Deborah receiving her certificate upon completion of the program.
Gaines Group Architects has a graduate to celebrate! Congratulations to Deborah on her recent graduation from the Harrisonburg-Rockingham Chamber Leadership Program! This ten-month leadership program is designed for participants to learn about our community’s past, present, and future all while building valuable relationships. Deborah was accepted into this program in the summer of 2021. She attended monthly community-based meetings that educated her on our community’s strengths and future growth opportunities.
Deborah is a self-proclaimed introvert, and we are proud of her willingness to step out of her comfort zone and participate in this program that required her to regularly engage in a large group setting. She reflected on her experience and greatly appreciates the opportunity to participate in this program saying it has been “a wonderful experience.” She believes the program did a great job of going beyond typical speed networking events (which tend to be difficult for an introvert). Deborah appreciated the opportunity to connect with others on a deeper level during each session while simultaneously learning more about our community. She specifically enjoyed being able to hear from the community, non-profit, educational, public safety, and local government leaders who gave her a new understanding of what it takes for a community to sustain itself and evolve with the times.
In addition to the monthly leadership sessions, Deborah’s cohort worked together on a community service project of their choosing. Her group opened a “pop-up” shop called First Impressions that provided an opportunity for the public to pick out professional clothes for an interview or job transition. Their group collected professional clothes and welcomed anyone to shop, free of charge. It was a valuable experience for Deborah and her colleagues to work collaboratively on an impactful community event after spending significant time together.
Overall, this program is a wonderful experience to engage with our community and build relationships. Gaines Group Architects’ team member Annie Frazier also participated in the same program and is a graduate of the 2017 cohort. If you are interested in learning more about our community and building new relationships, we encourage you to check out the program here.
We feel the challenges faced in our community every day as we work to build a better community. In today’s climate, there is a shortage of affordable housing, flexible childcare, efficient transportation options, and food accessibility challenges. We know these problems can be solved and there are good people determined to find solutions, but complications continue to hinder progress. These are not simple challenges, but rather systemic problems with many challenges and barriers to face before finding a solution. We want to be a part of the solution and believe that paying a living wage is essential to building a healthy, vibrant, and livable community. Thus, we are encouraging business owners to begin the journey of paying a living wage and spread the message about its importance.
The Harrisonburg Rockingham Living Wage Certification serves to enhance the health, vitality, and livability of our community. Foundationally, our team at Gaines Group Architects strives to build a better community through design, this guides our decisions in projects, pro-bono work, and where we invest our time and resources. Our mission gives us a baseline in accomplishing business ethically and with care, which led us to learn more about obtaining the Living Wage Gold Certification. We understand there is a relationship between thriving team and community members who feel valued for their contributions and the subsequent positive impacts on our client’s experience.
As an architecture firm, we exceeded the baseline for gold-level certification without modifying pay scales. The process of learning about the impacts of paying a fair wage gave us the opportunity to engage in intentional and clarifying discussions concerning our most valuable asset: our team members. We are accustomed to adjusting pay rates along with advancement in careers and inflation, but this was the first time we discussed what it takes to live comfortably in a community. Some of the areas we identified as essential in promoting quality of life ranged from access to childcare, the ability to pay utility bills, or appropriately budget for groceries.
Paying a living wage directly affects the overall community and supports a robust local economy. There is a chain reaction that occurs when we invest in our workforce, and we encourage all businesses in Harrisonburg and Rockingham to consider this certification. Even if your organization is unable to currently meet the standard, it will open up a thoughtful conversation about the cost of living in our community. For more information on this program, visit www.hrlivingwage.org or watch the video here https://www.facebook.com/hrlivingwage/videos/387194656280216/.
Rotary is celebrating a birthday. This organization founded by Paul Harris on February 23, 1905, is 115 today!! With a core mission of #serviceaboveself, these business leaders in Chicago set out to build a better community. Using their influence and power they used service, the act of reaching out and helping others, and a way to bring business leaders together for the greater good.
Rotary is #serviceaboveself
Locally we have a variety of Rotary Clubs doing good in our community while Rotary international works on their core mission of eradicating Polio worldwide. The 7 pillars of Rotary include Peace and conflict prevention/resolution, disease prevention and treatment, water and sanitation, maternal and child health, basic education and literacy, economic and community development, and sustainability. Rotary is open to everyone to join. Most clubs have weekly meetings including a meal to build community within the club members and have a speaker usually telling us about local organizations or activities. These weekly meetings bring us together and allow us to better know each other and our community.
I encourage you to look at the local Rotary Clubs in your area, each has a different vibe, and find the right fit to magnify your service in your community. Want to visit our breakfast club next Tuesday at 7 a.m.? Just reach out to me and I am happy to have you as my guest.
Happy Birthday Rotary! Thanks to all Rotarians for putting #serviceaboveself.
Each year the talented students at Massanutten Technical Center (MTC) (https://www.mtcva.com/?fbclid=IwAR33Xupl6DyJEsNhr8Hp1mz4kLpFGsq8frswPGIytk4rsPo26pbMfyZV7go) have an opportunity to build a house. This is a wonderful way to learn all that it takes to put together a home. Massanutten Technical Center not only provides excellent hands-on education but gives students real-world experience at the same time.
Charles Hendricks has served on the MTC Foundation (https://www.mtcva.com/mtc-foundation) for a number of years and has had the opportunity to work in many ways to support the school. He loves that MTC brings so many resources to local students that want to learn a trade before going out into a career or continuing on at a University. This past summer he returned to teach in the architectural camp for middle school students. The quality of education provided at MTC makes our community better as these students have hands-on experiences that they will use for a lifetime. Charles says “I am always blown away by the quality of teachers and their passion for the students. Of course, the administration at MTC is also top-notch!”
The house this year will be sold through sealed bids. Gaines Group Architects is proud to have designed the current version of home they have been building now for a few years. It has an efficient and open floorplan, 3 bedrooms, and 2 baths. There is an optional stair for a full basement or that space could become a closet if your lot demands a crawl space.
If you are in the market for a new house, take a look at this project. The quality will be exceptional and the purchase of the house itself supports the students for years to come.
This month the Gaines Group had the opportunity to sponsor an event very near and dear to our hearts, Noche de Salsa 2021. This event was held by the Scholars Latino Initiative (SLI) featured a drive-through Latin dinner with margaritas along with a park and watch a salsa dance performance. SLI strives to create college opportunities for local Latinx students currently in high school through leadership coaching and academic mentorship. Scholars Latino Initiative also assists students financially by assisting in scholarship searches and dual enrollment programs through high school.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aY1UYo2zDNQ&t=1s
Since its founding in 2012 SLI has found that donation amounts have tripled allowing the program to grow and incorporate even more families into their organization. As of now, SLI has a grand total of 118 alumni that have moved through the program and continued on to higher education, their alumni have attended 21 universities such as Harvard, James Madison, Virginia Tech, and many more.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aY1UYo2zDNQ
Those who attended discussed the feeling of community involvement as everyone gathered in a way that was not only safe but allowed us to feel a little bit of normalcy again. We could not be more proud of our community for coming out, having fun, and supporting SLI.
Our very own Deborah Smith has begun her leadership training through LHR here in Harrisonburg Virginia! Founded in 1979 this program strives to encourage aspiring leaders to grow in communication skills and encourage community involvement through monthly sessions. We are incredibly proud that our introverted architect survived a full day of team-building activities, and learned and retained more names than ever before thanks to the help of those games!
The first session of the program was held at Horizon’s Edge and focused on team building within the cohort and identifying qualities of good leaders and teams. The day was filled with group activities that helped everyone get to know each other and also taught lessons on communication, working in large and small groups and leadership. The activities ranged from rock, paper, scissors tournaments where everyone that lost had to cheer on the winners (Deborah won a round!), to building towers out of spaghetti and marshmallows (she also won!).
Throughout the duration of these activities, it was important to listen and understand the leadership style of every single person involved. While some were more naturally inclined to step forward to lead the group, others held back while still offering helpful advice on how to improve strategy. Overall these exercises proved just how important it is to make your entire team feel heard and appreciated, especially through group challenges. Afterwards, the teams sat down and reflected on their core values and discussed how vital small and large decisions can be to the end goal at hand.
