Committee Chair ReportsCRAFT STANDARDS COMMITTEE
Co-chairs: Walt Fujii, CAP #10 and Allison Levin, CAP #34 Committee members: Dina Blackwell, Carolyn Cooley, Grant Foerster, Randall Lee, Maryann Lewis, Lara Miranda, Judy Thomas In 2024, the CSC continued its work of refining the certification process, and accomplished quite a lot. We refined and aligned components of the CAP application process, including: guidelines for the Lead Test Administrator, Test Administrator guidelines,
guidelines to the applicant for before and after their portfolio is accepted, and CAP Test components. We are continuing work on a couple more test components, website materials, study guide, and Committee Chair guidelines. In other words, we’re working to make sure every part of this process is documented. We’re almost there!
In 2024, we also began the process of testing one applicant. Special thanks to test administrators Greg Kitajima (who is acting as Lead Test Administrator), Grant Forester, and Carolyn Cooley. Being a Test Administrator is one way CAPs can support the APA. The next deadline for applying to become a CAP and submitting a portfolio is March 1. Thanks and sincere appreciation to these committee members: Randall Lee (past committee chair), Grant Foerster, Maryann Lewis, Judy Thomas, Dina Blackwell (who was committee chair during the first half of 2024), co-chairs Walt Fujii and Allison Levin, and our newest committee member, Carolyn Cooley. Additionally, Bruce Thompson, Evelyn Borchert, Peter Bowyer, Lary Huls, and Melissa Hyams, all past Test Administrators, helped improve the CAP test. Barb Eaton provided editorial assistance. Lara Miranda provided big picture feedback. Sharna Fabiano has helped us get documents formatted and uploaded. Many of these committee members have been active since the very start of the APA. As a committee, we have two main tasks: that of creating, refining, and modernizing our testing system, and that of staying true to our mission of maintaining craft standards that define aesthetic pruning, setting us apart from other pruning associations. The work can be challenging and gets into the weeds of committee work, but this committee also gets to talk about what being an aesthetic pruner is really about. If this sounds interesting to you, please know that we welcome visitors to our meetings. We need your perspective! Contact Allison or Walt if you want to be informed of upcoming meetings.
________________________________________________________________ EDUCATION COMMITTEE
Chair: Lara Miranda, CAP #65 Committee members: Judy Thomas, Evelyn Borchert, Greg Kitajima, Carolyn Cooley, Allison Levin
Welcome to the newest members of the Education Committee: Carolyn Cooley (Bayside, CA, CAP #15) and Greg Kitajima (Goleta, CA, CAP #26). After taking somewhat of a winter hiatus, we will be offering a Tree Talk with Darren Lerigo, and we are working towards another Tree Talk, “Working with White Pines” with Bill Castellon, as well as our new Coffee Talk series. Stay tuned! Send your ideas to apapresident@aestheticprunersassociation.org for more content you'd like to see! ________________________________________________________________ FINANCE COMMITTEE
Chair: Barbara Eaton, CAP #60 Committee members: Lara Miranda, Dina Blackwell, Melissa Hyams, Nina Rizzo, Mark Mendell, Shivawn Layne (Accountant), Helga Mahlmann (former Accountant) In the 4th quarter of 2024, the APA co-hosted a very successful fall Garden Tour and Pruning Workshop with NAJGA; the APA’s share of the income was $3,113. We also hosted a great Tree Talk by Chris Roddick that brought in $340. Our 4th quarter membership dues totaled almost $3,600, we sold $280 in merchandise, and our CD account earned $407 in interest. Our main 4th quarter expenses included about $1,300 in accounting fees, $250 in Tree Talk speaker fees, almost $590 in website expenses, and $500 in administrative and Zoom account subscription expenses. We also transferred about $750 into the Sachiko Umehara Scholarship Fund at the Peralta Colleges Foundation from donations received in the past year. Our 2024 year-end total income was $19,937 and our total expense was $12,860, for a net income of $7,077. The 2025 budget will reflect ongoing expenses for the website, administration, insurance and accounting, regular income from membership and our CD account interest, and will include income and expenses related to educational programs, craft standards and promotions. Anyone interested in joining the Finance Committee is welcome to email Barb at apatreasurer@aestheticprunersassociation.org. ________________________________________________________________ MEMBERSHIP COMMITTEE
Chair: Alex Senauke Committee members: Lara Miranda, Dina Blackwell 2024 was our first complete calendar year using MembershipWorks. This program will allow us to easily track annual trends moving forward. Our first year consisted of: 43 new paying members, including: 12 Affiliate Members
20 Associate Members
9 Student Members
2 Organizational Members Overall, our biggest increase occurred after the co-sponsored APA/NAJGA event in October. Additionally, we have updated our account limit on MembershipWorks to accommodate the influx of new members, and to prepare for expansions in the future. We also created a LinkedIn page for the APA, which can be accessed here: https://www.linkedin.com/company/aesthetic-pruners-association/ Please contact me at alexsenauke@gmail if you'd like to be involved in our committee work, or if you have ideas about ways to grow our membership base! ________________________________________________________________ NEWSLETTER COMMITTEE
Chair: Dina Blackwell, CAP #53 Committee members: Barbara Eaton, Lara Miranda
We meet virtually to put together content for our quarterly publication. If you have any ideas for stories, or would like to write one yourself, please contact Dina at dinasgardens@gmail.com. The Newsletter Committee would love to get photos from members for the opening image. It could be a seasonal photo that represents the time of year for that newsletter, or just a photo of a nice tree, someone pruning, or a set of before and after pruning shots. Also, we have a column called “Pruning Wisdom” where 2 to 4 pruners answer a question from members. We would love to hear any questions that you would like answered. All of the past newsletters can be viewed on the APA website under the Resources tab, APA Newsletter. ________________________________________________________________ PROMOTIONS COMMITTEE
Chair: Jeff Becerra Committee members: Dina Blackwell, Jane Chua-Couzens, Barb Eaton, Melissa Hyams, Nina Rizzo In 2024, the Promotions Committee helped to organize staffing and distribution of APA materials at the Local Ecology and Agriculture Fremont (LEAF) Earth Day event in Fremont, CA, in April and at the annual Solano Stroll in Albany, CA, in September. We were a sponsor of the biennial conference of the North American Japanese Garden Association (NAJGA) that took place in Texas in March, and organized the August picnic for APA members in Alameda, CA. Upcoming goals and highlights for 2025 include: Advertisements that promote aesthetic pruning and the benefits of hiring a pro. Media TBD, but past examples include the Hillside Gardeners of Montclair garden tour booklet. Members picnic (timing TBD) Public event staffing (e.g. the Solano Stroll) Resupply as needed of APA swag such as t-shirts, hats and tote bags. Don’t have yours yet? Check out the APA shop at https://www.aestheticprunersassociation.org/apa-shop.
If you have additional outreach and promotional ideas for the APA, reach out to Jeff Becerra at jeffbecerra@sbcglobal.net. ________________________________________________________________ SCHOLARSHIP COMMITTEE
Chair: Randall Lee, CAP #3 Committee members: Melissa Hyams, Dina Blackwell The application deadline for the APA's Sachiko Umehara Scholarship is coming up on March 1st. The APA would like to award the scholarship to a Landscape Horticulture student whose focus is pruning. We would really appreciate members' help in getting the word out to aesthetic pruning students about this scholarship. The Sachiko Umehara Scholarship, managed by the Peralta Colleges Foundation and funded by the APA and individual donors, is designed to help cover the tuition costs of academic classes offered through the Merritt College Landscape Horticulture Department. This scholarship is awarded to any student who wishes to get a horticulture education and take the Aesthetic Pruning series of classes offered at Merritt College. • Scholarship amount: $500. • Deadline to apply: March 1, 2025 • Apply online through the Peralta Colleges Foundation (https://peraltafoundation.org/scholarships/) Students cannot apply directly for the Sachiko Umehara Scholarship, but the Peralta Colleges Foundation system matches all scholarships in their database for which applicants are eligible. Applicants should demonstrate a stated need and an educational commitment to learn the craft of aesthetic pruning. • The scholarship is awarded by the APA and announced in May.
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