First Black American To Lead Birmingham Business Alliance
Birmingham’s largest economic development organization, the Birmingham Business Alliance, has a new leader. Kenneth Coleman starts Monday as the organization’s president and CEO. He is also the Black American to serve in that position. Coleman most recently led the Chamber of Commerce for DeKalb County in Georgia. He spoke with WBHM’s Andrew Yeager.
How to maintain economic development during the coronavirus pandemic:
First and foremost, you have to do what you can to help make sure existing businesses are able to operate safely for their employees and customers. That is working with local entities on systems to help make sure businesses have availability of short-term capital [and] make sure that businesses have access to personal protective equipment. Two, you continue to do your longer-term marketing. Making sure the world, particularly the economic development community, site consultants and such, still recognize that Birmingham is open for business.
How the BBA can respond to protests over racial injustice:
I think business as a whole has an opportunity to really make a difference, and I think our Birmingham Business Alliance is primed to be the catalyst to help make sure that happens. So you think about businesses in and around Birmingham. They have the opportunity with their hiring practices, with their cultures that they build respectively within their organizations, with their supplier networks, to really influence and impact some of the challenges that many Black and brown people feel. I think our role is to help bring opportunities for our businesses to light. I think it is to tell the stories, because we’ve got many of our businesses that have been in this fight well before the George Floyd killing. And then to figure out what partnerships we can come together to help make a difference.
Addressing Birmingham’s low rate of Black-owned businesses:
What I think we will do more of will be to help to facilitate entrepreneurship. Some of that is education and training. Some of that is building blocks for current small business to help them be even better at things like social media, things like finance and marketing. That is something that we had not spent as much time on, candidly, in the last few years that we want to spend more on going forward. That’s helping our local businesses at what they currently do. We think that will facilitate spinoffs, growth and expansions in those businesses, as well to help create more minority-owned businesses in the community.
What to expect in the BBA’s next strategic plan:
We’re going to make sure that we are leading in job creation and retention and recruitment. So there’ll be tons of initiatives to be much more proactive, much more strategic in who and how we recruit. Really leveraging the life sciences and the advanced manufacturing and information technology capabilities and companies that we already have in the region. What we’ve discovered is there are some operational services across the region, things like research and project management, that can really help not only Birmingham but the six other counties outside of Jefferson that we serve be better at economic development, recruitment and targeting. At the end of the day, I think we want BBA to be in the middle of most things good in and around Birmingham, especially as it relates to business and job growth.
Coleman played for the Birmingham Barons. Hear his thoughts about playing alongside Michael Jordan during the 1994 season.
This interview has been condensed and edited for clarity.
Workers at Alabama’s Mercedes plants vote against joining a union
The workers voted 56% against the union, according to tallies released by the National Labor Relations Board, which ran the election.
Taylor Hunnicutt is championing her home state with debut album ‘Alabama Sound’
Alabama offers a diverse symphony of swampy rock, swaggering blues, murky country, and bone-rattling soul. It’s a sound singer-songwriter Taylor Hunnicutt recently reimagined on her debut album, Alabama Sound, which is out now.
UAB building among Alabama’s first to feature ‘bird safe’ glass
Advocates hope the new glass will prevent window collisions, a leading causes of bird mortality.
Researchers look into community health impact of wood pellet production in rural Mississippi
Brown University and Tougaloo College students are testing for potential air and noise pollution near the Drax wood pellet plant in Gloster, Mississippi.
Alabama coal company sued for a home explosion is delinquent on dozens of penalties
Crimson Oak Grove Resources has been cited for 204 safety violations since the March 8 blast, many involving “significant and substantial” safety violations.
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.
