• Community Foundation Awards $1.6 Million in Grants

    The Community Foundation of Greater Birmingham has awarded more than $1.6 million in grants to 66 area nonprofits serving Blount, Jefferson, Shelby, St. Clair, and Walker counties. These grants are focused on the five priorities identified in our 10-year strategic plan: Thriving Communities, Regional Cooperation, Overcoming Persistent Poverty, Equity and Inclusion, and Economic Opportunity for All. (Explore our Priority Areas.)

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  • The Philip A Morris Fund for the Design Arts: Building a Better Birmingham

    Kathryn Harbert and Philip Morris at Railroad Park Anyone who has ever enjoyed an afternoon with family and friends at Railroad Park, a place often called Birmingham’s living room, has Philip A. Morris to thank for those memorable moments. Though not a trained designer, Morris was a visionary. He not only served on the planning committee for Railroad Park but also for Linn Park and Red Mountain Park. He was chair of Operation New Birmingham (now REV Birmingham), Birmingham Historical Society, and Mountain Brook Villages Design Review Committee. He was co-chair of the Vulcan Park renovation planning committee and served on the boards of the Vulcan Park Foundation, Birmingham Botanical Society, and Friends of Linn Park. He was also a founding board member of Design Alabama and Horizon 280 Association.

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  • Giving Together, Growing Together

    Each year, the Community Foundation of Greater Birmingham receives an increasing number of applications for our spring and fall grant cycles, and existing funds are never enough to cover all the grants approved. So, in 2008, the Giving Together program was born to accompany the grant cycles.

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  • How Innovation and Collaboration Can Empower Students in Walker County and Beyond

    Hundreds of high school students in Walker County will soon have access to a state-of-the-art facility offering high-quality career and technical education, equipping them with credentials and skills aligned with Alabama’s workforce needs.  

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  • Community on the Rise is shifting the narrative for women survivors of homelessness

    As executive director of Community on the Rise, a nonprofit and social enterprise dedicated to empowering the unhoused in Birmingham, Ala., Avery Rhodes is all too familiar with the perceptions that some people have of women who are experiencing homelessness.

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  • Libby’s Friends Helps Alabamians with Disabilities Discover New Possibilities

    Birmingham-area residents Lane and Kathryn Hagan know firsthand how expensive raising a child with special needs can be. At just 12 days old, while in the NICU, their daughter Libby was mistakenly given an overdose of insulin, causing a catastrophic brain injury that left her with spastic quadriplegic cerebral palsy and other health issues. 

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  • More than a Gym: How YMCA of Greater Birmingham is Transforming Communities

    When you enter the Northeast Community YMCA in Roebuck you may be surprised by what you find.  

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  • Larry Savage’s “Hearts of Wheels” keeps rolling

    Larry Savage still remembers his first car. It was a 1974 Mustang that he bought in 1975 for $3,000.

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  • ​​​A New, Universally Accessible Green Space for the South ​​​​​​

    Jefferson County Greenways ​​is on​​​​ ​​a mission to develop ​a fully​ inclusive public green space in the South. East Side Park, nestled in the Roebuck Springs/South Roebuck Neighborhood just off Highway 11 and I-59, is being reimagined as a vibrant destination that welcomes people of all ages and abilities.  

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  • The Life-Changing Work of Special Equestrians

    Kathleen Claybrook receives a lot of fan mail. Her email inbox is filled with messages from parents praising Special Equestrians for being “life-giving” and “life-changing.”  

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