National Neighborhood Leaders Meet in Birmingham
More than 800 people from around the country are in Birmingham this week for the annual Neighborhoods USA (NUSA) Conference. Local neighborhood leaders say this is their time to show off Birmingham.
“Birmingham is a dynamic city and it has a rich history. I’m ready to show people what’s happened here in recent years,” says George Lee, president of Birmingham’s Spring Lake Neighborhood Association and a member of the NUSA Board of Directors.
Neighborhood tours are planned to take visitors around the city. They will also have an opportunity to sample the food and city culture.
This is the third time the organization of neighborhood leaders has met in Birmingham in its 43-year history. Lee says Birmingham has changed since the group was last here in 1995.
One of the highlights of the conference includes a panel discussion with Mayor Randall Woodfin and two other Southeastern mayors discussing rebirth and revitalization of communities. The panel will also include Jackson, Miss. Mayor Chokwe Antar Lumumba and New Orleans Mayor Latoya Cantrell.
In addition to the adult conference, a youth NUSA Conference will take place for the first time. It’s designed to educate youths from ages 12 to 18 on how they can have an impact in the future through neighborhoods, communities, and city government, organizers say.
Jimmie Coleman, president of Birmingham’s Citizens Advisory Board, Birmingham’s community leadership group, says neighborhood leaders benefit from participating in NUSA.
“We get ideas from other places and bring that information back. We didn’t know about Brownfields projects until we went to a NUSA conference in Ohio and saw what they were doing up there,” Coleman says. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency administers the Brownfields grant program, which funds the cleanup of former industrial sites so they can be reused.
“It’s all about learning things that can improve your neighborhood,” Coleman says.
The United Auto Workers faces a key test in the South with upcoming vote at Alabama Mercedes plant
The United Auto Workers is aiming for a key victory at Mercedes-Benz in Alabama. More than 5,000 workers at the facility in Vance and nearby battery plant will vote this week on whether to join the UAW.
Gambling, ethics bills fall short as legislative session ends
Alabama lawmakers closed the books on this year’s regular legislative session Thursday. While Republican leaders passed many of their priority bills, perhaps the most talked about issue – gambling – died.
A look at what passed and failed in the 2024 legislative session
Alabama lawmakers have ended a 2024 legislative session that saw the Republican majority win approval for a number of their top priorities.
Q&A: Bobby Carter on leading Tiny Desk, his time at Jackson State, early career advice
Carter, a Jackson State alumnus, took over as the new series host and producer for NPR’s “Tiny Desk Concerts” series in April.
Alabama to begin working with a consulting company that’s under criminal investigation
McKinsey & Company, an international consulting business, will help the state of Alabama develop a new strategic economic growth plan. The company is undertaking that project, while also dealing with a probe into whether it engaged in a criminal conspiracy.
‘Stupidity of politics’: Medicaid expansion effort dies in Mississippi
Mississippi lawmakers couldn’t come together to pass a bill that could have expanded Medicaid for thousands of residents.
