A Word From AGCVA Chair, Anthony Smith

Spring is a time of new beginnings, growth, and hope for the future. Our Board of Directors embraced these sentiments by having the spring Board of Directors meeting alongside the SkillsUSA Virginia State Leadership Conference. We met overlooking the competition floor, creating a wonderful scene of current industry leaders working to improve the world of construction with a backdrop of the students that will be the backbone of construction’s future. Excitement was in the air, and we had a wonderful time meeting the contestants and their advisors. Their passion was both inspiring and infectious. AGCVA members should be proud of our continuing partnership with SkillsUSA Virginia.

ADVOCACY EFFORTS
Now that the legislative session has ended, we are taking stock of our advocacy efforts. We were able to block several damaging bills dealing with cooperative procurement, bid listing, and liens that would have required GCs, not the owner, to fully fund projects. In working with other associations, we were successful in our efforts to revoke the burdensome COVID-19 standards. We continued to improve the wage theft statute, successfully changing language to provide more protections for our subcontractor members. We continue to be deeply involved with the pay-if-paid legislation and successfully made incremental improvements throughout the process by being constructively engaged in the negotiations. At the federal level, the AGC of America team successfully fought for revocation of the employee vaccine mandate all while running a national PSA campaign to support voluntary vaccinations.

PAC GROWTH
Just because Virginia’s legislative session has ended, our work is not complete. Sufficient funding for the PAC is essential for AGCVA to continue to advocate effectively. In comparison to other associations of our size in the state we are woefully underfinanced in our PAC, yet AGCVA’s opinion is still sought after and respected by legislators. Imagine how effective we could be if we had a sizeable war chest to go along with our much sought-after knowledge. At the board meeting I challenged everyone on the board to make a PAC donation. I now challenge all members to do the same. Don’t wait, give now. It’s easy and effective: click here to donate. If we receive only $200 from each member company, we could raise $100,000 which would more than double our current PAC balance. Now, imagine if we each gave $1,000 – that would be a single moment that could immediately change our power to advocate. I would love to see our fund grow exponentially by next year’s elections.

PUBLIC RELATIONS
The advocate pillar is just not political, it also centered on public relations. Staff has been working diligently to increase communications to our members about all our amazing programs and now it’s time to tell our story beyond our industry. Our board approved finances to engage a media firm that will facilitate placing media stories throughout the state to help tell the construction story. This has already borne fruit with a great story during Women in Construction Week on WSLS in Roanoke, which I encourage you to take a moment to watch. Click here to view the story. I really look forward to how much more we will now be able to spread the wonderful stories of the Virginia construction industry and our AGCVA members.

GROWTH PILLAR
The work within our growth pillar is ongoing, and as I mentioned above, our partnership with SkillsUSA Virginia is reaching new heights. AGCVA’s Educational Foundation stepped in to solidify this mutually beneficial relationship with a $25,000 grant to go toward the costs of funding the state construction competition. These relationships pay off. One member company volunteering at this year’s state competition shared with me how they consistently hire two or more prospects from SkillsUSA Virginia annually. The new statewide Workforce Taskforce held its initial meeting virtually last month. This is a semi-facilitated discussion with members across the state sharing the challenges and potential solutions to building our workforce both at the company and industry level. We should have a second meeting coming in May so be on the lookout to take part in this informative sharing of ideas with your peers. To further solidify this pillar, we will make workforce development and industry young leaders the focus of this year’s Summer Conference. This year’s conference is July 29-30 at the Lansdowne Resort in Leesburg, so be sure to mark your calendars – registration opens in May.

FACE-TO-FACE CONNECTIONS
Finally, the districts have been busy getting back to the face-to-face connections that are the strength of our organization. Legislative events, golf tournaments, young leader socials, are just some of the types of the events occurring locally. I recently attended the Construction Rodeo in Richmond. This great event was held in partnership with RAMCA and allowed vendors and members to highlight themselves at a vendor fair, followed by music, BBQ, and beverages. Several local legislators were also in attendance. There was even a mechanical bull on hand for those brave enough to try their hand at bull riding. Speaking of great events, in early May, I’m looking forward to attending an event in northern Virginia at TopGolf Loudoun. This will be the first foray into this region for AGCVA in many years. These are just a few of the local district events on the schedule for this year. Make it a point to check the AGCVA calendar and find your district’s next event and see the people you need to see in the industry with us.