Joel Mills
Director, Communities by Design
Joel Mills serves as director of the AIA Center for Communities by Design, the primary resource for architects and citizens interested in building healthy, sustainable, safe, and livable communities. Under his leadership, the AIA Center for Communities by Design is at the forefront of the AIA’s organization-wide initiative conducting local-level targeted outreach, issues advocacy, resource development, and case study collection that is slated for the coming years.
His experience includes community-based technical assistance, process design, facilitation and training across a number of fields including juvenile justice reform, local government, education, family strengthening, civic media and emergency management. During the 1990s, Joel spent several years supporting international democratization initiatives by providing technical assistance to parliaments, political parties, local governments, and civic and international organizations. His scope of work included constitutional design and governing systems, voter and civic education, election monitoring and administration, political party training and campaign strategy, collaborative governance, human rights, and civil society capacity building. He maintains active memberships in the International Association of Facilitators (IAF), the International Association for Public Participation (IAP2), and the Mid-Atlantic Facilitators Network. He also serves on several public and private boards.
Erin Simmons
Director, Design Assistance
Erin Simmons leads selected initiatives involving community outreach and facilitation to foster leadership opportunities for AIA members, AIA local components, and the public. She focuses on the relationship-building aspects of creating healthy, sustainable, safe, and livable communities. Erin manages the design assistance programs offered through the Center including Sustainable Design Assessment Team (SDAT) and Regional and Urban Design Assistance Team (R/UDAT) programs.
Erin holds a Master’s degree in Historic Preservation from the University of Georgia, College of Environment and Design. She earned her BA degree in history from Florida State University. Before joining the AIA Erin was senior architectural historian and historic preservationist with Terracon Consultants, Inc., in Duluth, Ga. Prior to Terracon Consultants, Inc. she served as a historic resource surveyor in Georgia.
Marsha Garcia
Manager, Outreach
Marsha serves as the primary link between the Center for Communities by Design and all AIA components, communicating and coordinating Center activities with local components and monitoring local component activities related to the mission of the Center. She coordinates the Center’s outreach efforts with AIA Component Relations and AIA Marketing & Promotion departments. Her vast community outreach experience and ability to convert underserved constituencies with local community design initiatives makes Marsha an invaluable resource for the future of the Center and its programs.
Previous to the AIA, Marsha was the Senior Coordinator of Professional Development at the University of Oregon’s Ecological Design Center at the School of Architecture and Allied Arts. Prior to that role, she worked as the Assistant Manager, LEED Workshops at the U.S. Green Building Council. She has also worked as an interior design assistant at Bartelomei & Co., a high-end residential firm in Georgetown, and as a meeting planner for the National Wildlife Federation. Marsha holds a Bachelor degree from Drew University in New Jersey and is currently pursuing her Master of Environmental Science and Planning degree at Johns Hopkins University.
Manager, Communities by Design
Cooper Martin has been a project manager at Center for Communities by Design with the American Institute of Architects since 2008. He is responsible for overseeing the Disaster Assistance network and lends his assistance to the Sustainable Design Assistance Team (SDAT) program. Although he is the newest member of the Communities by Design team, his work for AIA began in May of 2007 as a research assistant in the Government Advocacy department. His areas of interest include local sustainability programs and the policy process.
Cooper holds a masters degree in Public Policy from American University and earned his BA in political science at the University of Kansas. Prior to moving to Washington, Cooper worked in the Kansas State House of Representatives and regularly participated in voter registration drives and other campaigns with the Kansas Democratic Party. When he’s not thinking about urban policy, Cooper enjoys cooking, brewing his own beer, playing ultimate frisbee and rooting for the Kansas Jayhawks.