- For more information regarding FSU MAPS, please contact DURP Chair Jeff Brown.
- For more information regarding USF MAPS, please click here.
- For more information regarding mentoring at FAU, please click here.
APA Florida Emerging Planners Group
The Emerging Planners Group includes young planners getting started with their professional planning careers. If you are looking to connect with the new planners in your section, head over to the Emerging Planners Group page to see the group's current events and the EPG Ambassador for your section.
AICP Certification and Preparation
AICP Certification brings value to your career, the organization you work for, and the communities you serve. Do you want to demonstrate your expertise, show your commitment to professional ethics, distinguish yourself in the job market, and keep your planning skills in tip-top shape? Good news! The new One Path to AICP streamlines the certification process.
Visit Are You Eligible? to review the experience requirements for AICP Certification, download the AICP Certification Guide, and use the Eligibility Pre-Check resources designed to help you understand how your experience fits into AICP Certification.
Visit APA national's One Path to AICP page here.
May 2022 AICP Exam Study Group
The Treasure Coast AICP Study Group begins at the end of January and will run until late April. All are welcome. Planners wishing to participate need to contact Henry Bittaker, FAICP, at hbittaker@aol.com and provide their APA member number and state APA Chapter name or APA Florida section. Sessions will be provided LIVE via GoToWebinar and will be recorded. (Review past study sessions here.) Session recordings and many other study materials, including practice exams, are available to APA members from a Dropbox site run by the chapter.
APA Resources
Looking for more information? The following resources are also available for students at the national APA level: