Jo,

Congratulations on your recent accreditation. You’ve taken what I believe is an important first step in demonstrating your commitment and interest in the practice of Green Buildings and the LEED rating system.

Your best local resource when looking to get involved in the USGBC on a personal and local level would be to look up and join your local USGBC Chapter. You can look up your local chapter on the USGBC website. USGBC Chapters “provide local green building resources, education, and leadership opportunities.

Many people incorrectly assume that because their employer or company is a USGBC member, that they’re automatically a member too. USGBC national membership is corporate or organization in nature, but all full-time employees of national member companies may utilize their company's national member benefits. Individuals are encouraged to join their local USGBC chapters. Chapter membership allows any individual, regardless of whether or not his or her company is a national member, to participate in the chapter and take advantage of local chapter benefits. It also allows individuals to get involved in their community and support local green building efforts. USGBC national membership is for organizations, and you are not a member of the local chapter unless you join one. Chapter memberships are for individuals.

Chapters are the local voice of national USGBC, and chapter members are the key to raising awareness about green building efforts in our communities. Get involved in your local chapter to connect with green building experts in your area; share strategies, resources, and best practices; tour green building projects; and more”. It looks like your local chapter would be USGBC New Jersey Chapter. You can visit their website at http://www.usgbcnj.org/

If you’re looking for a job, I’d also recommend checking out USGBC’s Career Center.

There are resources for both job seekers (browse available jobs, post your resume, receive job alerts, etc) and recruiters (view submitted resumes, post jobs, purchase recruitment products).

Then, once you’ve made valuable local connections and participated on several LEED projects, I’d of course recommend continuing on to take the LEED-AP exams if you have any interest.

- Sarah Gudeman, LEED AP

Hi Jo,

I’m inclined to agree with you on that count. Many times when I speak with local building professionals I find myself explaining the new system again and again (or, at least my limited understanding of it). And even I don’t have a full understanding of what will come because, after all, I took the v2.2 version of the exam.

After the initial announcement by the USGBC last year that GBCI would be handling all future accreditation matters, things definitely started to change quickly. So quickly, in fact that even I have had trouble keeping up.

Truth be told, I’m not even certain that the GBCI has a firm definition on the title and the future possibilities that it holds. With ‘green’ being such an ‘in’ thing with regard to society as a whole, I personally believe that the GBCI is at this point concerning itself with a longevity view of the brand standards for professional accreditations. While for so many years ‘LEED-AP’ was a notification of ‘green-mindedness’, there are all of a sudden new levels that everyone seems to have trouble grasping. It’s unfortunate that the Green Associate title wasn’t available from the beginning, but who could have anticipated the overwhelming success of the USGBC in recent years?

Unfortunately it’s undeniable that with a restructuring this large, an associated learning curve must be implemented. Also unfortunately, while GBCI has been great about getting the word out to LEED-APs, the rest of those that aren’t actively involved in USGBC (or who don’t check their email) remain relatively unaware of the change. I believe it will eventually take something as simple as time for the industry to catch up and word-of-mouth knowledge to spread about the new accreditation levels.

Over the next two years, current LEED Accredited Professionals will begin opting-in to the new rating system and even as soon as this fall, the emails will start going out. This, I think, will be the beginning of the change and awareness of the changes and the Green Associate program will exponentially increase from there. And (I hope) that people looking for answers and education opportunities will turn to their local USGBC chapters for help. As an active member of the local Nebraska Flatwater Chapter, I certainly hope that we can be a local resource for professionals here in Nebraska.

At this point, we’re all in the same boat… floating in a sea of relative unawareness. But I feel reassured that the GBCI is looking at this restructuring of accreditation levels with long term goals in mind. I know it’s rough now, and I know several people that are in your shoes who were prepared to pass the LEED-AP exam and easily breezed through the Green Associate test. But I’d be willing to bet that in two short years this whole thing will be sorted out.

- Sarah Gudeman, LEED AP