World Games updates, leader for Birmingham Promise, Red Mountain Theatre raises more than $25 million

This month in City Beat, there are updates on The World Games, which are only about three months away.

The Birmingham Promise educational initiative has a new leader.

The Birmingham Squadron professional basketball team is doing its part to boost reading.

And Red Mountain Theatre recently completed a major fundraising effort.

A ‘global stage’

After years of preparation, The World Games 2022 Birmingham is getting closer.

Featuring 3,600 athletes from more than 100 countries, TWG2022 will take place July 7-17.

The athletes will compete in 34 unique, multidisciplinary sports in about 25 venues in the Birmingham area.

Organizers unveiled the gold, silver and bronze medals that will be awarded to winning athletes and teams at the event during a ceremony Feb. 23 at the Alabama Sports Hall of Fame, according to a TWG2022 news release.

Several Olympic athletes from Alabama will participate in the ceremony, including Jennifer Chandler, who won the gold medal for diving in the 1976 Olympics at the age of 17.

Also taking part was Mark Everett, a three-time Olympian who later served as head track and field coach at Birmingham-Southern College, and Bryan Kirkland, an Oneonta native who played with wheelchair rugby teams that won gold medals at the USA Paralympics in 2000 and 2008.

TWG2022 is a huge moment for the city, not just the competitors, said Nick Sellers, CEO of the Games.

“Just as athletes from around the world will soon step up to seize their moment of glory, this is Birmingham’s moment to step up on the global stage,” Sellers said. “Now that the Olympics are over, we are the world’s next, big international sports competition.”

TWG2022 will be the first international multisport event with full venues since the pandemic, he said.

“The world is clamoring to reconnect, and we can’t wait to witness history as amazing athletes compete for these medals,” Sellers said.

One highlight of the games will be the attempt by the USA Softball Women’s National Team to avenge their gold medal loss to Japan the last Summer Olympics.

The U.S., Japan and six other nations will compete in softball at the Hoover Met.

Eight members of the 2020 U.S. Olympic roster who won the silver medal in Tokyo will be on Team USA at TWG 2022.

One of the Olympians is Haylie McCleney, a Birmingham native who was a four-time All-American at the University of Alabama.

“For me to be able to step back into my hometown, put on a Team USA jersey and play in front of my family and friends, I never really thought I’d get another chance to do it,” McCleney said in a TWG2022 news release.

Joining McCleney on Team USA is another University of Alabama star, pitcher Montana Fouts, who led the NCAA with 349 strikeouts last season and pitched a perfect game at the Women’s College World Series.

Two nations will not be participating in the Games.

On Feb. 28, the board of directors of the TWG2022 organizing committee voted to ban athletes and officials from Russia and Belarus from taking part in the competition.

The board’s decision followed a recommendation from the executive board of the International Olympic Committee.

The IOC recommended that sports federations ban participants from Russia and Belarus from competing in events in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Belarus, according to media reports, was expected to support Russia in the conflict.

New leader for Promise

Birmingham Promise, a city of Birmingham education initiative, announced March 1 that Samantha Williams will be the organization’s new executive director.

Williams, an Alabama native who has worked with education nonprofits for over a decade, was chosen after a national search to replace outgoing director Rachel Harmon.

Williams began working immediately, with Harmon remaining through March 31 to ensure a smooth transition, according to a Birmingham Promise news release.

An independent nonprofit, Birmingham Promise provides up to four years of tuition assistance for graduates of Birmingham City Schools to attend any public two-year or four-year college or university in Alabama. The program provides students with coaches to help them succeed in college.

The program also offers an internship program that allows BCS seniors to gain job experience and begin building professional networks.

“We were thrilled by the caliber of applicants for this job, but Samantha’s world of experience really stood out,” said Leroy Abrahams, chairman of the Birmingham Promise board of directors, in the news release.

The board members “were impressed with her skills and her vision,” Abrahams said.

Williams spent the past decade at Teach For All, a global network focused on expanding educational opportunities around the world.

“After serving in educational roles around the country and around the world, I could not be happier to come home to Alabama to join the exciting work being done by the Birmingham Promise team,” said Williams, who was born in Daphne.

“Providing college and career opportunities to Birmingham students is essential to ensuring that a life of possibilities and prosperity is available to them, and doing so will be transformational to the future of our city,” she said.

Birmingham Mayor Randall L. Woodfin, whose administration started Birmingham Promise, praised the program’s achievements under Harmon’s leadership, despite the challenges posed by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

“Dr. Harmon can head to law school knowing that Birmingham Promise is in good shape and in good hands,” Woodfin said.

Williams is a graduate of Georgetown University, has a master’s degree in development studies from the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, and has a master’s degree in education from Harvard University.

Before joining Teach For All, Williams worked for Harvard, where she managed its partnership with the University of Johannesburg Education Leadership Institute.

Battle of the Books

The Birmingham Squadron, the city’s franchise in the NBA G League, hosted the team’s inaugural Literacy Day at Legacy Arena at the BJCC on March 7.

The event was the climax of a literacy campaign in Birmingham in January and February that the Squadron co-hosted, according to a news release from the team.

The Squadron collaborated with nonprofit I See Me Inc. to promote reading through the “Battle of the Books” reading contest, which challenged schools to see who could read the most books.

Thirty-five schools participated, and more than 54,000 books were read by students in the area, according to the release.

The top three schools in “Battle of the Books” were McCalla Elementary, Abrams Elementary and Greenwood Elementary.

Literacy Day at Legacy Arena included a day-time tip-off for the Squadron’s game against the Texas Legends, giving schools an opportunity to bring students to a game.

RMT hits its goal

Red Mountain Theatre, Birmingham’s Tony Award-winning performing arts and theater education company, recently completed a capital campaign launched in 2019 that led to more than $25 million in donations, according to a news release from the organization.

The funds were used to aid in the construction, opening and operation of RMT’s new 60,000-square-foot arts campus in a renovated warehouse in Parkside.

The campaign was chaired by philanthropist Kathryn Harbert with co-chairs Tim Vines, John Turner and Jim Gorrie and generated support from more than 200 donors, including foundations, corporations, individuals and government entities, according to the news release.

“We are incredibly grateful for each and every donation we received through this campaign,” RMT Executive Director Keith Cromwell said. “These funds will not only transform what RMT is able to do, but will have a strong and lasting impact on the Birmingham community as a whole. The future of performing arts in Birmingham is extremely bright.”

RMT celebrated the grand opening of the arts campus in June.

“It’s been a dream for us to consolidate our programming in order to better serve our community,” Cromwell told Iron City Ink in April 2021.

“A building like this one with leading-edge theatrical facilities along with extensive education spaces is unique,” RMT Managing Director Jennifer Jaquess told Iron City Ink.