Today, Birmingham Mayor Randall Woodfin announced that the City of Birmingham has been selected to join the Love Your Block initiative, a program designed to launch resident-led projects that improve their cities. As one of just 25 new local governments to join the latest edition of the program, the City of Birmingham will receive $70,000 to help residents engage in efforts to clear vacant lots, reclaim public space and better their communities.

What is the Love Your Block initiative?

The 2023 International Peace Conference — The initiative will provide Birmingham with $70,000 to support resident-led projects across the city. (Matthew Niblett / Bham Now)

Led by the Bloomberg Center for Public Innovation at Johns Hopkins University, the Love Your Block initiative is a national municipal program meant to help revilatize communities through resident-led improvement projects. Since the program’s founding in 2009, Love Your Love has helped 50 local goverments engage with more than 88,000 residents in 33 states to transform areas residents rely on most by:

Removing more than 7 million pounds of trash
Cleaning over 550,000 square feet of graffiti
Creating nearly 800 art displays

“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. 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.”
Francisca M. Rojas, Ph.D., Executive Director of the Bloomberg Center for Public Innovation at Johns Hopkins

This year, Birmingham is among just 25 local governments from 20 states to join the program. Other cities in this year’s cohort include:

Albuquerque, NM
Aurora, IL
Chattanooga, TN
Columbia, SC
Deerfield Beach, FL
Dubuque, IA
Eugene, OR
Everett, WA
Frederick, MD
Greensboro, NC
Harlingen, TX
Hoboken, NJ

Honolulu, HI
Jersey City, NJ
La Crosse, WI
Lancaster, PA
Lansing, MI
Macon, GA
Mobile, AL
Newark, NJ
South Fulton, GA
Tulsa, OK
Wilmington, DE
Winston-Salem, NC

Through the Love Your Block program, Birmingham will receive $70,000 for resident-led projects to improve their communityes, as well as expert support from the Bloomberg Center for Public Innovation and a dedicated Love Your Block Fellow.

“Birmingham’s neighborhoods are strongest when the people who call them home have a voice, and a hand, in shaping their future. 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.”
Mayor Randall Woodfin