Each year, a committee of the National Engineers Week organization reviews applications from universities, businesses and associations regarding eligibility to become or continue as an officially sanctioned National Engineers Week Future City Competition™ regional site.
As a Future City Competition regional site, you are then eligible to compete for the top national prizes. Each sanctioned site receives the following opportunities: trip to Washington, DC, for the national finals in February, during National Engineers Week; prizes for national winners; media support from National Engineers Week headquarters; networking among students, teachers and business volunteers.
Minimum criteria to be selected as a site include the ability to recruit a minimum of 25 schools to register for the programs and a dedicated volunteer coordinator able to call on local organizations for financial and human resources.
If you would like to be considered as a regional competition site for the 2009 Future City Competition, call 1-877-636-9578 by May 31, 2008 and state your interest by leaving your name, phone number, mailing address and email address on the voice mail. Please state that you are requesting that your name and address be added to the database to receive a "Request for Participation" (RFP) form for the Future City 2009 competition. RFP forms will be emailed out in May 2008.
Questions on the RFP application form:
- It is expected that the direct expenses of running this program range from $ 4,000-15,000. How will you raise funds to administer your program?
- The National Engineers Week Committee wants to be sure that inner-city schools are part of this program. How will you foster an aggressive approach to reach minority schools and minority engineers?
- One of the keys to success of this program is the work of the volunteer engineers mentoring the students. What resources do you have to draw on to recruit engineer volunteers? How will you recruit volunteer engineers and ensure they are working with the schools on a regular basis?
- Please list the engineering societies, engineering companies, and local colleges and universities in your area.
- The key to acceptance of this program is the support of the local schools and school system. Do you have experience in outreach programs? Please describe. How will you work with the local school system to initiate or enhance this program?
- Generating attention to call for school entries is also key to providing publicity for your local contest. Do you have access to public relations support staff in your organization or another organization? Will this support be ongoing throughout the time period of the contest? If so please explain.
Your Geographical Location
The 40 regional sites for the Future City Competition are: Alabama; Arizona; California (Northern); California (Southern); Colorado; Florida; Florida (Tampa Bay); Georgia; Idaho; Illinois (Chicago); Indiana; Iowa; Kansas – Great Plans Regional (Kansas & KC Metro Area); Kentucky; Louisiana; Maryland; Massachusetts (New England); Michigan; Minnesota; Nebraska (Omaha/Heartland); Nevada (Las Vegas); Nevada (Northern); New Jersey; New York (Albany-Capital District Region); New York (New York City); New York (Western); North Carolina; Ohio; Oklahoma; Oregon; Pennsylvania (Central); Pennsylvania (Philadelphia); Pennsylvania (Pittsburgh); South Carolina; Texas (Houston Region); Texas (North); Virginia (Hampton Roads); Washington, DC; Washington State; Wisconsin.
If you see your school location is near one of these 40 sites, please contact your Regional Coordinator for more information on how to register your school in the 2008 National Engineers Week Future City™ Competition.
If you see your region is not listed, please consider applying to become an official site for the 2009 Future City Competition.
