Revitalization nonprofit eyes work in outskirts

When Josh Kirk was 16 years old, he was forced to move out of his house in Mount Olive, Alabama. The house, built in 1932, belonged to his grandparents. 

They bought it from the government and then passed it on to their daughter. Kirk’s mom could not afford to give the historic home the attention it needed, and as a result, it had holes in the ceiling and floors, active roof leaks, no central heating or air conditioning, and for a time it did not have running water. 

The city tried to condemn the house two or three times before Kirk and his twin brother moved out to live with their dad. 

It was this experience that motivated Kirk to start Block by Block Birmingham, a new nonprofit dedicated to promoting revitalization through increased homeownership and property restoration in neighborhoods on the outskirts of Birmingham’s traditional revitalization target areas. 

“For me, it’s important for people to know that I can relate to the struggles that people in these areas go through,” Kirk said. 

Kirk said he remembers taking a real-estate magazine with him to middle school and dreaming about having a nice house. Once he was old enough, he got his real estate license, which led to seven and a half years of selling houses. He then spent four years flipping houses with his fiancé and Block by Block business partner, Mark Pynes. 

“I knew [real estate] was a stepping stone to be able to restore houses in this way, I just never thought we’d be able to do it to the extent that it looks like we can as a nonprofit,” Kirk said. 

“Hope through housing” is what Block by Block is all about. Kirk said he hopes to work directly with the community to figure out how he can best serve its needs.

Block by Block will work to improve single-family home ownership by renovating tax-delinquent properties, flipping houses to provide affordable housing and educating community members on homeownership, credit and home maintenance.  

“I think it’s important to have a voice for the people who live there, too, and we really hope to be that,” Kirk said. 

Kirk said he plans to focus on the neighborhoods of Norwood, Bush Hills and Fountain Heights because they have local momentum, but haven’t yet been taken to the next level like Avondale and Woodlawn. 

Since latching onto the idea of Block by Block in January, Kirk has been hard at work getting the organization recognized as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, and he said he hopes to officially launch this fall. His first project will be to restore three houses on Second Avenue South in Avondale. 

The couple plans to use a Kickstarter campaign to raise money for the project and gauge interest from the community. Though they aren’t sure exactly how the project will turn out, Kirk said he’s approaching it the same way he approaches everything nowadays: block by block. 

“I truly see this as something that, if we can do it to the extent that I would like to, we could change the city one block at a time,” he said.