How one Birmingham nonprofit leader’s career has come full circle in the Magic City

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When STRIVE Founding Executive Director Quiwintre Frye moved to Birmingham with her husband in the early 2000s, she made the declaration that whatever work she did, it would be helping people. She centered on that purpose after her first two work experiences in the years leading up to her move to the Magic City.

Read on to learn more about Frye, how STRIVE changes lives, what brought her to the organization and what’s to come.

Committed to helping people

After graduating from the University of North Alabama, Frye took a job at her hometown hospital in Tennessee as a hospital admissions interviewer.

A midnight-shift employee at the time, Frye was usually there early in the morning before volunteers arrived. As a result, she’d find herself assisting patients in getting to their rooms and with other tasks as needed. While Frye eventually left the hospital for an opportunity at 3M in Decatur, specific memories of her time in health care stuck with her.

Coincidentally, her first job is one of many health care pathways STRIVE graduates can consider today after completing the workforce development nonprofit’s coursework.

“I think it was my second or third graduation here for our students in the Career Path program, when I realized, ‘This is full circle!'”

“[Assisting patients] was fulfilling for me, and I think that was the moment I realized whatever I do, I want to help people. Once I moved on to 3M for several years, I was able to reflect back on what really made me feel good, and that experience came to mind.
_{Quiwintre Frye, STRIVE Birmingham Founding Executive Director}

Once in Birmingham, the path to STRIVE was a natural one for Frye as she and her husband became parents to two sons. Here’s a snapshot:

• She became an eighth-grade algebra teacher in Birmingham City Schools before joining the nonprofit world 14 years ago with Girls Inc. of Central Alabama, where she coordinated the internships component of its Eureka! STEM program.
• From there, she went to Woodlawn United, coordinating resources for students and families to overcome non-academic barriers that directly affect academics—adequate housing, food, utilities, transportation and college guidance.
• She then worked with the Birmingham Education Foundation, building internship opportunities for career academy students.

All of these experiences aligned when she discovered STRIVE’s mission, programming and plans to expand to Birmingham.

How STRIVE Birmingham changes lives

In October 2022, STRIVE, which began in East Harlem in 1984, officially launched in Birmingham with Frye as its first and only employee.

STRIVE’s mission is to help people achieve economic mobility through targeted programs. In Birmingham, they currently offer two, with a third coming online later this year. They are:

• Career Path: Provides health care career training to people age 18+
• Fresh Start: Launched late last year for justice-involved residents age 25+, who can train to become forklift operators or fiber-optic cable installers
• Future Leaders: Launches in late 2025 and will offer logistics and telecommunications training to justice-involved residents ages 18-24

Its first offering here was its signature program, Career Path, which graduated 34 students in 2023. The next year, it grew to 71. This May, six students graduated from the new Fresh Start program in its first cohort.

ICMYI: Hear one local man’s story after participating in the first cohort of Fresh Start programming and graduating this May.

While each program has unique aspects, all include career readiness programming and credentialing along with wraparound services tailored to the individual to support successful outcomes.

While Frye’s early-career circumstances differ from many of STRIVE’s program graduates, she sees an important common thread in her own story she sometimes shares to encourage students: how attaining skills, certification and financial independence can be a critical first step to ultimately discovering one’s purpose and fully pursuing it.

“My true passion is being able to help individuals to attain economic mobility, financial independence and reach their ultimate career goals—and not just ‘have a job.’ With STRIVE, we have the opportunity to provide that additional education and credentialing opportunity that really helps individuals to reach a different level of career success.”
_{Quiwintre Frye, STRIVE Birmingham Founding Executive Director}

Bringing it all together

As it celebrates its second year in Birmingham, STRIVE is set to multiply its impact in its next chapter with a move to its new 7,000-square-foot future home in Woodlawn, which the organization revealed at its anniversary event in early June.

Better than any birthday cake, the new headquarters will consolidate four temporary locations for STRIVE’s operations and programs in Birmingham. In just over two years, with STRIVE Birmingham, Frye has hired 13 team members, with three joining in May.

Meanwhile, the search for a space to house the organization began in 2023, she says, when they began working with Meredith Calhoun of Tessa Commercial Real Estate to help identify the best location within the city. After considering factors like access to public transportation, economic data and graduation rates, they landed on Woodlawn. It still took some time to find the best spot, Frye says.

Building community assets

“And then one day Meredith called and said, ‘Hey, I think we have a possibility. There’s a building in Woodlawn that was an old five-and-dime store. She connected with Chris Boehm, who purchased the space with the desire for STRIVE to go in it. And that [decision] wasn’t just for STRIVE but also the Woodlawn community—the economic development piece of how it could be a positive asset.”
_{Quiwintre Frye, STRIVE Birmingham Founding Executive Director}

Now with the financial details and construction build-out almost complete, STRIVE expects to move into its new home in September.

STRIVE’s new HQ, located at 5515 First Avenue North, will feature:

• Three classrooms
• Closet + dressing room for students who need professional clothing
• Student + staff break rooms
• Office space

How you can support STRIVE’s next chapter

STRIVE’s growth means more opportunities for students, job seekers and justice-impacted individuals.

Here’s how you can help:

• Donate: Financial support funds scholarships, student materials and program growth
• Partner: Employers can join to provide internships, mentoring and job placements
• Volunteer: Help with workshops, resume reviews or share career insights

Want to see the new headquarters and learn more? STRIVE will host open houses and volunteer info sessions this fall. Visit the STRIVE Birmingham website to learn more.

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