Your skills belong in public office.
Planning commissions, zoning boards, school boards and councils make decisions a community lives with for generations. Architects carry a professional duty to protect public health, safety and welfare, and are trained to turn competing demands into a plan that gets built. ArchElect gives you a self-paced path to one of those seats.
What architects bring to public office
A professional duty to the public
Architects carry a professional duty to protect public health, safety and welfare. Few candidates come to office with that duty built into their profession.
Decisions measured in decades
Buildings outlast budgets, terms and trends. Architects are trained to weigh what a choice will mean in thirty or fifty years, well beyond the next election.
Solutions that get built
Owners, neighbors, codes, budgets and schedules rarely agree. Architects resolve them into one design that is delivered, accountable for the result long after the ribbon is cut.
Prepare to Run, then While You Run
Self-paced on-demand courses with worksheets in the Campaign Workbook. Start with ACA 100, a free live session; your state’s rules live in ACA 150, your State Playbook, given at enrollment. Courses are designed to earn AIA continuing education credit (LUs) through participating chapters.
ACA 100 · Architects on the Ballot
A free live kickoff of about 50 minutes: why architects run and how the path to the ballot works.
ACA 150 · Your State Playbook
Your state’s layers of government, ballot and campaign finance rules, and dos and don’ts, given at enrollment.
ACA 101 · Deciding to Run
Choosing an office and timing, readiness, appointed boards and a long-term plan.
ACA 102 · Getting on the Ballot and Setting Up Your Campaign
Petitions, paperwork and filing day, your committee, records and disclaimers.
ACA 103 · Campaign Strategy
A goal and strategy, the vote goal, budgets, cash flow and a calendar.
ACA 104 · Building Your Team
Core roles, a trusted cabinet of advisors, volunteers and endorsements.
ACA 105 · Fundraising
Your donor list, monthly targets, making the ask and call time.
ACA 106 · Message and Earned Media
Your story, the stump speech, local press, social media and debates.
ACA 107 · Field and Get-Out-the-Vote
Voter contact, canvassing, choosing your tools and getting out the vote.
While You Run
A library of short videos, checklists and templates for each campaign phase once you file, plus tutorials.
Plan your turf, door by door
Learn how campaigns cut a district into walkable turfs, build a walk list and track every conversation, the way canvassing apps do it.
Four deliverables you keep
Office Finder report
Every elected office, appointed board and civic association for your address, with the next opening for each.
Office Brief
For the office you pick: the role, how to get on the ballot, the last three elections and a starting vote goal.
Academy and Workbook
The Prepare to Run courses, including ACA 150, your State Playbook, and the Campaign Workbook, ending in your own campaign plan.
Launch Plan
A dated plan from today through Election Day and taking office, with a checklist for each phase.
Start building your path to public service.
For students and emerging professionals: tell us where you are in your career, and we will help you map a path and set goals for the years ahead, from civic groups and AIA advocacy to an appointed board and, when you are ready, the ballot.
- 01LearnFollow local issues and join your AIA chapter’s advocacy work.
- 02Get involvedJoin a civic association or volunteer on a local campaign.
- 03Serve on a boardApply for a planning, zoning or design review board.
- 04RunRun for office with the full ArchElect program behind you.