Nearly two years after receiving a federal grant that targets economic development in four historically underinvested communities, the city of Birmingham’s Department of Innovation and Economic Opportunity is reminding residents of its goal while seeking their reactions for Reinvest Birmingham.

IEO is hosting a Neighborhood Welcome Series beginning on Monday in the four targeted communities — North Birmingham, Northside, Pratt and Smithfield — with the first two sessions being Monday at Pratt Public Library and Tuesday at New Beginnings United Methodist Church.

Reinvest Birmingham is a federally funded initiative supported by a $20 million grant from the U.S. Economic Development Administration. When the grant first was received, “other than the five components of it, there wasn’t a whole lot of context around what it meant for the residents (and) how it was going to be deployed,” said Archie Stewart, Reinvest plan officer for the city. “Now here we are two years later, essentially, and we’re beginning to build the infrastructure, to start going into implementation. We want to make sure that the residents are informed before it’s completely deployed to the rest of the public.”

The city is using the grant “to essentially rethink, reimagine what workforce development, economic development looks like in the four communities,” Stewart said. “We were looking at all of the 99 neighborhoods, but the EDA specifically wanted to target these four communities for the simple fact that there has been a history of disinvestment and just a long-standing history of civil rights in the city of Birmingham. Specifically, within these areas, there is so much economic opportunity and there’s a large demographic of residents in the area who are completely sitting on the sidelines.”

Many factors go into workforce development beyond just a job, Stewart said.

“A lot of people think that economic development and workforce development mean just getting people jobs, increasing wages, and at the center of it, just careers,” she said. “Anybody can get you a job. When you think about when you wake up in the morning and the schools are shut down for weather, who’s going to watch your baby if they can’t go to school and you’ve got to go to work. It’s little things like that that truly impact the economic development and workforce development landscape in these areas.

Stewart said the aim is to mitigate barriers to employment  and retaining employment, citing food insecurity as an example.

“How many adults are coming to work and they don’t have food in their homes because their top priority is feeding their children?” she asked. “Or not having the proper professional attire to be able to sit at your job?”

The scheduled sessions are an intentional opportunity for residents to sit down with program staff, ask questions and provide feedback that will directly shape how Reinvest’s four pillars — workforce training, transportation, child care and entrepreneurship — are delivered in their neighborhoods.

Session Schedule

Pratt (Central, North, South Pratt, Sandusky, Smithfield Estates, Thomas)

Monday, March 30 | 6:00–7:30 p.m. | Pratt Public Library

Thursday, April 9 | 6:00–7:30 p.m. | Pratt Public Library

North Birmingham (ACIPCO-Finley, Hooper City, North Birmingham, Collegeville, Fairmont, Harriman Park)

Tuesday, March 31 | 6:00–7:30 p.m. | New Beginnings United Methodist Church

Monday, April 6 | 6:00–7:30 p.m. | North Birmingham Public Library

Northside (Central City, Druid Hills, Evergreen, Fountain Heights, Norwood)

Thursday, April 2 | 6:00–7:30 p.m. | Fountain Heights Recreation Center

Monday, April 13 | 6:00–7:30 p.m. | Fountain Heights Recreation Center

Smithfield (College Hills, Graymont, Smithfield, East Thomas, Enon Ridge)

Tuesday, April 7 | 6:00–7:30 p.m. | Legion Field Press Box

Tuesday, April 14 | 6:00–7:30 p.m. | A.H. Parker High School