Category: City of Birmingham
Results from Birmingham’s Guaranteed Income Program for Mothers To Be Presented Tuesday
Last year, 110 Birmingham residents received $375 a month for a 12-month period through the Embrace Mothers guaranteed income program funded by Mayors for a Guaranteed Income.
Forty-eight mayors have adopted these pilot programs, so what have we learned about guaranteed income?
Community members can find out at a program Tuesday that will include screening of the new film “It’s Basic.” Read more.
Grant Could Streamline Recycling Pickup in Birmingham
Birmingham has accepted a grant to revamp the city’s recycling program so residents can opt in or opt out of recycling, making pickup more efficient.
The grant for more than $750,000 comes from the Alabama Department of Environmental Management Recycling Fund. It will pay for trucks, bins and educational and training programs.
The idea is to restructure curbside recycling collection so people can register for recycling service or opt out. The city then would determine special routes for picking up recycling from those who want the service. Read more.
Birmingham Sets Up New Police Advisory Committee
Birmingham Randall Woodfin on Tuesday announced the formation of a Public Safety Advisory Committee to conduct an assessment of police operations, review community complaints, bring transparency to police operations and hold the police department accountable for its actions.
The first meeting of the committee will be Thursday on the second floor of City Hall and is open to the public.
The committee formation comes after the city in 2021 formed a Civilian Review Board, but it never got to the point of publicly dealing with community complaints. Read more.
In the Shadow of Brother Bryan: Homeless Living in Park Draw Ire, Sympathy
Sometimes the tears welled up in Brother Bryan’s eyes
The Rev. James Alexander Bryan, a Princeton-educated pastor, is known in Birmingham as an advocate for those facing homelessness.
“They are all dying for a little bit of love, for a kind word, for a warm handshake,” Brother Bryan was quoted in the book “Religion in Shoes” as saying of those he served. “Beneath that torn coat or ragged shawl, the life may be torn, but there is a soul for whom Jesus died.”
This week, Terrance Smith sat in a Birmingham park named after Brother Bryan. Smith is among hundreds facing unsheltered homelessness in and around Birmingham, many of whom frequent the city’s parks, including Brother Bryan in the Five Points neighborhood.
Earlier this month, Birmingham city councilors discussed individuals facing homelessness in Brother Bryan Park after a member of the public asked that city officials do more to address what he described as a “real problem.”
“It’s just horrifying what goes on over there,” Councilor Valerie Abbott said at the body’s meeting on Aug. 8. “There are people living in the park, and no other people will go in there.”
On Tuesday afternoon, Smith reacted to the council’s comments, saying he felt some of the discussion was offensive. Councilors, Smith said, should “get to know their neighbors.”
“I think they’re wrong,” Smith said, an etching of Brother Bryan on a stone facade just a stone’s throw away. “They just push us aside like we’re not people, but they forget. God created me. God created them. So what’s the difference?” Read more.
With Increased Revenue, Woodfin’s Budget Proposal Targets Neighborhoods, Youth, Pay Raises and Transportation
Mayor Randall Woodfin revealed his proposed budget for the 2024 fiscal year on Tuesday, highlighting its “laser focus commitment” on neighborhood revitalization and youth support services.
The proposed $554.8 million budget is significantly larger than last year’s $522.3 million budget, thanks in part to projected increases in business tax revenue (up $12.3 million from last year) and property tax revenue (up $2.8 million). But Woodfin’s proposed budget reflects few differences in priority from the previous year. Read more.
Birmingham to Give $850K to 8 Nonprofits
Eight Birmingham nonprofits will receive $850,000 in funding from the city’s Building Opportunities for Lasting Development grant program.
Before Mayor Randall Woodfin instituted the BOLD initiative in 2018, Birmingham’s contributions to nonprofits were included as line items in the city’s operating budget. Now, the city’s Department of Innovation and Economic Opportunity distributes $1 million in nonprofit funding via an application process.
All eight organizations receiving funding are minority- or woman-led, and five are first-time recipients. Read more.
Lament and Hope Memorial Ride Honors Those Lost to Gun Violence in Birmingham
This weekend, over 100 cars with flags honoring people who have died in homicides this year will ride through downtown Birmingham. Read more.
City officials want parents to combat gun violence. Community leaders say it’s not that simple.
It’s been 20 years since Shunda Milhouse lost her daughter, April, to gun violence when she was 15 years old.
The mother of six said she finds joy in seeing her daughters happy, but she said the pain of losing a child never goes away.
“It’s almost like time has stopped,” Milhouse said. “I don’t look at it as being 20 years. To me, it’s almost like yesterday.”
Milhouse says April asked to tag along with one of her older sisters for Senior Skip Day. Milhouse said she would usually say no to that kind of thing, but that day she said yes. April and her sister went to a park to meet up with other friends. While they were out, a man in his 20s tried to hit on April, and April said no.
“So she walked away and somehow his ego got bruised,” Milhouse said. “And when she declined to speak with him, he went to the trunk of his car and he got out a gun and he just started shooting in the park and he shot my baby in her back.”
Milhouse said she never expected that something like this would happen to her child.
“A lot of parents say, ‘not my child. This wouldn’t happen in my home,’” Milhouse said. “But little do they know guns are being hidden right there in your home.”
She said in order for things to change — and for fewer shootings to happen — people need to be invested in their community, because when young people are taken care of, they take care of their communities. Read more.
Teens Say Birmingham’s Gun Violence Takes a Heavy Toll
At least 11 students in Birmingham have died due to gun violence since the beginning of the year, and their peers say the ongoing issue causes their mental health to suffer. Read More
Teens Say Birmingham’s Gun Violence Takes a Heavy Toll
At least 11 students in Birmingham have died due to gun violence since the beginning of the year, and their peers say the ongoing issue causes their mental health to suffer. Read more.
Birmingham Kicks Off New Garbage Pickup Plan
Birmingham has begun to deliver garbage carts to city residents in the first phase of its plans to change garbage pickup in the city.
The Department of Public Works will deliver about 20,000, free, 96-gallon garbage carts among the city’s four waste management districts over the next four weeks. Plans are to deliver about 100,000 uniform garbage carts through next year. Read more.
