Our friends at the Walker Area Community Foundation (WACF) have been working hard to raise funds for the Heman Drummond Center of Innovation, a state-of-the-art career tech center in Jasper that will train students for high-demand jobs in health care, technology, advanced manufacturing, transportation and logistics, and more. With a planned opening in mid-2026, this center will help address the need for a trained workforce for our whole region. Our two foundations are always looking for ways to partner to amplify community impact in our shared footprint. Community Foundation staff and the Building Capacity Committee met several times with WACF since May to discuss their proposal and explore how Foundation funding could have the greatest impact on the project. In October, at the Building Capacity Committee’s recommendation, the Community Foundation Board approved a $500,000 challenge grant to seed the Center of Innovation endowment. With the Community Foundation’s funding as a jumpstart, WACF will grow this endowment and use it to ensure the center maintains cutting edge technology, retains high-quality instructors, and is positioned to pivot when industry demands evolve.   

Backed by $400,000 in funding from Southern Education Foundation and ECMC Foundation, we are working with local partners on a collaborative strategy to improve student success in college and other postsecondary programs. In October, we met with the partners – Alabama Possible, College Choice Foundation, VIDAL Access, and Breakthrough Birmingham – and made good headway on our strategy. The Community Foundation Board approved an additional $100,000 in Proactive funds this month to bolster this effort. We look forward to finalizing the plan soon and sharing details. The ultimate goal is to increase the percentage of Alabamians with degrees and credentials and create pathways to good quality jobs.  

Gus Heard-Hughes, Chris Nanni, and Estela Tirado participated in a day long Healing History event this month – a convening of Alabama Humanities Alliance partners from around the state. The event highlighted efforts throughout Alabama to explore our shared past as a way to better understand our present and each other. It included an interactive session that demonstrated the Healing Circles model, which the Community Foundation supported this year through the Instruments of Hope Unity Fund and Proactive funds. The event demonstrated the power of learning, dialogue, and finding ways to connect across our differences.   

Staff, Board members, and community volunteers have spent October reviewing full proposals and conducting virtual and in-person site visits with all 83 advancing applicants. The Grant Review and Evaluation Committee (GREC) will meet in November to make final grant recommendations to the Board.  

The Philip A. Morris Fund for the Design Arts held its annual Morris Fund Lecture, with Joe Minicozzi, an urban planner and founder of Urban3. The lecture was well attended, with more than 200 tickets purchased, and focused on new ways to think about and visualize land use, urban design, and economics through the lens of tax and land use policies. Joe then met the next day with a smaller group of city planning and design leaders, including Morris Fund-sponsored participants in the Walkable Cities course at Harvard.   

On Oct. 8, Chris Nanni participated in an Inclusion Diversity Equity Access (IDEA) panel discussion during a chapter meeting of the American Fundraising Professional Alabama Chapter. The panel discussion explored how organizations are adapting to uncertainty; what new practices have emerged that are worth carrying forward; how leaders are approaching donor engagement and diversifying funding; and lessons learned that can strengthen the work of fundraisers and nonprofit professionals. 

Chris Nanni and Gus Heard-Hughes were part of a delegation of 42 Birmingham business and community leaders who traveled to Greenville, S.C. for the Birmingham Business Alliance’s 2025 Leadership Exchange. The annual trip brings together key voices from across the region to learn from peer cities and spark collaboration back home. Participants heard from Greenville leaders about how intentional planning, strong public-private partnerships, and a shared regional vision have fueled their city’s growth. Chris moderated a panel on workforce development. Watch a quick recap of the trip here.

Kulture City, a nonprofit focused inclusion and acceptance of individuals with invisible disabilities (autism, ADHD, dementia, etc.), purchased the Powell Avenue Steam Plant this summer and is building a national center for invisible disabilities that will include a workforce training center, research facilities, an exhibit hall, retail outlets, and outdoor event space. Kulture City has developed major national partnerships with the NFL, Live Nation, and others, and this center is positioned to make a major national splash. Chris Nanni had an idea for a common narrative that would link this project and the Birmingham Civil Rights District, strengthening both and connecting them under the broader theme of human rights. He met with Mayor Randall Woodfin and Ralph Williams, who were supportive of the idea but suggested talking one-on-one with key leaders before convening a larger group. The one-on-one meetings with partners such as Kulture City, Birmingham Civil Rights Institute, Sixteenth Street Baptist Church, Ballard House, UAB Institute for Human Rights, and LRY Media Group went well, so in October, we convened a meeting of all the partners. Participants were enthusiastic about linking these efforts and building a narrative for Birmingham that could distinguish it from civil rights-related centers in Montgomery and Mobile. They came up with some other ideas for a connecting theme. The group agreed we had to seize the opportunity and flesh out this idea quickly; they planned to meet monthly for two-hour meetings. The Community Foundation will support these planning meetings. As a plan comes together, we believe there will be an opportunity to support branding and marketing to amplify the concept. Chris and Gus Heard-Hughes met with the new director of the Greater Birmingham Convention and Visitors Bureau, who was enthusiastic about the idea and about joining the group.  

After the staff and GREC review of the 176 eligible brief proposals submitted for the Fall 2025 grant cycle, the GREC advanced 83 applicants to the next stage. Applicants will complete full proposals over the coming weeks, and site review teams will conduct site visits of all applicants.   

The two projects CFGB made impact investments had important updates this month: 

After clearing some state and local hurdles, Woodlawn United’s Cottages at Georgia Road broke ground in late August. The project will create eight affordable rental cottages for families at 30% area median income or less. A loan from the Community Foundation is helping Woodlawn United finance construction at a low cost; the loan will be repaid by an awarded grant from the Alabama Housing Finance Authority when construction is complete next year.   

The Titusville Cultural Center, a hub for community activity and affordable nonprofit space in the Titusville community, is showing strong progress a year out from receiving a low-interest Community Foundation loan. The renovation of its two buildings is 85% complete and the campus is 75% leased. Occupants include Build UP (a trades-focused community school), Tune UP (focused on the auto mechanic trade), Magic City ToolBank (where nonprofits borrow tools for community projects), A4One (a youth sports project), and a number of co-working spaces for nonprofits and social impact businesses. An event space for affordable community use has been added. The Community Foundation received its first annual payment from the loan recipient, Opportunity Alabama.  

In 2024, the Community Foundation made a grant to support the Capital Collective, a new capital readiness program that focuses on ‘missing middle’ businesses that have reached $500,000 – $10 million in revenue but need guidance to grow to the next level. The final report on the first cohort was released last month, showing all 12 participating businesses completed the program. So far, the businesses have raised $3.7 million in new capital and hired 28 new employees. The national funder, JP Morgan Chase Foundation, has committed to another round of funding for the next Capital Collective class.   

In another lane of our economic opportunity work, the Community Foundation committed $50,000 toward a nursing scholarship program lead by Baptist Health Foundation. The program aims to support nursing students in launching their careers and address the nursing shortage in the state. The campaign has been a success: $3 million was raised for the scholarship endowment, and this year alone, 54 students in 8 college nursing programs received $172,000 in scholarships.  

In September, the Community Foundation convened four local partners – Alabama Possible, College Choice Foundation, VIDAL Access, and Breakthrough Birmingham – for our first session to plan a collaborative strategy to improve student success in college and other postsecondary programs. The group laid a strong foundation in this session, creating a set of shared priorities and initial ideas for collective action. All the partners also attended the National College Attainment Network Conference in New Orleans in September, along with the other foundation/partner cohorts from Louisiana, Arkansas, and Mississippi. Our national funder partners – Southern Education Foundation and ECMC Foundation have granted $400,000 each to the four foundations – selected the Community Foundation and our local partner College Choice Foundation to represent the cohort on a conference panel to present the model.  

The Greater Birmingham Community of Hope — our collaboration with the national funder Casey Family Programs and local partners to strengthen families and reduce the need for children to enter foster care — is showing some strong results. Part of the partnership’s strategy was to build community capacity and strengthen families in the zip code with the highest number of children entering foster care: 35211. With funding from Casey and the Community Foundation, our 35211-based partner Urban Ministry has conducted more than 200 community conversations to build community leadership and guide community change.  Residents identified six priorities out of this process — including youth mentorship, blight reduction, and safer streets — and Urban Ministry helped them form five community associations to address these challenges. A next stage is to develop community action projects that can be funded by the partnership.  

Chris spoke to Stephen Yoder‘s “Philanthropy 101” class at UAB Collat School of Business in September, emphasizing real-life stories about community needs. 

On Sept. 8, the Community Foundation hosted the National Community Stabilization Trust (NCST) in conjunction with Carol Clarke and Neighborhood Housing Services of Birmingham. This is part of a yearlong initiative of housing professionals designed to support and train a cohort of community development professionals working to address heirs’ property issues and their impact on Black and Latino communities.

On Sept. 16, the Community Foundation hosted our annual Agency Endowment Luncheon for nonprofits who have funds with the Foundation. Ten nonprofits, including Birmingham Rotary Club, Railroad Park, and Jefferson County Greenways  received an update from Highland Associates, our investment consultant, and spent time in break-out sessions discussing endowment funds, annual fundraising and planned giving strategies.

We met this month with Julian Maha of Kulture City to discuss plans for a disability navigation and education center at the newly acquired Powell Avenue Steam Plant. This $50 million project, which harnesses partnerships with major national companies, has the potential for transformational impact.

This month, Chris Nanni held meetings with key leaders connected to the Civil Rights District. Discussions are under way to align efforts under a common unifying cause. This is being coordinated with Mayor Randall Woodfin and board member Ralph Williams.

The Fall 2025 competitive grant cycle had its deadline this month, and applicants submitted a record 188 proposals. The grant requests totaled more than $7 million, down from the spring cycle, reflecting requested amounts being more in line with the Community Foundation’s parameters. Staff are completing the initial eligibility review.  

Our plans with Blue Cross Blue Shield of Alabama to pilot the collaborative care model, which integrates mental health and primary care in a clinic setting, are gaining traction. Six providers at three clinics – including a Grandview primary care clinic, a Baptist Health OB-GYN clinic, and the Magic City Wellness Center – have signed agreements to launch the model and begun training. The Community Foundation is funding the national consultant to provide training to clinics; Community Foundation team members joined in the first training. Blue Cross has committed to reimburse up to $1 million in collaborative care services in the pilot year. We hope this will lay the groundwork to expand this model that has proven effective in treating anxiety, depression, and other mental health conditions.  

This month, we finalized our Alabama contingent that will attend the National College Attainment Network Conference in September, including at least one representative from each of our four local nonprofit partners. Gus Heard-Hughes will join our national partners, Southern Education Foundation and ECMC Foundation, and one of our local nonprofit partners, College Choice Foundation, on a panel at the conference. We also met this month with the other community foundations and education nonprofits in our cohort (from Louisiana, Mississippi, and Arkansas) – for a learning session with EdTrust about student support strategies and for an idea sharing and planning session. This partnership is taking shape, and we are excited for the opportunity to learn and to help build stronger systems of support for students across the region.

Gus Heard-Hughes met this month with Jobs for the Future (JFF), a national organization that is partnering with Prosper and other local partners to strengthen career navigation for young people in our region. As a convener, technical assistance provider, and funder, JFF brings an array of resources to the region, and we are fortunate that they have committed to work here. Gus also participated in JFF and Prosper’s daylong event at Innovation Depot focused on fostering Birmingham’s next generation workers. We are following up with JFF in September to explore further opportunities for alignment.   

The Philip A. Morris Fund for Design Arts, which focuses on the role of good design in building and enhancing communities, completed its 2025 grant cycle this month. The Community Foundation Board approved the seven grants totaling $214,000 recommended by the committee.  

The LGBTQ Fund completed its 2025 grant cycle, with the committee recommending and the Board approving 11 grants totaling $87,200. Grantees this year include Big Brothers Big Sisters of Alabama, Birmingham Corps, Birmingham AIDS Outreach, Tech Equals, Alabama Equality, Virginia Samford Theatre, and several others.  

On August 11, Chris met with Birmingham City School Superintendent Dr. Mark Sullivan and Birmingham School Board Member Mary Boehm for a preliminary discussion about identifying strategies to help families stay in the Avondale area and encourage them to choose Birmingham City Schools for their children rather than relocating.

On August 18, Chris attended the St. Clair County Mayors Breakfast with board member and former Pell City mayor Guin Robinson. Chris shared a presentation on the mission of the Community Foundation, its initiatives and grantmaking, and heard from them about their interests and needs.

On August 28, Chris presented to a group of more than 100 Regions attorneys about the mission of the Community Foundation, initiatives, and grantmaking.

In July, we began meeting partners to develop our strategy for the postsecondary success project funded by ECMC Foundation and Southern Education Foundation. We have been exploring how our work with local partners to improve postsecondary persistence and completion can best align with state-level plans so that the project is positioned for broader relevancy and sustainability. With the new Alabama Department of Workforce and reorganization with regional workforce boards taking shape, this is a good opportunity to align plans and metrics, so we have been meeting with partners associated with those entities.

Along with Birmingham-Jefferson County Transit Authority (BJCTA) and Via Transportation, we presented to the City of Homewood’s Budget Committee on three options for a microtransit pilot in Homewood. Although we have not yet received a definitive answer, the Homewood City Council members present expressed that they did not want to saddle the future Council with a potential budget increase, even though increased costs would not begin until FY 2028. With the Council restructuring from 11 members to four members (five with the mayor) and all seats up for a new election at the end of August, there seems to be too much transition for the Council to make a commitment at this point. We will revisit this when the new Council is elected and seated. In the meantime, we have had some conversations with a contact at Jefferson County about the potential to expand microtransit to meet some targeted workforce transportation needs. This approach would use data to target areas of high job concentration and areas of low car ownership. These conversations are in the early stages; we will keep you posted of any further developments.   

We met this month with the Alabama Association of Nonprofits (AAN) and the Public Affairs Research Council of Alabama (PARCA) to discuss  PARCA’s progress on a Foundation- and AAN-commissioned report that looks at the roles nonprofits play in Alabama’s economy and societal functions, the flow of government funding to nonprofits, and the potential impacts of changes. This will help inform policy makers, funders, and the public about the value of nonprofits and the need for support.    

The Remy Fund for Pets and Animal Services completed its 2025 grant cycle this month. The Remy Fund Advisory Committee recommended, and the Community Foundation Executive Committee approved, 12 grants from the Remy Fund and affiliated funds. These grants will help fund programs throughout the five-county area, including low-cost spay and neuter services, supportive services to pets and their owners in need, and animal-assisted therapy programs. Read more about the 2025 grant cycle.

The Morris Fund for Design Arts continued its 2025 grant cycle this month. After an initial review of 20 applications, the Morris Fund Committee made plans for a final meeting in August to complete review and make final recommendations. The Morris Fund also is starting to publicize the 2025 annual lecture with: Joe Minicozzi, founder of Urban 3. Joe was recognized as one of the 100 Most Influential Urbanists of all time in 2017. Purchase your ticket here.

This month, we received confirmation of a $400,000 grant to the Community Foundation from ECMC Foundation and Southern Education Foundation to help improve postsecondary success in our region. We held our first meeting with Southern Education Foundation and the other community foundation cohort members – Community Foundation of North Louisiana, Arkansas Community Foundation, and Community Foundation of Northwest Mississippi. Through this grant, we have the opportunity to learn alongside fellow foundations, work with a small cohort of local organizations to build a plan for improving postsecondary success, and provide funding to implement this plan. This fall, we are slated to present at the National College Attainment Network Conference and join our cohort members at Southern Education Foundation’s Issues Forum. The grant will also provide us with additional capacity around planning and evaluation of the postsecondary success efforts.

Along with Birmingham-Jefferson County Transit Authority (BJCTA) and Via Transportation, Chris and Gus met with the City of Homewood’s City Manager, Glen Adams, to present updated options for a microtransit pilot in Homewood. Glen was positive about the potential pilot but suggested some further adjustments to address Homewood’s parking challenges. Chris and Gus worked with BJCTA and Via to make these adjustments. The next step is to present these options to the City Council at a FY26 budget meeting in July.

We met again this month with the three youth leadership organizations – Youth Leadership Birmingham, YouthServe, and ACE Alabama – being funded through the Instruments of Hope Unity Fund to develop a Unity Roundtable Series. The group developed an action plan for this series, which will bring youth leaders together quarterly to highlight youth concerns, propose actionable solutions, and plan for implementation. 

Every year, the Philip A. Morris Fund for Design Arts supports a cohort of local leaders to attend the The Walkable City Workshop at Harvard University. The purpose is to build local knowledge and cooperation around urban design and walkable communities. The Community Foundation and the Morris Fund hosted its annual gathering of Walkable Cities participants past and present this month. The event was well attended and was a great opportunity to sustain the connections between participants and support an ongoing commitment to good design.

Grant cycles for the LGBTQ Fund and the Philip A. Morris Fund for the Design Arts closed June 30; these committees will conduct review and site visits in July. The Remy Fund for Pets and Animal Services closed for applications in May, and the committee will make its final grant recommendations in early July.   

Chris joined a meeting with key government and economic development leaders and Bloomberg Philanthropies to review research findings on economic development and develop a more robust regional economic strategy. Gus met this month with Southern Communities Initiative (SCI) and Prosper to help SCI finalize its cohort commitments for its Community Development Financial Institution (CDFI) accelerator. Chris and Gus also attended the annual meetings of Prosper Birmingham and Urban Impact, two key partners in small business support efforts. One of our goals with our Small Business Impact initiative was to foster more CDFIs in the region; Urban Impact has submitted its application to become a CDFI, and another partner, HICA / Camino Loan Fund, recently received CDFI certification, opening up new sources of lending capital.    

On June 16, Birmingham Mayor Randall Woodfin gave a presentation to the Crime Commission, co-chaired by Community Foundation board member Ralph Williams Jr., vice president of Alabama Power’s Birmingham Division. Chris Nanni co-chaired the National Models & Data subcommittee.

Woodfin reported that Birmingham homicides dropped by nearly half in the first five months of 2025. On June 16, the city also announced the launch of summer violence reduction initiatives in partnership with Miles College and the Institute of Research Social Justice in Action.

The advisory commission was first announced on Oct. 14, 2024, with the directive to quickly gather information on strategies and programs that have helped other cities and jurisdictions reduce crime, especially homicides. The commission’s report was released on Jan. 6.

To close out the Spring 2025 competitive grant cycle, the Community Foundation Board approved grants to 56 organizations serving the Greater Birmingham area, totaling $1,508,000. Click here for brief descriptions of each grant.   

The Instruments of Hope Unity Fund convened youth leadership organizations this spring to explore ways to build youth leadership capacity and connectivity. Three youth leadership organizations – Youth Leadership Birmingham, YouthServe, and ACE Alabama – came together to plan a Unity Roundtable Series, bringing youth leaders together quarterly to highlight youth concerns, propose actionable solutions, and plan for implementation. The Unity Fund will provide $40,000 in funding to support this series.    

The 2025 grant cycles for the LGBTQ Fund and the Philip A. Morris Fund for the Design Arts are now open. Proposals for each grant cycle are due June 30. The Remy Fund for Pets and Animals closed for applications this month and the committee met for an initial review of grant applications.

We compiled data this spring on mental health projects and have some promising updates to share. Supported by the Community Foundation, Pell City Schools has been a statewide leader in bringing the Hope Squad model for peer mental health support to the state. They have expanded to include three schools, making Hope Squad available to over 2000 students. Another CFGB supported project – the Viking Clinic that provides mental health and primary care to students in Jasper High School – served 637 patients in the 2024-25 school year. The Craig Crisis Care Center, which serves adults in mental health crisis, has served 4193 people, tripling its numbers since October 2024.   

This month, we helped the regional Southern Communities Initiative convene local mission-based lenders to learn about a cohort learning opportunity for lenders that includes access to innovative technology for lenders. We are helping facilitate follow up for interested lender that support small, underserved businesses. Earlier in the month, Gus sat on a funder panel for Small Business Week at Innovation Depot and talked about the foundation’s investments in small business support.  

The Community Foundation was selected this month as the Alabama awardee for a funding opportunity from ECMC Foundation and Southern Education Foundation. The program, called Catalyzing Community Foundations, builds the capacity of community foundations and partner organizations to improve postsecondary success for students. We will be part of a cohort of four community foundations (along with foundations in Louisiana, Mississippi, and Arkansas) and their partners, working to strengthen efforts to help underserved students persist and succeed in college and other postsecondary programs. While details are still to be determined, our award could be up to $400,000 to advance this work.

We are also continuing to explore two potential proposals from Birmingham for the upcoming AIR Opportunity Fund RFP (which would provide funding around health, education, workforce, and/or public safety projects) and the role the Community Foundation might play.

Site review teams conducted site visits with the 65 applicants that advanced to the spring 2025 grant cycle full proposal stage. Final Grant Review and Evaluation Committee recommendations will be made at the committee’s May meeting.

We met this month with Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Alabama to plan the launch of training for the first three clinics approved to implement the Collaborative Care mental health-primary care integration model. Two of these clinics are in the Greater Birmingham area. We also made progress on identifying other potential clinics to participate. The success of the pilot could pave the way for widespread insurance coverage in Alabama for this evidence-based model, expanding access to effective mental health services.

We attended Capital Collective’s capital matchmaking event this month, rounding out the 12-week Beyond the Middle program to help ‘missing middle’ businesses in our region grow to the next level. The Community Foundation provided early local matching funds and ecosystem connections to help pilot this new program in Birmingham, leveraging a $480,000 funding commitment from JP Morgan Chase. Progress has been strong so far: 12 businesses with revenue between $500,000 and $10 million completed the program and are in the process of connecting with investors to fuel strategic growth. We also met this month with JP Morgan Chase to discuss other plans in the region, including some nascent work to strengthen local community development financial institutions (CDFIs) and the businesses they support.

In April, Community Foundation staff joined partners at some exciting events, including the groundbreaking of the new headquarters of the Community Food Bank of Central Alabama; a ribbon cutting for the wheelchair accessible trail at Big Canoe Creek Preserve; and American Baseball Foundation’s relaunch as Smart Play. All these important programs were supported by grants from the Community Foundation.

In March, Chris Nanni and Gus Heard-Hughes met with a group from Justice Knox, an interfaith collaboration of congregations working toward fair and effective solutions in Knoxville/Knox County, Tenn., and facilitated a conversation in April between Knoxville Mayor Indya Kincannon and Birmingham Mayor Randall Woodfin. Kincannon was impressed with Birmingham microtransit, cited as the fastest-growing ridership in the country. At Justice Knox’s annual meeting, the Nehemiah Action Assembly, on April 9, rally leaders gave a presentation on Birmingham’s microtransit system.

First Quarter 2025 investment returns for the Corporate Pool managed by Highlands for the period were as follows:

Total Community Foundation assets at March 31,2025 were $353 million.

On March 3, we hosted a webinar for nonprofits titled “Making Sense of Executive Orders.” Led by Bing Edwards, an attorney and Community Foundation board member, and his law partner Charles Prueter, the webinar explained several recent federal executive orders and their potential implications for nonprofits. More than 175 community partners participated in the webinar, demonstrating the need for information and connection around these issues.

The Grant Review and Evaluation Committee advanced 65 applicants this month to the full proposal stage of the Spring 2025 grant cycle. Site visits will run April 10-25.

Mental Health Initiative Director Robin Sparks worked with the Public Affairs Research Council of Alabama (PARCA) and Mental Health Commissioner Kim Boswell to help shape PARCA’s annual forum, focused this year youth mental health. The event at the Harbert Center was sold out. Robin moderated a panel discussion with experts in clinical practice, school-based mental health, and mental health policy. This was an important opportunity for the Community Foundation to bring its expertise and statewide relationships to bear in creating a successful event.

The Community Foundation took a lead role in two national funding opportunities in March. The first is a funding opportunity from ECMC Foundation and Southern Education Foundation for community foundations to help smaller organizations improve postsecondary success for students. The Community Foundation applied to be the community foundation grantee for Alabama, with a potential award up to $400,000. The second pertains to an upcoming RFP from the AIR Opportunity Fund for funding around health, education, workforce, and public safety. After hosting two listening sessions with AIR Opportunity Fund and local nonprofits in February, the Community Foundation re-convened those organizations to discuss how to align so we have one or two strong proposals from our region. AIR plans to release an RFP this summer; we are continuing this advance planning to ensure our region is ready.

In February and March, Community Foundation staff joined partners to celebrate major milestones, including Workshops Empowerment Inc.’s ribbon cutting for the Empower Café, where people with disabilities get important job training; the Birmingham Zoo’s opening of its new Cougar Crossing exhibit; and the opening of University of Montevallo’s new nursing program, which will help reduce the nurse shortage in our region and state. All these important programs were supported by grants from the Community Foundation. Read our feature article about Workshops Empowerment Inc.’s grant here.

Chris Nanni and Gus Heard-Hughes participated in a day-long session with the U.S. Department of Justice and local law enforcement and community partners to develop coordinated public safety plans. Led by the DOJ Public Safety Partnership, this process aims to complement work of the Crime Commission and the City of Birmingham’s planning around crime reduction and homicide prevention. Read the Crime Commission Report here.

The Women’s Breast Health Fund recommended and the Community Foundation Board approved funding for a new community assessment to identify and address needs around breast cancer survivorship. As Women’s Breast Health Fund staff liaison Kim Rogers presented to the Board, the fund’s first community assessment in 2011 provided valuable guidance to the fund’s grantmaking and led to the creation of the Forge Breast Cancer Survivor Center. We hope this assessment will help shape the next strategic investment around this important area of focus.

On March 13, we held our annual retreat for Community Foundation staff.  The day’s events included a review and discussion of our goals for the year and a training session on the Enneagram and how it impacts our working relationships, presented by Ginger Jefferson, former director of communications and marketing, and Cindy Wiley. During the afternoon, we heard from Nancy Covert, a Dale Carnegie certified trainer, about personal branding, networking, and how to stand out in a crowd. Thank you to the Junior League of Birmingham for hosting the event.

We met with BJCTA, Via, and the City of Homewood this month to present an updated plan for a Homewood microtransit pilot. BJCTA revised plans for fixed route adjustment and microtransit pilot zones to keep the budget within the parameters Homewood requested. The next step is for Homewood to carry the proposal through its committee process and on to a final review and decision by the Council and Mayor. Also this month, Gus Heard-Hughes and I presented on microtransit at the Cause Conversation, a regular gathering of faith-based leaders working to address critical community issues, including transportation. The presentation was well-received, and many organizations learned about the microtransit service – which could be beneficial to their clients – for the first time.

In late 2024, the Community Foundation provided the first local match to JP Morgan Chase Foundation’s $500,000 commitment to launch the Capital Collective model in Greater Birmingham. The Capital Collective aims to help larger small-businesses ($500K – $10M) to get positioned for growth and to expand their pool of capital. The first Capital Collective cohort of 12 businesses is halfway through its 12-week program. We were involved in the selection of the businesses (from sectors including engineering, IT, construction, transportation logistics, food, forestry, energy, and health care) and sat in on two of the sessions. We are impressed with the group of businesses and their progress in the program so far. We will have further updates as the first cohort wraps up and the businesses implement growth strategies.

The Spring 2024 grant cycle application period closed on Feb. 7. We received 176 brief proposal applications; after the initial eligibility review, the total was reduced to 142 applications. The Grant Review and Evaluation Committee will meet in March to select applicants to move to the full proposal stage.

We hosted the AIR Opportunity Fund this month for a pair of listening sessions with organizations in the Greater Birmingham area. The AIR Opportunity Fund is a major national funder that has selected Birmingham as one of 25 cities eligible for a new funding opportunity of $5-7 million per grantee. They are visiting every community to hear about collaborative work and opportunities for funding in their focus areas of workforce, health and wellbeing, public safety, and education. We are planning a follow up meeting with attendees to explore collaborative projects that could be a fit for the RFP that AIR plans to release by mid-2025.

We met this month with key Greater Birmingham Community of Hope partners, including Casey Family Programs, Urban Ministry, and the Alabama Department of Human Resources, to discuss progress on strategies to strengthen families. Urban Ministry has hired the Community Developer position and is doing the community listening and planning work in the 35211 zip code. Program Officer Meg Ford joined Casey Family Programs and City of Birmingham leadership in a cross-municipal program to build stronger ties between city leadership and state child welfare agencies. And Gus and Meg met with United Way and 2-1-1 leadership to discuss coordination around expanding access to resource directory resources.

At the Catalyst Fundholders annual meeting on Feb. 4, attendees heard from two Catalyst-supported initiatives. Meghann Bridgeman (left) and Lee Shook talked about the work of the Alabama Film Office and Film Birmingham to expand film projects and their economic impact in the Birmingham metro. Alex Flachsbart (right) talked about Opportunity Alabama and how an impact investment from the Community Foundation is helping expand a nonprofit and community hub in Titusville and contributing to that neighborhood’s revitalization.

The Community Foundation supported the return of the Alabama Association of Nonprofits (AAN) Summit after several years of dormancy. Gus and Meg attended the summit, which was sold out. Many nonprofits said they appreciated the opportunity to connect, particularly during a time of uncertainty around federal funding.