The Birmingham City Council on Tuesday approved spending $250,000 to help expand a food education program to an additional 3,700 students in the city’s school district.

“I just want to thank you all for the opportunity to invest in this program, because it touches on so many levels,” Councilor Carol Clarke said. “Not only does it help with food insecurity but it empowers people to grow their own food. We are what we eat, and putting people in control of that can have such an impact in our communities. This is a real opportunity for improving both the bodily and mental health for residents across our city.”

The money will go to the Jones Valley Teaching Farm to expand its Good School Food program. The group’s website describes the project as a “hands-on food education model that connects students to food, farming and the culinary arts through standards-based, cross-curricular lessons during the school day.”

According to city staff, the agreement approved Tuesday will fund the farm’s efforts to build environment/agriculture learning labs at eight schools. It will also double the number of paid high school interns from 10 to 20.

“We are so thankful for this opportunity,” said Amanda Storey, executive director of Jones Valley Teaching Farm. “The Birmingham Board of Education just approved the other half of that infrastructure. So, we are now ready to go and move into all of these new classrooms.”

The labs will be built in the city’s west side, at schools that feed into Jackson-Olin High School, according to city staff.

In addition to running a fresh produce stand at its central location, Jones Valley also partners with community food pantries to help stock them with its locally grown vegetables.

The City Council also approved two agreements with Jones Valley Farm in October. One will give the group $120,000 to implement an urban farmer grant program, which will help prospective farmers in the Birmingham area with startup or operational expenses. The second agreement provided $50,000 for Jones Valley to expand the Good School Food Program into Barrett and Robinson elementary schools.

Council Approves $100K for to Promote Firearms Safety

The council on Tuesday also approved a $100,000 agreement in which the Central Alabama Redevelopment Alliance will implement a gun safety initiative.

According to city staff, the program will connect community members with effective storage solutions such as gun safes and storage boxes at no cost to the public. The program will also provide demonstrations led by trained firearm specialists to better ensure that firearms are stored responsibly and safely.

“This initiative is really all about educating the public. A public where firearms ownership is, you know, part of our culture, but most folks who own a firearm, it’s been my experience that they don’t give equal thought to how to safely store that firearm when it’s not on their person,” said council President Darrell O’Quinn. “And under no circumstances is between the seat cushions of the couch ever an appropriate place to store a firearm.”

A 4-year-old girl accidentally shot herself after finding a gun under a couch cushion at the apartment she shared with her mother at Birmingham’s Harris Homes housing community.

Councilor Valerie Abbott said it’s difficult to overstate the importance of the issue the program targets.

“After you’ve been to even one funeral for a child who shot themself with a gun in the sofa cushions, just one will make you think about this for the rest of your life,” she said.

Prvlge Liquor License OK’d

In other business, the council also approved a lounge retail liquor license for Prvlge at 2312 First Avenue North. Several residents went before the council to oppose the business.

They pointed to Prvlge partner Dan Crane’s involvement with Cassanova Bar and Lounge, which they said did not adequately address security issues.

“What we have is really an issue of trust … at this point my neighbors do not trust that maintaining order in this area is something they can count on,” said Central City Neighborhood Association President Daniel Christiansen.

Shelia Smoot, a former Jefferson County Commission member who said she is serving as a consultant for Crane, said Prvlge is being unfairly targeted based on general complaints about the area.

“The complainants and the residents of the community are putting and lodging unsubstantiated complaints, and this business owner, this attorney, this upstanding citizen, this person who does daily business in their community has not had any —  let me repeat, any —  documented incidents of record and if he did, he has not been alerted to those and if there are some concerns, he will be glad to say that,” Smoot said.

Council members said their vote could take into account only the current application, which they feel has an adequate safety plan.

“It seems to me that Mr. Crane has done everything that has been asked of him to ensure he meets the needs and concerns of all of the residents in this area. So, I would ask that you all would wrap your arms around him, patronize the business,” Councilor J.T. Moore said to the residents who spoke in opposition of the business.

The council voted 7-2 to approve the license, with members Hunter Williams and Darrell O’Quinn being the no votes.