The City of Birmingham, in partnership with the Community Funding Accelerator (CFA), convened 30 employer and community partners in K-12 education, community college, workforce training, transportation, entrepreneurship, and childcare to confirm and release their Workforce Strategy.
The strategy outlines how $20.2 million from the U.S. Economic Development Administration (EDA) grant will be used to advance the Reinvest Birmingham workforce revitalization initiative. With this funding, the City of Birmingham aims to engage 5,000 residents in North Birmingham, Northside, Pratt, and Smithfield in information sessions and career and job fairs with a goal of enrolling over 3,000 residents into Career Pathway Training.
Partnering with workforce training and apprenticeship programs, Reinvest Birmingham will revitalize the local economy in these neighborhoods, ultimately creating 1,500 new jobs.
“Our partnership with CFA has been instrumental for not only in shaping the implementation planning for Reinvest Birmingham but also in Birmingham’s selection as an awardee of this historic investment. From research to accountability to relationship-building, the CFA team has consistently made the process seamless,” said Archie Stewart, Reinvest Plan Officer. “The foundation of success for this initiative rests on the care, intentionality, and standard of excellence first established by CFA.”
Created in partnership with CFA, the Workforce Strategy is a city-level plan that maps the current workforce landscape, identifies opportunities for jobs in high-demand construction, advanced manufacturing, childcare, and healthcare sectors. The launch brought together multi-stakeholder partners to guide decisions about workforce training and fill job market gaps in the coming years.
“We know the City of Birmingham is committed to developing a comprehensive workforce pathway to train residents for good jobs and keep them, starting as early as K-12. CFA is proud to partner with the City on this forward-thinking strategy that prepares residents for the jobs of today and the opportunities of tomorrow,” said Mara Eala, Project Leader at CFA.
In collaboration with Lightcast, the strategy is grounded in labor market and service area data to inform and serve as a guidepost for the next four years of the grant and other city-level workforce investments. CFA provided strategic technical assistance in developing effective structures, processes, and tracking key metrics for implementation in the six to twelve-month pilot phase of the grant. While initially impacting Reinvest Birmingham, the Workforce Strategy will also inform other regional investments throughout the city.
To learn more about this partnership, visit the CFA website at communityfundingaccelerator.org and the City of Birmingham’s website at birminghamal.gov.
