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- The Nebraska Planner: April Edition
The Nebraska Planner: April Edition
A joint publication of APA Nebraska and NPZA
APA Nebraska
April 22, 2026
Welcome to the April edition of The Nebraska Planner. This month, we celebrate our 2026 Chapter Award winners and showcase a fresh perspective in our latest student submission. We also provide a vital legislative update on housing and infrastructure bills, along with essential resources for those pursuing AICP certification this spring. Dive in to stay connected with the people and policies shaping the future of Nebraska.
Announcements
Join us in Detroit for NPC26 Experience the future of planning in Detroit at NPC26, April 25-28, where you’ll connect with a powerful network of peers and gain the tools to lead our profession forward. Reach out to [email protected] to connect with other Nebraska planners in Detroit. NPC Online follows the in-person event one month later, May 27-29, offering a distinct, high-level digital program that ensures accessible planning education for everyone. Learn more at: planning.org/conference Spring Conference Cornhole Tournament Winners  For this year’s cornhole tournament, we raised $1,800 to support students in the Community and Regional Planning program at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. We had 16 teams, and this year's winners were "The VPs", including Cale Brodersen and Kyle McLaughlin, the past and current vice president for the APA Nebraska Chapter.
Booked on Planning Latest Episode: Folk Engineering There’s regionalism as we all learned in planning school led by Louis Mumford at the Regional Planning Association of America (RPAA) and then there’s southern regionalism that Howard W. Odum and his Institute for Research in Social Science (IRSS) led from the University of North Carolina. The history of the southern regionalists was largely overlooked until Stephen Ramos published “Folk Engineering: Planning Southern Regionalism.” Sadly, Stephen passed away shortly after publishing this book, leaving behind an accomplished career and scholarship that elevated the urban planning program in the College of Environmental Design at the University of Georgia. This episode honors his last major publication contributing to the field. To catch up on all our back episodes, search for "Book on Planning" wherever you listen to podcasts or head to www.bookedonplanning.com Let’s Bring D-PRAT to Nebraska The Design & Preservation Rapid Assistance Team (D-PRAT) is seeking a host for the 2026 pro bono cycle! As a program of APA’s Urban Design & Preservation Division, they provide under-resourced communities with free, expert-led intensive workshops. Whether it’s Main Street revitalization, streetscape design, or historic preservation, they want to bring national expertise to communities, and Nebraska is a great fit. Local municipalities or organizations should apply by May 15, 2026. Visit D-PRAT Online for applications and project examples. Let’s bring a D-PRAT workshop to Nebraska! | Save the Date for the 2026 APA Quad State Conference Join the Kansas City Section and the APA Chapters of MO, KS, IA, and NE for the Quad State Conference from October 28–30 in Kansas City, MO. This three-day event offers regional planners a unique space to collaborate on emerging tech, sustainability, and innovative design. You’ll head home inspired and ready to shape the future of your community. Visit the conference webpage: https://kc-apa.org/2026-quadstate-conference Pints with Planners: We Make Omaha Edition - Thursday, May 21st at 4 pm
Pedaling Planners Group Bicycle Ride - Thursday, June 11th at 5:30 pm
Interested in Becoming a Sponsor of APA Nebraska? Sponsorship offers a valuable opportunity to support the planning profession while increasing your organization’s visibility among planners, local officials, and community leaders across the state. APA Nebraska sponsors help make our conferences, workshops, and professional development opportunities possible. We invite firms, agencies, and partners to join us in strengthening planning in Nebraska—while building meaningful connections along the way. |
From the Presidents
Spring is in full swing, time for outside experiences, BBQ’s, camping, hiking etc. The weather is treating us very well and looks like the Spring and Summer months are shaping up nicely.
Our Annual 2026 Joint Planning Conference was a huge success, and I hear from a number of individuals how awesome our conference was (and always is). It was a great time to learn new things in the planning field that have happened and are possibilities for the future from selected session presentations and communicating with others across the state in the planning realm. Planning always comes with new challenges and learning new creative ideas to tackle any obstacle comes in handy.
As always, the next few months will entail reviewing what we can do better for the upcoming conference and what sessions we should provide for the NPZA Fall Digital Workshop. Again, we will be offering a digital workshop for those you may not have been able to attend the annual spring workshop. The past few years we have been bringing a snip it of the conference in a digital format and will continue to do that in the future. Keep your eyes open for announcements of the upcoming digital workshop, it always proves to provide great educational opportunities for all involved.
For more information on the upcoming digital workshop or on NPZA itself, please check out the NPZA website or follow our activities on Facebook and Twitter as well.
- Judy Clark, NPZA President
I hope this message finds you all well and enjoying the arrival of spring across our great state!
I want to begin by extending my sincere thanks to everyone who helped make our Annual Nebraska Planning Conference in Kearney this past March such a tremendous success. From our presenters and sponsors to the many attendees who traveled from across Nebraska and beyond, the energy, collaboration, and exchange of ideas truly showcased the strength of our planning community. The sessions were engaging, the conversations meaningful, and the connections made will undoubtedly carry forward into our work throughout the year.
For those of you who attended the conference, a quick reminder that the APA website for logging AICP Certification Maintenance (CM) credits is back up and running. If you haven’t already done so, please take a few moments to register your conference sessions and ensure your credits are properly recorded. There was a total of 55 CMs available through the conference.
Looking ahead, we will have several exciting opportunities to stay engaged. Be sure to watch for upcoming events, including webinars through APA, networking opportunities, and professional development sessions designed to keep us connected and learning throughout the year. We encourage you to participate, share your expertise, and continue building relationships within our chapter.
As always, our chapter’s success depends on the involvement of our members. We are currently seeking volunteers to serve on various committees, including conference planning, finance, membership outreach and events, communications, and awards. Volunteering is a great way to give back to the profession, expand your network, and help shape the future of planning in Nebraska. If you are interested, please reach out—we would love to have you involved.
Thank you again for your continued support and dedication to the planning profession. I look forward to seeing many of you at upcoming events.
Warm regards,
Bruce A. Fountain, AICP
President, APA NE
We are always looking for content, so if you are interested in submitting an article for the next newsletter please email [email protected], or fill out this form.
The Nebraska Planner Editorial Team
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