RIBA-USA became animated as a Region in the autumn of 1996. Its advent marks the emergence of a larger network, and a nationwide lobby, through which to convey member interests to London and Washington. The USA Regional network is now a fact of life. About 40 members (10%) have written by Email, or by letter, to express their personal support. RIBA HQ London has been most encouraging and supportive to both the local and the national initiatives. There is much enthusiasm among members that they are at last getting something for their subscription!

Potential for New Chapters
Five Chapters currently exist, Los Angeles / California (Niall Saunders), New York (Jonathan Wimpenny), Boston/ New England (Debbie Bentley and Stephen Stenson), Philadelphia (Clive Coppping) and Chicago/ Mid West (Zoka Zola). In addition Jessie Marshal takes care of a "sixth" Chapter, namely the area of the ; US that is not currently covered by the five established Chapters. For individual's contact details please go to http://www.riba-usa.org/contact.htm. Divisions are based on the traditional identities of the various parts of the USA and the effort of individuals in each Chapter. There is a potential for some States to establish their own local center, for example Florida, due to the concentration of members here, but geographically, the Chapters are the natural coordinating bodies. Any initiative to establish a local center will be encouraged, particularly after the next surge of recruitment has taken effect.

The Chapters distribution do not reflect any policy of the RIBA organization in the USA. They respond to the geography of the country and to the member distribution as revealed by RIBA-USA’s survey. Current preferences are to keep existing Chapters as they are, to support individual localities through the internet and to seed a new Chapter in the South East, and South Central, and to otherwise maintain the groupings of states until membership numbers permit more subdivision.