Community Associations Institute (CAI) has created a chapter in Southwest Virginia, bringing to 61 the number of chapters chartered by CAI.  

Headquartered in Roanoke, the chapter serves a region that includes Blacksburg, Lynchburg, Martinsville, Radford and Salem.  

Members of CAI chapters are automatically members of the 32,000-member international organization.

Founded almost 40 years ago, CAI provides education, tools and resources to the homeowner volunteers who govern associations and the professionals who provide management expertise and other types of services. CAI members include community association board members and other volunteer leaders, professional community managers and management firms and other product and service providers.

"We are excited to be involved with the start of the local CAI chapter," said Treena Gibson, CMCA, AMS, one of the industry leaders responsible for creating the chapter. “The number of community associations has continued to increase in Southwest Virginia in recent years. Our chapter is evidence of that growth and demonstrates our commitment to providing effective governance and management to the thousands of residents who live in these communities.”

More than 60 million Americans—about one in five U.S. residents—live in an estimated 320,000 homeowners associations, condominium communities, cooperatives and other planned communities.

Gibson says the chapter’s long-term goals include:

• Becoming a credible and reliable source for information about common-interest communities throughout Southwest Virginia
• Providing educational programming for homeowner leaders and industry professionals
• Sponsoring networking events for chapter members
• Helping homeowner leaders find professionals who can help them manage their communities

"We’re pleased these leaders took the initiative to establish a chapter in Southwest Virginia," said Crystal Wallace, CAE, CAI’s vice president of membership and chapter relations. "The formation of this chapter will bring the benefits of CAI education, networking and collective advocacy to the thousands of Virginians who live and work in common-interest communities."

The Southwest Virginia group will be officially a “chapter in organization” until it meets CAI certification requirements, a process that generally takes about two years.

For information about the chapter, write info@caiswva.com. To learn more about CAI, call (888) 224-4321 or visit www.caionline.org.  

CHAPTER CONTACT: 

Treena Gibson, CMCA, AMS, Gibson & Associates, LLC, (540) 206-3721