Workshops Empowerment, Inc., is getting an extreme makeover that is improving the Birmingham-based nonprofit inside out.  

During the fall 2023 grant cycle, the Community Foundation of Greater Birmingham awarded Workshops Empowerment a $50,000 grant for external renovations to improve the safety and accessibility of the parking area and entrances and to provide capacity and program improvements, including a mural, a garden center, and additional landscaping. Workshops Empowerment helps people living with disabilities and other barriers to employment reach their vocational potential by providing vocational evaluations, job training/development, job placements, and a variety of support services. 

Workshops Empowerment Executive Director Dr. Christy Leach Atkinson knows these renovations aren’t a simple facelift for the building. The structural improvements can have a direct impact on programs and services. 

“A well-designed, accessible facility is essential to fostering a strong, inclusive community. The individuals we serve deserve a space that is modern, inviting, and fully accessible to meet their needs,” Atkinson said. 

Atkinson added that the renovations have enhanced community perception of Workshops Empowerment, which have led to more partnerships and a 25 percent increase in referrals.   

“We have seen a huge influx of individuals who have now noticed us and our programming, who are impressed by how the building is looking,” Atkinson said.   

The renovations have helped pave the way for major new programs as well. In 2025, Workshops Empowerment plans to open Empower Café, which offers training in food service. The construction of the café is made possible by a grant from F.S. Foundation, but Atkinson said that without the external renovations, Workshops Empowerment would not have been able to make use of those funds.   

“Without having that initial money to make the building accessible, to redo the parking and the sidewalks and to put the landscaping in, we wouldn’t be able to move forward with the café,” she said. “The monies we received from that grant for the café would have been wasted. No one wants to visit a facility that looks as ours once did to enjoy coffee and a delicious meal. This support not only revitalized our space but also empowered us to pursue new opportunities with confidence.” 

For more than a century, Workshops Empowerment Inc. has been helping disabled Birmingham area residents find quality jobs. In 1900, Workshops Empowerment Inc. began as a rehabilitation program for people with disabilities, teaching them to create products for sale. In recent decades, the organization has focused on training people living with disabilities and other employment barriers — providing solutions for local businesses — including assembly, mailing, and order fulfillment. Through the WE Made program, participants help create fire starters, baking mixes, all-natural room and dog sprays, and mosquito repellent.  

Workshops Empowerment provides vocational assessments not only to assess capacity level but also to ensure that participants are pursuing work they will enjoy. Next, they receive job training and development to build on their interests and skills. All of this is done with the goal of eventually placing the participants in positions at businesses in the Greater Birmingham area. 

Atkinson can easily rattle off several success stories including people who’ve found work at Community Coffee and Wal-Mart. One participant dreamed of working at a movie theater and is now employed at a local AMC Theatre. Another participant who loves flowers works at FarmStand by Stone Hollow at Pepper Place.   

“She’s so passionate about what she does and can tell you everything and anything about perennials and annuals and growth cycles,” Atkinson added.  

Thanks to the new renovations, the work of Workshops Empowerment Inc. will continue and expand. Atkinson hopes that more people will not only learn about the work that her organization does but also understand why it’s needed. 

“People are passionate about children living with disabilities or children facing mental illness — as we should be — but trauma, barriers, and particularly disabilities, don’t disappear when children grow up,” Atkinson said. “I think, as a society, we need to stop and understand why adults are often in a cycle of learned helplessness, why some adults aren’t always just able to go out and get a job, and why there’s a need for job readiness and job training and job development that’s specific and based on their career interest level as well as their ability potential.”  

Workshops Empowerment Inc. strives to break the cycle of “learned helplessness” by giving Birmingham residents living with disabilities and other barriers to employment the structured support system they need to find fulfilling work and provide meaningful service to their community along the way. Learn more at https://weincal.org/.