In This Issue of
The Progess

Letter from the Executive Director

Updates:

Downtowns Conference Successful

Natural Resources Survey

Affordable Housing

Conservation and Development

Transportation

Woodlawn Initiative

Trees for Alabama

Other Regional Highlights

Executive Committee

I am excited you're reading this inaugural issue of The Progress, a quarterly newsletter designed to keep you updated and engaged with the positive developments in our region. When we started the Region 2020 visioning process, we had no idea where the road would take us. Now, nearly four years later, we are blazing new trails of progress through regional cooperation, collaborative approaches and citizen involvement. From the outset, there was no road map. Through our initial town hall meetings, you generated 4,727 ideas about the future of our region. Those ideas were then grouped into 31 categories, complete with goals and objectives. During the Vision Fair, you prioritized the goals and objectives, and Region 2020 was off and running.

Laying the Groundwork We found out quickly that even though we were armed with your mandates for change, there was no mechanism in place to make it happen. There was no regional community, no regional leadership, little regional cooperation and inadequate regional communication. We recognized that we needed to change the mindset before we could change the landscape. We've been laying the groundwork ever since. And now, we see evidence everyday of organizations working together, communicating, collaborating, moving our region forward.

Building Coalitions We rely heavily on other agencies, foundations, businesses and volunteers to share resources - human, intellectual and financial - and to initiate and manage projects. We currently are working in ten areas. We are pleased with the progress being made in areas such as affordable housing, environment, government relations, transportation and land use. Our education committee is in its initial stages and we expect results throughout the summer.

Educating the Public Part of our responsibility as an organization is to educate people about issues and how they affect the growth of our region. Each quarter we will focus on three major issues, although Region 2020 is working on many more. We want you to be aware of the challenges that exist in our regional community and how we are working together to create solutions.

Working as a Team As a community team, we appreciate your encouragement and involvement. We need leaders to step forward and take ownership of issues for which they have sincere interest. As citizens continue to take responsibility for making positive change, our projects will move along more quickly and achieve greater success. We are working diligently to complete the tasks you've set before us and look forward to making them happen with your help.

Sincerely,
Ann Florie
Executive Director

Affordable Housing

Six months ago Region 2020 convened a group of citizens to study the current resources and challenges in the area of affordable housing. This "Legacy Study Group" began by researching models of affordable housing in other cities and traveling to Chattanooga and Atlanta to view the work in these cities. The group then held a series of 10 half-day meetings with people and organizations from around the region who were working to improve the quality of affordable housing. What this study group learned is that here are common challenges in funding affordable housing development, eliminating credit and income barriers to home ownership and increasing the quality and safety of rental housing. The final report of this committee will be released in April. With this report will come recommendations aimed at addressing these problems in a comprehensive, regional way.

Where and how land development occurs has a major impact on our quality of life and on our economic, human and environmental resources. Our future depends on planning and development that recognizes the wealth of natural and historic resources in our region. Region 2020, along with the Regional Planning Commission of Greater Birmingham and the Auburn Center for Architecture and Urban Studies, are taking the first step in identifying these assets. With funding from the Appalachian Regional Commission and from the Hugh Kaul and Ireland Foundations, work has begun on an inventory of natural and historic resources. This inventory provides a framework to help citizens, elected officials and businesses shape where and how developement can best meet the needs and aspirations of our neighborhoods, communities and region.

How we move around in our region, community and neighborhood speaks directly to our quality of life. A goal in transportation planning is a "choice" of various transportation modes to meet individual and community needs. The building of major roads to serve commuting traffic must be complemented with well planned community streets, major arterials, sidewalks, greenways and bike lanes as well as transit choices ranging from rail systems to metro buses, vans and carpooling.

With these issues in mind, seven jurisdictions - Irondale, Hoover, Vestavia Hills, Mountain Brook, Birmingham and Jefferson and Shelby counties - plus the Birmingham-Jefferson County Transit Authority, have come together to provide matching funds for a federal project to look at transportation alternatives along four of the counties' busiest corridors. Each corridor will be analyzed with regard to highway and transit alternatives, land use alternatives, environmental impact and financial strategies to fund recommended alternatives. This "New Starts" project is one of the most significant projects in our region in many years and should be completed by Fall 2002. To connect this process to the work being done in the rest of Central Alabama, Region 2020 is hosting a meeting of transportation planning staffs from across the region.

"Social Capital" is another way to describe community connectedness, the social networks between individuals ("bonding") and from group to group ("bridging"). Studies have shown that communities with higher levels of social capital are likely to have higher educational achievement, better performing governmental institutions, faster economic growth and less crime and violence. And the people living in these communities are likely to be happier, healthier and to have a longer life expectancy. Region 2020 and the Community Foundation of Greater Birmingham recognize that every time progress is made in our community it is because individuals and/or groups worked together to make it happen. This is one such example of social capital at its best.

Marylyn Creer, the daughter of a Baptist minister, came to Birmingham 25 years ago as a student, and started out, like most students in the urban university setting of UAB, living in the city's popular Southside area. But she fell in love with the city within a city known as Woodlawn, a close-knit but changing community with its own post office, library, schools and stores. She bought her first home there, and now, so many years later, she serves as president of the Woodlawn Neighborhood Association and plays a starring role in the revitalization effort known as the Woodlawn Housing Initiative.

Today she quotes Birmingham City Council Member Aldrich Gunn as she challenges others to work - and live - in the neighborhood while they try to make things better. "I tell people, you don't have to move to be able to live in a better neighborhood," she says with a smile that lights her dark eyes. "You can stay where you are and live out your dream."

For Ms. Creer, that dream has found reality in the work of the Woodlawn Housing Initiative, a pilot program of the Region 2020 visioning process funded by The Community Foundation of Greater Birmingham and others. What began with the involvement of a neighborhood church has now found resources, technical support and volunteers through Outreach International, Greater Birmingham Habitat for Humanity, the YWCA, Neighborhood Housing Services, Grace By Day, Metro Changers, BARC (Birmingham Affordable Rental Communities), students from area colleges and universities, and governmental institutions such as the City of Birmingham and HUD. Some of the supporting groups are nationally known, while others draw from organizations with chiefly local support. But all have in common what Ms. Creer exemplifies - the motivation to work together and make things better.

Ms. Creer makes clear that she is not alone in her work to revitalize Woodlawn. The Neighborhood Association is strong, with committee members and fellow officers working hard on tasks that range from keeping strip joints out of the nearby business district to taking care of elderly residents with gift baskets at Christmas. Also joining the effort are the members of Grace Church and its rector, Timothy Holder, who lives right behind the church in the heart of the revitalization area. Newcomers to the neighborhood play a vital role, too, as they enjoy their brightly-painted homes and the chance to be part of a new day in a historic community.

And then there are the young people of Woodlawn, dear to the heart of this woman who makes time for others in the midst of a busy career in marketing at BellSouth. They carry the future on their shoulders, she believes, and she has challenged them with cross-country trips to neighborhood association meetings as well as work in local cleanup efforts. Perhaps, she muses, one of these young people will move, with their families, into one of the newly built and newly refurbished homes. "I was taught that you make your dreams happen," says Creer, who grew up with eight kids and two parents in a three-room shack. "I want to see lots of people's dreams come true."

Trees for Alabama grew out of the region's first-ever Tree Summit, held in late 2000. Its goals are 1) to plant trees, 2) complete canopy studies, 3) develop an urban forestry library, 4) establish an advocacy group for tree protection and 5) continue hosting an annual tree summit. Headed by Stan Palla, the organization has already received 501(c)3 status, along with a $200,000 from the U.S. Forestry Service to study the tree canopy in Jefferson County.

Trees for Alabama planted some 2,000 trees in Birmingham's 3rd district on Saturday, April 28, with the help of community volunteers. Funds for this event were donated through Councilman Jimmy Blake's discretionary fund. To volunteer for future events or for more information, please call (205) 254-2355 or (205) 781-2210 or visit their Web site, www.treesforalabama.com.

Northport Growth - Northport has transformed 18 acres, including several brown fields, for use as a city park on the Warrior River and the revitalization of their downtown.

Congratulations to the Friends of Vulcan, who have raised $8.4million to restore a regional landmark, contributing to our region's arts and culture revitalization.

Regional United Way chapters have taken the lead on addressing pre-school readiness through their "Success by Six" programs. These initiatives provide the building blocks for the future success of Region 2020's education goals.

The new Children's Zoo addition to the Birmingham Zoo gets a jump start with $2 million in funding from the Junior League of Birmingham and the Hugh Kaul Foundation.

Jefferson County Commissioner Bettye Fine Collins hosted a meeting of elected officials from the areas in the Upper Cahaba Watershed to begin a coordinated planning effort to protect this important natural resource.

Let us know what you're doing to move our region forward. Call us at 326-1100 so we know of your success.

For more information on how you can get involved in ongoing initiatives: