Howdy WHA Members!
We hope that you have all had a great holiday season and wish you a happy and healthy new year. Here are the West Houston Association we are glad to have 2020 behind us and excited for what is in store for 2021.
In case you missed it at our Virtual Awards Event, we have a new committee! Thank you to WHA Board Members Mark Kilkenny (Twinwood) and Todd Burrer (Inframark) who volunteered to serve as Chair and Vice Chair of the committee as we start to build it out. The Membership Committee has already been hard at work producing a Member Handbook that will be released in the weeks to come. The committee is also involved with the WHA awards, fundraising events, and other special projects. With Mark taking on the Membership committee, Howard Cohen (Schwartz, Page & Harding, LLP) has stepped up to Chair our Government Affairs committee with Paul Lock (CenterPoint) serving as Vice Chair.
Two other major things that happened late last year. We released our updated development map and we wrapped up our first project with Rice University. Over the course of 2020, a group of WHA members and staff worked to update the WHA Map APP and produced the WHA 2020 Development Map. We are in the process of updating the webpage they are hosted on, but they are both available on the website. There will be more information as well as a video about the map, the app, and the updates, later this month. The Rice Social Science Consulting Practicum student team presented their findings just before the end of the year, and we will be posting their full report on the WHA website in the weeks ahead. Additionally, plans are in the works for a follow up project in 2021.
Speaking of 2021, the Parks, Recreation and Open Spaces committee is kicking off yet another project. Complementing the existing project that focuses on physical park spaces, this new project focuses on recreation. WHA members will be exploring the potential of creating music friendly communities, aligned with the Texas Music Office, by building from the existing music and arts efforts of our West Houston recognized Quality Planned Developments. Additionally, this coming year, the Education & Workforce committee is starting discussions on how to best align educational offerings in the medical field with workforce needs. This complements the currently ongoing discussions regarding alignment of HCC Engineering Academy internships and mentorship opportunities to meet student needs and engineering company demands.
We have an exciting year ahead, and if you would like to join any of the WHA committees to be a part of some of these activities, just reach out to the committee chairs or WHA staff.