Birmingham City Council approves BOLD funding agreements

The Birmingham City Council, at its regular meeting for Tuesday, Dec. 3, approved funding agreements with eight local organizations as part of the city’s BOLD (Building Opportunities for Lasting Development) Program.

The program, in its second year, is administered by the Department of Innovation and Economic Opportunity and allows the city — after reviewing formal proposals — to partner with local organizations that are taking what the city believes to be innovative approaches to community and economic development.

• The Council approved an agreement with the Woodlawn Foundation Inc. under which the city will pay the organization $1,141,803 for the development of affordable housing and other improvements in the Woodlawn neighborhood. The money will come from the city’s federal HOME Investment Partnerships Program (HOME) and Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) funds. 
• The city will pay the Birmingham Business Alliance $150,000 for a term of one year to provide services to attract and retain talent for scaleups, attract new scaleups and grow and retain existing scaleups using image enhancement and research and data analytics. Scaleups is a term referring to businesses that are in the process of expanding.
• The city will provide about $152,000 to the Birmingham Business Resource Center for a term of one year to provide a supplier diversity program designed to assist local women-owned, minority-owned and disadvantaged businesses to take advantage of such opportunities as the 2021 World Games, the BJCC expansion and the Birmingham Xpress bus transit system development.
• The city will pay Jefferson State Community College almost $50,000 for a term of one year to implement a program to teach single mothers the skills they need to obtain employment as computer user support specialists through financial aid and other services, including childcare and coaching. The goal is to increase the number of women in IT and develop a pipeline of skilled talent to fill a growing number of IT positions in the area.
• REV Birmingham Inc. will receive a little over $152,000 for a term of one year to provide technical assistance to small business owners in the city, with a focus on women-owned, minority-owned and disadvantaged businesses. Among other services, REV will provide ongoing technical assistance to these business owners and facilitate opportunities for them to receive professional services.
• The Salvation Army will receive $50,000 for a term of one year to provide people with educational remediation and training that leads to sustainable employment opportunities at or above Alabama’s livable wage. The nonprofit will provide student training costs and other participant support services, such as childcare transportation assistance, work uniforms and other tools.
• The Women’s Fund of Greater Birmingham will receive $80,000 for a term of one year to provide programs to help increase economic opportunity for women and children in the area.
• The city will provide $50,000 for one year to Adah International LLC to promote trade and foreign direct investment in Birmingham through the creation of a World Trade Center.