Masonry Magazine May 2005 Page. 17
Strategic Vision
The Association Board and staff have been guided by our Long-Range Strategic Plan. This past February, the MCAA Executive Board and representatives from several of our chapters met in Napa, Calif., to review the vision we established five years ago, to determine if the road we set is still relevant today and decide what changes need to be made to our long-range course. This long-range strategic thinking has helped us attain some very significant achievements. Not only will it guide the Board as to how to effectively allocate resources and effort, but it will also aid the MCAA in accomplishing even greater successes in the future.
Promoting Masonry
One of the fastest growing areas of the Association is our effort to market the use of masonry and masonry systems. Millions of dollars are spent each year promoting the use of brick, block and stone. Yet we struggle as an industry to protect traditional masonry markets, let alone expand new ones. As mason contractors, we are in a unique position to promote the greater use of masonry through masonry systems. You have repeatedly heard that as contractors our only concern is to deliver what the customer wants. Whether it is clay masonry, concrete masonry, stone or other masonry materials, we will sell what the customer wants. Therefore, it is in our industry's best interest to have a national contractor effort to promote masonry.
Many of our chapters have effective promotional programs, and we have learned from them. Working with our allied chapters through the Masonry Executives Council, we have launched MasonrySystems.org, a national effort to promote masonry systems. Launched this past October through a dedicated web site and advertising campaigns, Masonry Systems.org is growing as a valuable tool to promote masonry. Hits to the site have steadily increased since its launch, with thousands of architects, specifiers, and school and public works officials visiting it. The MCAA staff has provided a great deal of resources to developing this site and working with our chapter executive partners.
The "Masonry: It Makes a Village" national contest made its debut at the Construction Specifiers Institute (CSI) Construct America™ show in Chicago and drew the attention and imagination of the nearly 5,000 specifiers and architects attending. Nine teams, made up of architects and contractors, started with an array of masonry materials and built a project that can be found in a village. Masonry Showcase and Construct America attendees selected the overall winner. The goal of the Village contest is to stimulate those architects and specifiers to ask the questions: "Why don't we use more masonry on our projects?" And "Why aren't we more creative with masonry?" If we are successful with our Village competition, the impact to our industry will be significant.
Masonry magazine continues to be a very professional tool for promoting masonry. At last year's CSI show, Masonry magazine was distributed to every specifier in attendance. Again this year, Masonry will be widely available to the architects and specifiers at Construct America.
Building Our Labor Force
We have struggled to build and sustain a quality workforce for decades. Traditionally, our industry invests substantial resources in recruitment and training when we have a backlog of work, and then we stop our efforts when work slows. The MCAA and our Board have continued to invest our time and resources to recruit even in lean times. Our High School Career Initiative has been highly successful in getting our message to our nation's high schools. Through the sponsorship of our contractors, suppliers and affiliate associations, we have distributed masonry career information to more than 700 schools nationwide. These materials have introduced masonry to hundreds of thousands of young people who never before had knowledge of what our industry offers its workforce.
The MCAA and our Board have continued to invest our time and resources to recruit even in lean times.
To continue this multi-stage, ongoing recruitment initiative, we are communicating on a regular basis with the guidance counselors at these high schools and sending them quarterly newsletters, which have resulted in a growing number of career days and fairs-more than we've ever coordinated before. There are still over 16,000 high schools that need career information. Our job is just beginning but, thus far, the results are exciting. I urge you all to help us sponsor this program.
Codes and Standards
This has been an exciting year for MCAA in Codes and Standards!
Masonry Standards Joint Committee
As a result of the OSHA Proposed Silica Regulations and the Bricklayers and Allied Craftsmen requesting that all cutting of masonry units be cut wet, we rallied our troop of contractors, and wrote over 100 letters to the Masonry Stan-