CMA Director of Water Resources Brent Whitfield, P.E., ENV SP led the Joint Professional Societies Annual Legislative Breakfast today ‘Planning for a Resilient Florida’ at the Marriott Hotel in Palm Beach Gardens.  CMA would like to extend a special thank you to our Florida State Representatives, Senators and Assistant County Administrator for listening to our fellow engineers and sharing your legislative goals prior to this year’s session: Rep. Katherine Waldron, Rep. Kelly Skidmore, Rep. Jervonte ‘Tae’ Edmonds, Senator Lori Berman, Senator Bobby Powell and Assistant County Administrator Todd Bonlarron.  CMA also served as a sponsor for the event and our other staff members who attended included: Jose L. Acosta, P.E., F.ASCE, Suzanne Dombrowski, P.E., ENV SP, Shahin Hekmat, P.E., Peter Moore, P.E., F.ASCE, FACEC, and Nilsa Zarcarias, AICP.

CMA staff members attended the FES Miami Legislative Breakfast on January 31. The event, held at the Biltmore hotel, hosted over 80 attendees including seven legislators. CMA Executive Vice President and FES Miami Chapter President Jose L. Acosta, P.E., F.ASCE and Director of Quality Assurance Shahin Hekmat, P.E. were on the planning committee for this event. Other CMA staff members who attended were Peter Moore, P.E., F.ASCE, FACEC, Gregory Mendez, P.E., Yulet Miguel, P.E. and Laura Vogel, Ph.D., P.E., ENV SP.  CMA would like to extend a special thank you to our Florida State Representatives and Senators for listening to our fellow engineers and sharing your legislative goals prior to this year’s session: Rep. Daniel Perez (District 116), Rep. Vicki L. Lopez (District 113), Rep. Juan Fernandez-Barquin (District 118), Rep. David Borrero (District 111), Rep. Alina Garcia (District 115), Senator Ana Maria Rodriguez (District 40) and Senator Alexis Calatayud (District 38).

CMA staff members Mike Bell, P.E., Ben Lehr, P.E., Jason Sutton, PLA, CA and Brad Wilson, P.E., attended the 4^th Annual Northeast Florida Construction Career Days Clay Shoot on January 26 at Jacksonville Clay Target Sports.  CMA served as a silver sponsor for the event that also includes an educational outreach program on February 28–March 2. CMA staff members Freeman Bass, P.E., Derrick Smith, P.E., Jennifer Smith, P.E. and Brad Wilson, P.E. will attend and volunteer as chaperones. The program is designed to introduce high school students to the wide range of career opportunities available to them in the construction industry in a hands-on environment. Home – Construction Career Days (nflccd.com)

CMA staff members Madeline Batey, E.I., Charmaine Emanuels, E.I., and Justin Tagle, P.E., LEED AP attended the ASCE Multi-Regional Leadership Conference (MRLC) January 20-21. The event, held in Charlotte, NC, allowed upcoming leaders a chance to gain Society and Region knowledge, interact with students, younger members, section, branch, and institute leaders, while gaining personal leadership training. https://regions.asce.org/region5/multi-region-leadership-conference

CMA Principal Engineer Jennifer Smith, P.E. attended the Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University/Florida State University College of Engineering STEM Career & Internship Fair on January 24, 2023. https://eng.famu.fsu.edu/

CMA, along with University of Florida’s College of Design, Construction and Planning (DCP), hosted a design charette to the Landscape Architecture students. CMA staff Tanya McCormick, PLA, AICP, Eric Harrison, PLA and John Gorham, PLA kicked off the charette on January 13th and concluded the charette on January 20^th. The subject site used for the charette was Currie Park in West Palm Beach. The students were given certain parameters and site information and were asked to prepare site designs to present to CMA for a scholarship of $1,800. The students presented their designs to Tanya, Eric and Dan Manley of UF DCP. The designs were scored based on the inclusion of the provided program elements, observation of site constraints and the deliverables. CMA heavily weighed the creativity and quality of the presentations, and ultimately presented the scholarship to four deserving students. CMA is grateful to have been given this opportunity to begin building relationships with these amazing students and we look forward to seeing them again at the DCP career fair next month! https://dcp.ufl.edu/

CMA staff prepared care packages at Provident Park in Fort Lauderdale in honor of Martin Luther King, Jr. Day on January 16!

To help celebrate the hard work of our employees throughout the year, holiday dinner parties were held for each CMA office during December. Our Fort Lauderdale staff celebrated at the Riverside Hotel in Fort Lauderdale on December 2, our Orlando holiday office party was held on December 8 at Armando’s in Winter Park, our West Palm Beach office staff celebrated at the Canopy by Hilton in downtown West Palm Beach on December 9, our Miami office holiday party was held on December 10, graciously hosted at Casa Mendez in Palmetto Bay and our Jacksonville holiday party was held on December 15 at Town Hall Restaurant in Jacksonville. We wish everyone a wonderful holiday season!

Our CMA South Florida offices sponsored a single mother with children as part of the Adopt-A-Family (AAF) of the Palm Beaches program this year. AAF’s mission is to strengthen families with children in their efforts to achieve stability and self-sufficiency by providing access to all-encompassing services. Since 1983, AAF has grown into the largest service provider for homeless families in Palm Beach County – providing access to services for more than 2,000 families with children per year. Thank you to the community service committee for coordinating the drive.  https://adoptafamilypbc.org/

CMA is proud to recap our participation in community service events from 2022 and we look forward to how we can help our communities more in 2023! Our projects include:

• Cros Ministries Gleaning, West Palm Beach staff picked bell peppers for food banks.
• The Broward County Waterway Cleanup, Fort Lauderdale staff cleaned Tradewinds Park in Coconut Creek.
• Waterway Adventures in Hollywood Waterway Cleanup, Fort Lauderdale staff kayaked through the waterways in Hollywood to collect 5 bags of trash.
• Relay for Life, staff collected $351.93 to donate to the American Cancer Society to raise awareness for the research for the cure of cancer. In addition volunteers walked around the track in support to cancer patients.
• School Supply Drives, the Jacksonville office supported the Duval County School Drive, the Fort Lauderdale and Miami offices contributed to Voices for Children of Broward County Back to School Drive, the WPB office collected school supplies which benefited Palmetto Elementary School and the Orlando office participated of the ASCE YMF School Supply Drive for the East Central Branch.
• International Coastal Cleanup, Staff collected a total of 722 pounds of garbage at Pompano Beach; the West Palm Beach Waterfront; Love Hope Music Community Cleanup in Miami; and Jacksonville Beach.
• Rohi’s Readery, West Palm Beach staff taught kids about chemistry using colors.
• Habitat for Humanity of Broward, Fort Lauderdale staff assisted with cutting wood and installing wall furring.
• Feeding Florida Thanksgiving Food Drives, staff collectively raised $958 for the Feeding Florida branches. The $958 equals 8,00 meals for those in need.
• Christmas Chocolatada, staff collectively raised over $100 to donate treats and toys for children in the Elementary School of Capulipampa in the San Juan District of Cajamarca, Peru.
• Adopt-a-Family of the Palm Beaches, staff collected gifts for the holiday season and donated to a selected family in need.