'Chopping Away'

When Birmingham Mayor Randall Woodfin picked Brandon Johnson in June to serve as the city’s director of community engagement, he handed the 38-year-old Chicago attorney, consultant and community advocate a big job.

Among other tasks, Johnson will help foster partnerships between neighborhood residents and city government, including police, and strengthen a grassroots, citizen-directed planning process around law enforcement and social services.

He’ll also help develop a comprehensive, community-based strategy to control and prevent violent crime, drug trafficking and drug-related crime, according to a city news release. But Johnson has his own methodical way to approach large tasks. 

“You just keep chopping away,” he said.

And Johnson is up to the task, according to Woodfin, who said his new hire has long experience in “social justice, public policy and urban planning” and will serve as “an advocate for Birmingham's neighborhoods.”

Iron City Ink recently talked to Johnson at his new headquarters: a city-owned, one-story former commercial structure at 1200 Tuscaloosa Avenue west of downtown that is still being renovated.

The choice of location — the office is nowhere near the power center at City Hall — is by design and says something about Johnson’s mission.

Having offices there is a way “to be in the community and be out of the ivory tower and do the work in the community,” Johnson said.

A native of Chicago, Johnson has deep Alabama roots. “My father’s from here, and I have aunts, uncles and about 40 cousins,” he said. He earned his bachelor of arts with a major in political science at Morehouse College and a law degree from DePaul University.

Johnson said efforts to improve public safety in Birmingham will come through “culture change” in three areas: prevention, enforcement and re-entry. 

“Enforcement means to focus on building community and police trust and ensuring the institutional integrity of our law enforcement agencies and criminal justice system,” Johnson said. Re-entry refers to “giving meaningful second chances to the formerly incarcerated,” he said.

Johnson and his staff will work with numerous external partners, including nonprofits he said provide most of the social services in the city. The office will also work with law enforcement and public health partners.

Johnson seeks to strengthen a grassroots citizen-directed planning process around law enforcement and social services.

His office will identify effective grassroots organizations, assess their strengths and weaknesses and help them “build their capacity” and obtain additional resources, Johnson said.

The Woodfin administration has lofty goals for change in the way the city serves its 99 neighborhoods, according to Johnson.

“Every city department is looking at how it … responds to citizens and how we can do that better,” he said.

And Woodfin and his staff “are being aggressive about our peer-to-peer partnerships and learning from other cities and best practices,” Johnson said.

“It’s ambitious, but we are trying to usher in a new renaissance in Birmingham,” he said.

Since taking the job, Johnson said he has focused on strategy, coordination and possible sources of funding for his office’s initiatives. Johnson is also working on that community-based strategy to control and prevent crime and expects to complete “at least the 1.0 version” by the beginning of 2019.

The city held its Youth Citizens Police Academy this summer at three housing authority sites with about 200 kids taking part, according to Johnson. They’re also planning to host the Citizens Police Academy for adults this fall.

Such events “educate the public about what the police can do, why they do it and how best to interact with the police to get the best service as citizens,” Johnson said.

Johnson praised the city’s new police chief — LAPD veteran Patrick D. Smith, known for his commitment to community policing — as “a great partner” in these efforts.

Johnson said his office is also working to bring several other programs online. There is the Mayor’s Re-entry Task Force, which was launched in the spring; Operation Step Up, part of the plan to impact crime by coordinating various city services and outside partners; Strategies for Policing Innovation, a U.S. Department of Justice program; Birmingham Public Safety Task Force, a multi-agency law enforcement initiative; and Birmingham Safe Neighborhoods Task Force, a public-private partnership.

“All of those are moving forward, and we’re optimistic that by the end of the year or beginning of 2019, we’ll have plans and recommendations and implementation strategies,” he said.

“I believe if we do the rights things to nurture and support the people of Birmingham, just the sheer harnessing all that potential should elevate us as a city to the highest levels of success and quality of life,” he added.