APA Selects 2005 Congressional Fellows

APA is pleased to announce the selection of fellows for the 2005 APA Congressional Fellowship for Urban Planning & Community Livability. This year's fellows are Alice Yates of Madison, Wisconsin, and C.J. Laffer of Denver, Colorado.

Ms. Yates will be working in the office of Senator Carl Levin of Michigan as a staff assistant for the Senate Smart Growth Task Force, an initiative of the bipartisan Northeast-Midwest Senate Coalition. Mr. Laffer will be working in the office of Representative Earl Blumenauer of Oregon as a staff assistant for the House Livable Communities Task Force. Both fellows will work on promoting federal legislation related to smart growth planning and community development.

Alice Yates
Ms. Yates received both her Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering and Master of Science in Technology and Policy from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. She is currently working towards her Master of Science in Urban and Regional Planning at the University of Wisconsin in Madison. Alice comes to DC with an extensive work history in the areas of environmental and economic policy consulting. She has worked on smart growth analysis and policy development for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, and managed numerous real estate development projects as Vice President of MassDevelopment, the state of Massachusetts's economic development authority.

C.J. Laffer
Mr. Laffer received his Bachelor of Arts in Economics from the University of Michigan and has just completed his Masters of City Planning from the University of California at Berkeley's Department of City and Regional Planning. C.J. has years of experience analyzing local land use controls and regulations, with a focus on rural Western communities. Previously, C.J. worked for a research and consulting firm in Denver, Colorado where he participated in projects to assess various land use impacts on local community economies. Most recently, C.J. worked for the Urban Land Institute compiling case studies of Bay Area developments and highlighting best practices for a trade association publication.

Click here to read more about APA's Congressional Fellowships.