Birmingham City Council
Birmingham Council Approves $50K for Arts Program at Juvenile Detention Center
The project will be a partnership between the University of Alabama at Birmingham and the F. Ross Bell Detention Center. According to city officials, it will include “activities such as music, visual arts, expressive writing, dance and movement to address disparities in educational outcomes that predate the pandemic and amplify its impact on underserved youth.”
Kimberly Kirklin, director of UAB’s Arts in Medicine program, said the program will include one to two classes per week at the center and the particular arts explored will be based on the interests of the participants and staff. She said that could mean writing poetry with the city’s new poet laureate, Salaam Green, or publishing a small book telling the residents’ stories.
“There’s so many different ways they could take this from a class to something the children can be truly proud of, to increase their self-esteem and provide hope for what life can look like beyond that facility,” Kirklin said.
The residents and staff will also create a mural at the center as part of the program, Kirklin said.
According to city officials, the money for the project will come from COVID relief legislation such as the American Recovery Plan Act.
The council also approved another $50,000 to UAB so students in underserved communities can attend arts and educational programming at the Alys Stephens Center at no cost.
Pursuing Economic Grant
The council also Tuesday approved a resolution authorizing the mayor to execute any documents required to complete a $50 million grant application with the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s Economic Development Administration.
The grant is part of the Distressed Area Recompete Pilot Program, authorized by President Joe Biden’s CHIPS and Science Act. The Recompete Program will invest in economically distressed communities where employment among those aged 25 to 54 significantly trails the national average.
The EDA in December named Birmingham as one of 22 finalists for the program, out of hundreds of applicants. If approved, Birmingham officials plan to invest in the distressed neighborhoods of North Birmingham, Pratt, Smithfield and Northside.
That program would connect people in those areas to a wraparound service center, workforce development hub, Black-owned business initiative entrepreneurship center and an expanded transportation program.
The council also heard a presentation from local Veterans Affairs officials about the area’s new Veterans Response Team, which provides a single agency with information to connect local veterans with any services they might need. Those services include suicide prevention as well as homelessness and substance abuse resources.
It approved proclamations naming January 2024 Human Trafficking Awareness Month and National Mentoring Month. The mayor introduced local officials combating human trafficking as well as representatives from Big Brother and Big Sisters of Greater Birmingham for the two proclamations.
