Birmingham Selected to Join Love Your Block, Helping Residents Improve Neighborhoods Citywide

birminghamal.gov

Mayor Randall Woodfin this week announced the City of Birmingham has been selected to join Love Your Block, an initiative led by the Bloomberg Center for Public Innovation at Johns Hopkins University, to launch resident-led projects that improve their cities.

As one of just 25 new local governments from 20 U.S. states to join the latest edition of the program, the City of Birmingham will receive $70,000 to engage residents in efforts that clear vacant lots, reclaim public space, and better their communities, as well as expert support from the Bloomberg Center for Public Innovation and a dedicated Love Your Block Fellow to support their work — and build trust in local government.

“Birmingham’s neighborhoods are strongest when the people who call them home have a voice, and a hand, in shaping their future,” said Mayor Woodfin. “Love Your Block gives us another opportunity to put resources directly in the hands of residents, turn their ideas into action, and transform vacant and underused spaces into places that bring people together. We’re excited to partner with our residents to make Birmingham cleaner, stronger and better, block by block.”

The new 25 Love Your Block city halls include Albuquerque, N.M.; Aurora, Illinois; Birmingham; Chattanooga, Tennessee; Columbia, S.C.; Deerfield Beach, Florida; Dubuque, Iowa; Eugene, Oregon; Everett, Washington; Frederick, Maryland; Greensboro, N.C.; Harlingen, Texas; Hoboken, N.J.; Honolulu, HawaiiI; Jersey City, N.J.; La Crosse, Wisconsin; Lancaster, Pennsylvania; Lansing, Michigan; Macon, Georgia; Mobile, Alabama; Newark, N.J.; South Fulton, Georgia; Tulsa, Oklahoma; Wilmington, Deleware; and Winston-Salem, N.C.

They join a broader national program that, since its founding in 2009, has helped 50 local governments engage more than 88,000 residents across 33 states to remove more than 7 million pounds of trash, clean over 550,000 square feet of graffiti, create nearly 800 art displays, and transform the areas residents rely on most.

These results have also been shown to build ties between city halls and their citizens: a 2021 study by the Urban Institute found that participating Love Your Block municipalities improved social cohesion among residents, increased civic participation, and strengthened relationships between local government and the people it serves.

“Residents often have the clearest view of what their neighborhoods need—and Love Your Block helps mayors and municipalities bring them into the work — and see those ideas through,” Francisca M. Rojas, Ph.D., Executive Director of the Bloomberg Center for Public Innovation at Johns Hopkins. “That translates to tangible improvements communities want — and that they lead — with their city hall’s support, and shows what happens when local government invites the public in to solve problems and deliver, together.”

What is Love Your Block?

Love Your Block brings city leaders and residents together to strengthen neighborhoods one block at a time by supporting resident-led projects that improve their cities. Local governments receive funds to engage residents in efforts that clear vacant lots, reclaim public space, and better their communities, as well as expert support from the Bloomberg Center for Public Innovation and a dedicated Love Your Block Fellow to support their work — and build trust in local government.

Since its founding in 2009, Love Your Block has helped 50 local governments engage more than 88,000 residents across 33 states to remove more than 7 million pounds of trash, clean over 550,000 square feet of graffiti, create nearly 800 art displays, and transform the areas residents rely on most.

These results have also been shown to build ties between city halls and their citizens: a 2021 study by the Urban Institute found that participating Love Your Block municipalities improved social cohesion among residents, increased civic participation, and strengthened relationships between local government and the people it serves.

Established and supported by Bloomberg Philanthropies, Love Your Block builds on the successful legacy of Cities of Service, which has helped hundreds of municipalities engage residents as a leading voice in public problem-solving since its launch by New York City mayor Michael R. Bloomberg in 2009.