Category: News & Events

American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA) have coined April as World Landscape Architecture Month, where industry professionals and partners join to celebrate the designs of public and private spaces. CGA Florida’s LA team was invited to host an Instagram Takeover of the ASLA Instagram account. Our own Gianno Feoli, (Director, Landscape Urbanism and Design, CGA Florida), dedicated his time and talent to create the most engaging Instagram stories any of the ASLA audience had seen. We have posted these stories to the CGA Instagram account and you may view them there under our LA + Urbanism highlights reel. Congratulations to our Florida Landscape Architecture team!

On February 12^th, Jimmy Messick PE (Project Manager, CGA Florida) led the ASCE Broward 4th Annual Engineer for a Day event, which was hosted at the Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) offices in Fort Lauderdale. James Messick, PE, the 2020 Engineer for a Day Chairman and Maria Scudella (Marketing Coordinator, Fort Lauderdale) coordinated CGA’s participation in this event.

The event is an exciting student outreach program created to encourage high school students to consider civil engineering as a future career field. Students from local Broward County schools (and one from Palm Beach County) submitted an essay that answered the question: What problems would a civil engineer face when designing a floating city? 

The day was divided up into (2) sessions, one in the morning and the other in the afternoon. The morning session comprised of, attendees interacting with local university students, professors and other engineering professionals, where they learned about the academic requirements necessary for completing an engineering degree.

During the afternoon portion, the students split up into smaller groups and toured local engineering firms. This allowed them to experience a “real engineering environment”. The students’ then, “job shadowed” at a firm that specialized in the discipline they favored.

The day was a success and CGA looks forward to participating in future E4aday events.

Tools for School

Saturday January 25th, 2020 marked the seventh annual United Way of Broward County Tools for Schools giveaway. Our CGA staff joined the United Way of Broward County to assist in their efforts to deliver school supplies to hundreds of Broward County public school teachers. More than 700 teachers from schools across Broward County received over $300,000 in free school supplies and gift cards. The supplies include crayons, No. 2 pencils, notebook paper, Crayola washable markers, Crayola colored pencils, pens, scissors, highlighters, folders, and glue. Teachers also received gift cards to buy additional materials.

Reading Pals Program 

Read Across South Florida with CGA and Dr. Seuss! 

For the third year in a row, CGA collaborated with Women United of Broward, Miami-Dade, and Palm Beach Counties in their initiative “Read Across South Florida”. The outreach program, which is nationwide, promotes literacy throughout the community. For this effort, the book chosen was Dr. Seuss’s “I Can Read With My Eyes Shut!” 

Broward’s Read Across South Florida pledged to read this book to 26 classrooms, reaching approximately 520 students. United Way didn’t want to just read the book with the children; they wanted each child to go home with a book of their own, setting a goal of at least 520 books for Broward’s Read Across South Florida initiative.  

Kristina Ellis (Building Code Services Coordinator, CGA Florida), who is involved with United Way, wanted to assist in their efforts of achieving the goal set of 520 books. So, she set a target for CGA to sponsor at least 20% of the total goal (104 books). She requested the staff either purchase books on Amazon for an average cost of $6.50 or provide monetary donations (in any amount) that was pooled together to purchase books. 

In the end, CGA collected and donated 224 books Dr. Seuss books to READ ACROSS AMERICA! This was celebrated on February 28th in honor of Dr. Seuss’s birthday, (which is on March 2). By accomplishing this goal this ensured there were enough books to take home for every child that was read to! The day was a collective effort of many volunteers who showed their solidarity to make a lasting impact in our community and in these children’s lives.  

Silvia Vargas, AICP, Principal Planner in our Miami office, participated in the American Planning Association (APA) Leadership meetings taking place in New Orleans ahead of the organization’s annual National Planning Conference. Silvia is the elected American Institute of Certified Planners (AICP) Commissioner for Region III, which represents AICP planners from Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Texas, Caribbean, Central America, Mexico, and South America.

During the course of the conference, Silvia:

• Provided mentoring to young women who are planning students or emerging professionals as part of APA’s Mentor/Match program.
• Co-emcee’d the induction ceremony of the 2018 Class of AICP Fellows. The Fellow of AICP (FAICP) is the highest honor bestowed by the Institute to those AICP planners who have achieved excellence in professional practice, teaching and mentoring, research, public and community service, and leadership.
• Led the College of Fellows’ annual meeting where the creation of a new Fellows Endowment fund was approved.
• Attended the APA Foundation’s Donor Reception, celebrating the many planners who through their donations since 2017 have made it possible for the Foundation to award twice as many student scholarships and to provide planning assistance to communities in Texas, Florida, Puerto Rico, California, and other areas devastated by natural disasters last year.

Calvin, Giordano & Associates, Inc. (CGA) welcomes Silvia E. Vargas to the CGA Miami office as a Principal Planner. Silvia joins CGA with 25 years of public and private sector experience in community planning and design. In her new role she will pursue and manage a variety of planning projects, including comprehensive plans and area plans, as well as providing public engagement support for other types of CGA projects.

Silvia holds a Bachelor’s degree in Architectural Studies and a Master’s degree in Urban Planning from the University of Kansas. Prior to joining CGA, Silvia ran her own planning consultancy, Silvia E. Vargas Community Planning, LLC (SEVCP), where she concentrated on helping local governments and nonprofits design and execute creative planning processes to engage their stakeholders.

Silvia’s work includes many comprehensive and strategic plans; visioning, neighborhood, district, downtown and corridor plans; grant preparation; parks and recreation master plans; institutional campus master plans; site-scale planning; and land acquisition program for recreational and environmental preservation purposes.

Her efforts have been recognized with numerous awards and speaking opportunities.

Silvia is actively involved in the advancement of the planning profession through the American Planning Association (APA), currently as a nationally-elected Commissioner of the American Institute of Certified Planners Commission. She has consulted as an expert to The American Architectural Foundation’s Sustainable Cities’ and City Managers’ Design Academies. She is also a member of ULI’s Women’s Leadership Initiative (WLI).