November 2024

Hello, everybody!

Thank you for the opportunity to serve Birmingham and Jefferson County through our reporting! It’s our goal every day at BirminghamWatch to provide context and nuance to help equip you to help shape the future of the City Built to Change the South, whether it’s sharing the latest developments at Birmingham City Hall and the Jefferson County Commission or helping understand the impact of proposed projects like the recently announced sale of the Birmingham Race Course will have not just on a city, but our region.

We have the opportunity to build our region’s future in whatever way we please. Context and information about what is working and what isn’t are crucial for us as community members to know how we want to proceed. BirminghamWatch wants to provide more ways to access this news and information.

• We plan to enhance our coverage of both sides of Linn Park—the City of Birmingham and the Jefferson County Commission—especially as municipal elections approach this summer.
• We are excited to launch a service journalism desk designed to help you navigate our changing city.
• Additionally, we want to ensure we are listening to you and reflecting the community’s hopes, dreams, and concerns.
• We want to make our resources accessible to everyone, whether online (on a new website slated for next year) or offline, in your inbox or mailbox.

We need your support to make this happen!

The goal for our 2024 end-of-year campaign is to raise at least $125,000 by December 31. We’re grateful to longtime organizational benefactors for helping us secure $25,000 towards our target. In addition, we’re again participating in the NewsMatch campaign, meaning any donation up to $1,000 will be matched by a coalition of national funders committed to ensuring local news and information is available and accessible, up to $15,000. And new recurring monthly donations will get a little extra love, matching 12x up to the same amount.

Will you help us with our efforts? Will you help support journalism built to change Birmingham and the South?

Thanks for your support and have a Happy Thanksgiving!

André Natta
Executive Director, AL Initiative for Independent Journalism
Executive Editor, BirminghamWatch