On Aug. 3, Magic City Wellness Center hired MG Vinson as collaborative care manager, a critical step toward becoming the first clinic to launch collaborative care under our $1 million pilot with Blue Cross and Blue Shield. On Aug. 13, Collaborative Care expert (and Community Foundation consultant) Virna Little traveled to Birmingham to provide a day-long collaborative care training to Magic City Wellness Center. Our Mental Health Initiative Director Robin Sparks organized and joined in the training. Cahaba Medical Center was unable to join the training but is more familiar with collaborative care and is planning to begin piloting the model in September. This month, the Community Foundation Board approved additional Catalyst funds to help nonprofit practices bridge the gap to sustainability with collaborative care, which we hope will help as we move to expand the model regionally and statewide. Collaborative care is an evidence-based model that integrates mental health into primary-care practices.   

In the first full month of the new Community Foundation-supported microtransit pilots (July to early August), Homewood totaled 437 rides and Irondale totaled 217 rides. Via notes that this is on pace given the size of the communities and the launch stage. We are continuing to work with BJCTA and Via to ensure regular community outreach and keep numbers growing. We have been testing the services and experienced ongoing issues with the Max Connect app; we are working with BJCTA to resolve this. Overall, user feedback is positive (4.9 of 5 rating), but it is critical to work out the bugs and ensure the service is high quality throughout this pilot year.  

This month, Program Officer Meg Ford completed the updated resource guide for children- and family-serving organizations and is giving it a test run with Urban Ministry. Meg also met with Urban Ministry to discuss the progress with their community affiliation groups. A group of West End residents in once such group banded together and successfully advocated to reopen their neighborhood city pool. Meg is planning a fall grant cycle that will provide small capacity building grants to child- and family-serving organizations, supported by funding from Casey Family Programs. Applications will open Oct. 12.  

We are finalizing the application for the Agency Endowment Challenge, a new competitive award open to organizations with an Agency Endowment Fund at the foundation. The application will open the same day of our Agency Endowment Luncheon on Sept. 10. At our Woven Together event in March 2027, we will announce the winner of the first Agency Endowment Challenge. The recipient will receive $100,000 to add to their endowment fund requiring an equal match of $100,000 in new dollars, which will equate to $200,000 in unrestricted endowment to support their operations. This award supports organizations in building long-term resources and, we hope, will help more organizations consider creating endowed funds.  

The Community Foundation participated this month in the first two sessions in the Civic Health Learning Series, a national project of CFLeads to engage community foundations in deeper work around building civic health. CFLeads is the preeminent affinity group for community foundations and focuses on building leadership capacity, sharing innovations, and addressing major community issues. Chris Nanni joined the board earlier this year. CFLeads is raising $40 million for its Community Foundations for Civic Health initiative to help community foundations throughout the country drive civic health in their communities. CFLeads states that ‘civic health refers to the strength of relationships among individuals, between people and institutions, and between residents and the places they live.’

Community Foundation of Greater Birmingham partnered this month with Caravan and Birmingham AI to host two community meetings around using AI to help identify and solve community problems. At the first event, a selection of around 50 community leaders (including Foundation-connected leaders) worked together to identify a set of high-priority community problems. At the second event on Aug. 28, around 80 community leaders worked on using Anthropic’s Claude to design solutions to those problems. Later this fall, the Community Foundation will launch an initiative to work with nonprofits to train and strengthen their utilization of AI. 

The Philip A. Morris Fund for Design Arts hosted its annual gathering of The Walkable City alumni at the Community Foundation offices this month, with around 30 alumni joining. Every year, the Morris Fund supports eight municipal and community leaders to attend The Walkable City Workshop with Jeff Speck at Harvard University. This has helped build strong synergy across communities in our region and a deeper understanding of and commitment to people-centered design. Attendees heard from each member of this year’s class about what was most meaningful to them about the workshop.  

The Women’s Breast Health Fund met to review and recommend a grant to Forge Breast Cancer Survivor Center (later approved by the Board) and to plan for a Fall 2026 grant cycle informed by the community needs assessment the fund completed at the end of 2025. Forge closed on the purchase of the house where its offices are located, which will save the organization money over time and ensure there is a secure location for Forge to operate for years to come.   

On Aug. 19, we were honored that Community Foundation staff and Philip A. Morris Fund for the Design Arts committee members had an opportunity to preview the 16th Street Baptist Church’s new Education and Visitor Center before it opens Sept.15. The Morris Fund made a grant to support the design of the center, and the Community Foundation made a competitive grant for the construction. Staff and committee members were inspired by the ways the center reflects both history and a forward-looking idea of community and commitment. The space will use shared activity – sharing a meal, singing together, quilting – to build connections between people and inspire them to action.

On Aug. 20, several staff joined in a luncheon to celebrate Christian Service Mission’s renovated facilities. Christian Service Mission has built strong, durable faith partnerships over decades and uses its space to serve the community at an amazing scale, so the renovated space was not only beautiful but allows them to carry out this mission even more effectively.   

The Community Foundation Board approved the Remy Fund Committee’s recommendation of 12 grants totaling $93,500 from the Remy Fund for Pets and Animal Services, a record amount for the fund to date. The list included a first-time grant to All the Dogs, which rescues priority dogs at high risk of euthanasia. Review the full list of grantees. 

The Community Foundation Board approved the LGBTQ Fund’s recommendation of 16 grants totaling $125,500, a record amount for the fund to date. The list includes a first-time grant to Yonder Walls, which supports paid opportunities for LGBTQ artists. Review other grantees.

On July 1, microtransit pilots officially launched in Homewood and Irondale, the culmination of many years of work with the City of Homewood, the City of Irondale, the Transit Authority, and Via to expand service in the county, building on the success of microtransit in Birmingham. The Community Foundation is providing just over $1.3 million to fund these pilots for the first 1.25 years, giving each city runway to test the service and build continuation funding into their FY28 budgets. The launches have generated a lot of positive press and early ridership interest has been encouraging. We will continue to stay deeply involved to ensure the pilot service runs smoothly. 

On July 27, Regions CEO John Turner shared an update via email to economic development stakeholders on the Birmingham Regional Economic Growth Initiative. The Community Foundation is deeply engaged in this effort, with eight Board members and Chris serving on the initiative’s leadership and advisory groups. This initiative is transitioning to Phase II after six months of listening sessions, stakeholder interviews, and study of peer cities. While the region has strong assets and leadership, it continues to lag peers in population, job, and income growth—pointing to the need for a more collaborative economic development ecosystem. Phase II will establish a permanent Leadership Team of CEOs from the region’s largest employers, develop a unified regional identity, encourage alignment between the Birmingham Business Alliance and Prosper, and build target industry clusters, with biosciences as a leading opportunity. A full Economic Growth Agenda is expected this fall.  

The Community Foundation hosted a gathering of area foundations on July 31 to hear a presentation from Herschell and Majella Hamilton and their nonprofit, Ballard House, on their plans to create an arts district along the 7th Avenue corridor in the Civil Rights District. Building on two years of planning, research into other arts communities, and work with a consultant, they are seeking to purchase and renovate a building behind 16th Street Baptist Church and to turn it into a gathering for artists and their works. Rather than having funders approached individually, the Community Foundation convened them together so all could hear the same presentation and discuss collectively the potential for funding.  

July was a big month for our postsecondary success partnership. We held the partnership’s first collaborative summer bridge program July 11-12, with 47 rising college freshman from across the partner organizations attending. We also held the first two trainings of volunteer mentors. It was clear from the feedback that we had raised the quality of both programs significantly through collaboration, focused strategy, and supportive funding. We also submitted our final grant report to our national funders, although the collaborative work and utilization of funds will continue for the next two years. Finally, the Community Foundation and three of our local partners – Alabama Possible, College Choice Foundation, and Breakthrough Birmingham – were selected among the four states in the cohort to represent the initiative on a panel at the national UNCF Unite Conference. The panel went well, and afterwards Southern Education Foundation said they were writing us and Louisiana into their continuation funding request to ECMC Foundation. They also said they want Birmingham to be one of the first stops on a learning tour of Southern communities they are organizing for national and regional funders.

Gus serves on a coalition of community leaders assembled by Mayor Woodfin to prepare the next generation of students for success from cradle to career. As a part of this initiative, the mayor recently made a major announcement, committing $45 million of investments to expand career and technical education, modernize school facilities, strengthen financial literacy, improve recreational spaces, and create a state-of-the-art Future Ready Career and Innovation Center where students can earn industry-recognized credentials for high-demand careers. It’s a strategic investment designed to prepare Birmingham students for college, careers, and lifelong success while strengthening the city’s workforce for generations to come. More information can be found at the following link. 

https://www.birminghamal.gov/news/city-birmingham-proposes-45-million-investment-expand-career-training-modernize-school-facilities-strengthen-student-success 

This month, we launched a seven-week Catalyst Fellowship to help develop catalytic ideas for potential Catalyst Fund investments. The fellowship aligns with UAB’s Summer B term; by partnering with Dr. Patrick Murphy, head of UAB’s Entrepreneurship Program, we were able to recruit Maeghan Rodd, a graduate student in UAB’s School of Business who is dividing time between upstate New York and Walker County, Ala. as her family expands their ceramic fittings business to the region. Maeghan is working with Gus and Chris to research and develop ideas to present to the Catalyst Council in August.

Over the past month, we have worked closely with the City of Homewood, the City of Irondale, the Transit Authority, and Via to plan the July 1 launch of microtransit pilots in these two cities. This is the culmination of many years of work to expand the service in the county, building on the success of microtransit in Birmingham. The Community Foundation is providing just over $1.3 million to fund these pilots for the first 1.25 years, providing runway for each city to test the service and build continuation funding into their FY28 budget. The pilots have been getting a lot of positive press. We will continue to stay deeply involved to ensure the launch and the pilot service run smoothly.   

Last month, we shared about our planning process with Neighborhood Housing Services of Birmingham, Navigate Affordable Housing Partners, and other partners to develop affordable housing in the Norwood, Evergreen, and Druid Hills neighborhoods around the Coca-Cola amphitheater. The market study the Community Foundation funded, which will provide valuable information about the viability of the project, is well under way. We are working through a variety of planning details; more news to come.    

Regional Economic Growth: We arranged for Jennifer Vernon with Fortif to speak to the Jefferson County Mayors Association this month about the regional economic growth project that the Community Foundation is playing a leadership role in. It was a good opportunity to give the mayors and other elected leaders a preview of what is coming and an opportunity to ask questions. A report and recommendations from the project are coming soon.  

On June 27, Chris Nanni spoke on a panel on economic development for a visit by AIRs (American Institute for Research), a national grantmaker that held its annual board meeting in Birmingham. 

We continue to provide organizing support to the Jefferson County Councilors Coalition (JC3), a coalition of city councilors promoting cooperation between Jefferson County municipalities. At this month’s JC3 meeting in Hueytown, we heard from a City Councilor and the Mayor about Hueytown’s new West Rock Mountain Nature Preserve. At 400 acres, the preserve is the fourth largest in the county after the three parks that were consolidated under the Jefferson County Greenway Commission. Jefferson County Greenways, the creation of which the Community Foundation was integrally involved in as a regional cooperation project, provided inspiration and guidance to the City of Hueytown in establishing this large park in on the western side of the county.  

The Remy Fund Committee met this month for their final round of grant reviews in their 2026 grant cycle. The grants will be announced after they are approved at the August board meeting.   

The deadline for proposals for the LGBTQ Fund’s 2026 grant cycle is at the end of June; in July, the committee will review proposals.   

Chris Nanni and Gus Heard-Hughes continued their participation this month in City of Birmingham-led groups focused on driving strategic change: the Mayor’s Cradle-to-Career Commission that is helping plan the city’s cradle-to-career initiative and the Regional Unhoused Coalition that is working on a plan to expand services and beds for homeless members of the community.   

The Community Foundation Board approved over $500,000 in funding this month for a 1.25-year microtransit pilot in Irondale, mirroring the 1.25–year pilot approved for funding in Homewood. We have been working intensively with BJCTA, Via, and municipal leaders in each city to plan the July 1 launch of the two pilot services. This is a landmark step forward, building on our playbook and success for the Birmingham microtransit service to create a more regional transportation system that effectively serves the needs of residents. These pilot services are supported by the Catalyst Funds and Proactive Funds at the Community Foundation.  

We are wrapping up our formal year of funding this month with Southern Education Foundation (SEF) and ECMC Foundation for the postsecondary success project, but our collaborative work in the region is in many ways just beginning. Grants from the Community Foundation and our national funders are supporting the testing of our collaborative model over the next two years, providing expanded support to help students succeed in and graduate from college. This project kicks off with a collaborative summer bridge program in July for incoming college freshman, jointly coordinated by our partners: College Choice Foundation, Breakthrough Birmingham, Alabama Possible, and VIDAL Access. The Community Foundation and some of these local partners have been asked by SEF and ECMC Foundation to represent this four-state project in a session at the UNCF Unite Conference in Atlanta next month.  

This month, the Community Foundation Board approved up to $25,000 for a housing market study in the Norwood, Evergreen, and Druid Hills neighborhoods that surround Coca-Cola Amphitheater. This is an important step in assessing the viability of a proposed affordable housing development we are exploring with Neighborhood Housing Services of Birmingham. It sets the stage for an innovative approach that would reduce home construction costs and put affordable homeownership in reach for Birmingham families. We will keep you posted as this project develops.  

The Regional Economic Growth Initiative, which grew out of conversations led over several years by community leaders, was formalized in Fall 2025 when Mayor Randall Woodfin approached the Community Foundation to help fund the work, and is governed by an MOU among the City of Birmingham, Prosper, and the Birmingham Business Alliance (BBA), with the Community Foundation participating as a fourth partner. The Initiative is supported by a 16-person Leadership Team (including Board Chair Sanjay Singh, Board Chair Elect Danny McKinney, and Ralph Williams of Alabama Power) which has been meeting monthly since the start of 2026. In addition, there is an approximately 50-person Advisory Committee that includes Board members Guin Robinson, Tate Forrester, Chris Kramer, Meredith Calhoun, and CEO Chris Nanni. The advisory committee met for the first time on May 4. Project lead Jennifer Vernon gave a report to the Community Foundation’s full Board at its May Board meeting on May 21. A report and recommendations are due to the Leadership Team by June 30.

The Community Foundation Board approved funding to 67 grantees for the Spring 2026 grant cycle, for a total of $1,678,000 in grants. Our thanks to the Grant Review and Evaluation Committee and site review team volunteers, and to the Giving Together donors, who made these grants possible.   

KultureCity has begun the design process for the National Accessibility Park at the Steam Plant, a national center for invisible disabilities. The Philip A. Morris Fund for the Design Arts made a grant to KultureCity to support high–quality design that integrates well with the surrounding community and enhances the mission of the project.

In May, the annual cohort of community leaders attended The Walkable City workshop at Harvard, supported by funding from the Morris Fund. As usual, the group included a regional mix of elected leaders, municipal planners, design professionals, and others. The alumni from this annual workshop continues to grow and connect with each other in valuable ways; they will have their annual meet-up in July.  

The Remy Fund Committee met in May for its first round of grant review in their 2026 grant cycle. They are planning site visits in June.   

The LGBTQ Fund grant cycle is currently open and taking applications through the end of June.

Only April 27, the Homewood City Council approved a 1.25-year microtransit pilot, to start in July and run through Sept. 2027. Fully funded by the Community Foundation, the pilot will allow the city to test the microtransit model, track usage, gather resident feedback, and plan a strategy to support the service in their budget in FY2028. This was the same process that led to the City of Birmingham taking on microtransit in their budget and expanding it across the city. The Community Foundation has helped shepherd this forward for the past two years, and it is exciting to see an expansion of the microtransit system come to fruition. The City of Irondale is also poised to commit to a microtransit expansion pilot. These efforts will help bring this affordable and accessible system of public transportation to more of our region, and allow more people to reliably get to work, shopping medical appointments, and more.  

Our partners have been planning for their collaborative summer bridge program for incoming college freshman in July, the first step in a two-year program to provide stronger support to college freshman as they navigate their first year of college. Alabama Possible is working on their statewide resource directory for students and blueprint for higher education institutions, both designed to help college students persist and succeed. This will tie into the Alabama College Match program that has eased the path to college access at 39 higher education institutions in our state.  

Through this collaborative effort, we will track the success of around 420 college students receiving enhanced support and share valuable findings about how to help more students continue in and finish college.  

Our Birmingham cohort will be highlighted on the national stage again – we will join our national funders and nonprofit partners at the UNCF Unite conference in July.  

In 2024, the Community Foundation made its first two impact investments – low-interest loans to support projects with a positive social impact – totaling $500,000. 

The first was to Woodlawn United to provide bridge financing to the Cottages at Georgia Road project, which will bring eight affordable rental homes and 12 affordable homes for purchase to the Woodlawn community. 

The second was to Opportunity Alabama to help finance the expansion of the Titusville Cultural Center, a community hub that provides affordable nonprofit and community space. 

Woodlawn United initially faced some procedural delays around permitting and financing but has begun construction on the Cottages at Georgia Road, with a projected completion date in Spring 2027. Construction for the Titusville Cultural Center expansion is 100% complete and the spaces are 85% leased at affordable rates. Five nonprofits are leasing office and program spaces and nine startup businesses are leasing the co-working spaces at the center. The community event space is open for use. 

Chris Nanni and Gus Heard-Hughes have continued to dig further into the issue of affordable housing and are seeing promising pathways for an impactful and sustainable model. We will keep you posted as this effort develops.    

Birmingham Mayor Randall Woodfin reached out to Chris Nanni, Sanjay Singh (current board chair), Brian Hamilton (former board chair), Claude Nielsen (former CEO and chairman of the board of Coca-Cola Bottling Company UNITED, Inc.), and Gus Heard-Hughes to be part of an executive committee to look into a comprehensive strategy for the unhoused community in Birmingham. More information to follow.

We held 79 site visits for the Spring 2026 grant cycle. Thanks to the GREC Committee members and other volunteers who came out to serve on a site review team. The GREC met this month and recommended 67 applicants for funding; the Board will make final approvals in May. 

In late April, the Community Foundation submitted a proposal to the Gates Foundation for its Philanthropic Partnerships Team’s AI to Accelerate Charitable Giving Grand Challenge, which aims to enhance human decision-making with AI-powered tools, data, and insights.

On April 2, Community Foundation staff participated in an all-day training session with Austin Senseman, co-founder of Birmingham AI, a nonprofit focused on AI education.

The Community Foundation Board approved a grant of $90,000 to Prosper Birmingham to support collaborative efforts to develop funder relationships and bring more national funding to the region. Over the past three years, the coalition has brought $7.6 million from major national funders to the region for an investment of only $333,000. The Community Foundation has been involved in these efforts, but through this plan, we will participate in biweekly strategy sessions with consultant Whiteboard and the partners, help guide strategy, and participate in national funder visits and conferences. Our funding and involvement will help bolster these efforts while also advancing the Community Foundation’s goal of expanding its national presence and connections.   

In March, Gus Heard-Hughes and Estela Tirado joined fellow community foundations from Arkansas, Louisiana, and Mississippi in the postsecondary success cohort for a learning convening in Atlanta with Southern Education Foundation. This was a great opportunity for peer sharing on postsecondary success plans and learning from other foundations that are further down the road in this work – particularly Community Foundation of Tampa Bay, which has seen strong progress in helping students persist in and graduate from college and other postsecondary programs. We are making final budget adjustments with our four local partners as they dig into their planning for the collaborative summer bridge program to give incoming college freshman a strong start.   

The Catalyst Council recommended and the Community Foundation Board approved an additional $400,000 to pilot microtransit in the City of Homewood. We are preparing for a mid-April presentation at Homewood’s pre-Council meeting. The Homewood City Council will vote at the end of April on whether to proceed with a 1.25 year pilot starting in July 2026. If the pilot goes well, Homewood would have to budget continued funding for microtransit starting in FY28. BJCTA met again with the City of Irondale about a potential microtransit pilot and is helping Irondale do a resident survey to gauge need and interest. The Community Foundation funded a 2019 microtransit pilot in the City of Birmingham; the city has funded the service every year since then in its annual budget and has expanded the program significantly. We believe the Community Foundation could play a similar strategic, catalytic role in Homewood and Irondale, expanding microtransit from a Birmingham system to a regional system.  

Gus Heard-Hughes gave a presentation titled “Microtransit: A Proven Solution” at the Alabama College Attainment Network Conference in March.  

Chris Nanni and Gus Heard-Hughes continued meeting this month with affordable housing leaders to explore strategies for expanding access to affordable housing. We have met with Navigate Affordable Housing Partners, Neighborhood Housing Services of Birmingham, the Birmingham Land Bank Authority, Alethia House, Impact America, Bessemer Redevelopment Corporation, and key individual leaders. There is potential for the Community Foundation to play an important role in resolving issues around cost and homebuyer pipeline. Stay tuned.  

Chris Nanni and Gus Heard-Hughes met with board members of the Birmingham Police Foundation to plan the process for releasing grant funds for connecting cameras at local businesses to the Real Time Crime Center. The Birmingham Police Department is prioritizing businesses to connect with in high-crime areas and reaching out to businesses to sign them up. We also visited the Birmingham Police Department headquarters to see the Real Time Crime Center and learn more about how the stationary cameras and drone cameras are increasing effectiveness at preventing and solving crimes. The system was impressive and shows a lot of promise to increase public safety once fully implemented.   

The GREC met this month and advanced 79 of the 133 eligible brief proposal applicants to the full proposal stage. Site visits will be held in April.  

Chris Nanni has been named a Board member of CFLeads, a national network of community foundations committed to community leadership. His first board meeting took place the week of March 23 in Ft. Lauderdale. CFLeads is undertaking an ambitious $40 million initiative with community foundations to strengthen civic engagement.

We held a final planning session this month with our four local partners in the postsecondary success initiative. Together we finalized a plan for collaborative action that includes a summer bridge program to help students prepare for their first year of college, training for volunteer mentors to expand holistic support to students once they are in college, and virtual support to a broader group of students in the statewide Direct to College Initiative. The goal is to help more Alabama students succeed in college and graduate, replicating strategies that prove effective. The Community Foundation Executive Committee approved grants to the organizations from the $400,000 from ECMC Foundation and $100,000 from Community Foundation Proactive funds to implement this plan over the next two years.     

We participated in a meeting with BJCTA and City of Homewood that served a dual purpose: a ‘Transit 101’ session for the new Homewood leadership and a deeper discussion on a microtransit pilot for Homewood. The cost for a Homewood pilot has increased since our earlier conversations because federal funds that BJCTA could contribute have dried up and because Homewood would ideally need a pilot that ran 1.25 years to get a good data snapshot of usage before they begin budgeting to fund the program in FY28. We are considering some additional funding from the foundation for the pilot. With its new Mayor, Council, and City Manager now in place, Homewood is interested in a pilot; they plan to evaluate and make a decision in April.   

We also met again with BJCTA, Via, and the City of Irondale about bringing microtransit to that city. Via presented three options for scope of service and cost. Mayor James D. Stewart, Jr., is interested but needs to do some follow-up assessment to see what scale of microtransit service the city could sustain.  

We are continuing to meet with Jefferson County and Via about a potential microtransit service in the western part of the county to meet workforce transportation needs.

Over the past year or so, we have explored ways the Community Foundation could play a larger role in increasing affordable housing in the region. We have made recent competitive grants related to housing, and one of our first impact investments was a loan to build eight affordable rental homes in Woodlawn, but we are looking into other opportunities. We met this month with several key leaders in this space to explore some possible innovative solutions. Stay tuned.  

The deadline for applications for the Spring 2025 competitive grant cycle was Jan. 30; 133 organizations submitted applications that passed the eligibility review. Staff and GREC are reviewing proposals and will meet in March to determine which applicants advance to the full proposal round.   

On Feb. 13, the Community Foundation and the Philip A. Morris Fund for the Design Arts hosted a screening of the film “Birmingham’s Front Lawn: 15 Years of Railroad Park” at our office for around 50 participants. The Community Foundation played an integral part in Railroad Park’s development by leading the Three Parks Initiative. 

The Unity Fund Committee met and discussed progress of the 2026 Healing Circles and the Youth Unity Series, two initiatives the fund supported in the past year.

Three half-day Healing Circles have been held so far this year with 135 participants, and the year-long Healing Circle cohort just launched last week.

The new Youth Unity Series brings together youth from YouthServe, Youth Leadership Birmingham, and ACE Alabama to connect, learn, and coordinate action. Two gatherings have been held so far, and the third is planned for March. Full reports to come.  

Gus and Chris met this month with Carlton Peeples, the new Deputy Chief of Public Safety for the City of Birmingham. Recently retired from the FBI, Chief Peeples brings extensive experience to this position. He is charged with coordinating the city’s public safety initiatives and advancing implementation of the 2024 Crime Commission recommendations. We discussed the Community Foundation’s support of two city public safety priorities through the Catalyst Fund: 1) connecting at least 100 cameras at local businesses to the city’s Real Time Crime Center, helping both prevent crime and respond quickly to criminal activity. 2) expanding the Rise Up Birmingham program to reach 75 youth at risk of getting involved in criminal activity in positive alternatives such as business development, service projects, and community leadership. We made a good connection with Chief Peeples and agreed to work in close coordination.  

The Avondale Innovation team met this month and is gearing up its plans for surveying, phone banking, and canvassing in the Avondale community. The purpose of this effort is to explore ways to encourage more families currently living in in the Avondale school zone to send their children to Avondale Elementary School, creating a school population that is closer to the neighborhoods it serves socioeconomically and racially. Funded by a grant from the Catalyst Fund at the Community Foundation, this phase will gather information on families’ concerns and needs to help inform strategies for school innovation.  

We facilitated a planning session this month with our four local partners in the postsecondary success initiative. With support from the Community Foundation and national funders Southern Education Foundation and ECMC Foundation (a total of $500,000 in funding), four local organizations are harnessing their strengths to collaborate for greater impact. To help more students succeed in college, these organizations are planning a summer bridge program to help students get a strong launch into their first year of college and training volunteer mentors to provide comprehensive support to students throughout college. This model builds on the experience of all four partners but adds new innovations that we hope will expand the reach of postsecondary support and serve as a replicable model.   

We met this month with new leadership from City of Homewood – including the mayor and the interim City Manager – and BJCTA to revisit the proposal for a microtransit pilot in Homewood. The response from city leaders was positive, and we planned a follow up work session in February with the mayor, city councilors, and key staff to dig into details. We also solidified a February microtransit meeting with the City of Irondale and met again with Jefferson County about a potential microtransit program to meet workforce transportation needs. The Birmingham microtransit program saw some cutbacks this month due to budget limitations, but the service zones remain largely the same. The Birmingham service is averaging over 20,000 rides a month, which represents a growing demand in utilization of the service. 

Progress on the Collaborative Care pilot with Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Alabama to bring more mental health services to medical clinics is slow but steadily advancing. Cahaba Medical, a federally qualified health center that is a long-time Community Foundation partner and grantee, just got added as the fourth pilot clinic, with five providers signing on. Conversations with two other clinics look promising. Training has been slow to take shape, but we are making headway on the hurdle, and we are also making progress with BCBS on metrics. Despite the slow pace, we are pleased that BCBS has fully bought into this pilot and is demonstrating serious commitment to implementing the project.   

Gus joined a small leadership group of funders and business accelerators to inform a structure being developed by Evergold Impact that would facilitate more high-quality impact investing opportunities in the region. Based on feedback from the group, Evergold is working on a second iteration of its framework.   

The Spring 2025 competitive grant cycle launched in early January; the deadline for applications is Jan. 30.    

The Philip A. Morris Fund for Design Arts Committee met this month to do planning for the annual lecture and select a slate of eight candidates for the 2026 Walkable Cities program at Harvard University.  We also met with two committee members and Kulture City to work on next steps for the Morris grant-funded design of the outdoor space for the emerging National Invisible Disabilities Learning Center at the Powell Avenue Steam Plant, including moving quickly to select a top-notch design firm.  

A new companion fund for the Remy Fund for Pets and Animal Services was established this month to allow donors to give to immediate grantmaking through the current year’s Remy Fund grant cycle.