“Everywhere you looked, there was devastation.” So recalled Dr. T.L. Lewis, the longtime pastor of Bethel Baptist Church in Birmingham’s Pratt City community. “From one end of Pratt City to the other, lives were lost, homes and businesses were destroyed. Our church was leveled to the foundation.” But in the immediate aftermath of the deadly tornado that […]

The past decade has brought tremendous changes to businesses in industrial and energy sectors. Taking advantage of those changes to uniquely position and empower each sector to shape the future industrial economy is the objective of The Frontier Conference. The two-day event is being held virtually this year from The Frontier‘s home in Birmingham. The Frontier is […]

Bronze Valley Accelerator and Innovate Birmingham announced the launch of gener8tor Upskilling, a free training program to help Alabama residents obtain critical digital skills for in-demand jobs. Funded through a grant from Microsoft, the program will kick off its first, virtual statewide class in June. “Bronze Valley’s mission is creating an education-to-opportunity-to-outcome pipeline through investment, technical assistance, connections and […]

Sharon King said for a nonprofit like Raleigh’s Place, running a thrift store in a drafty, old building was an expensive proposition. But the load has become a little lighter, with the help of Alabama Power and the Alabama Business Charitable Trust Fund. Raleigh’s Place purchased a 2,200-square-foot building in Clanton in 2019 to house a thrift store. Named […]

The forest products industry has long been important to Alabama, and the evolution of the industry is ensuring it will continue to play a vital role in the state’s economy. “As an industry, forest products is evolving,” said Gary Faulkner. “It’s an exciting time, with new technologies, products, sustainable resources, geographical market shifts and other […]

Tuscaloosa and Auburn have a lot in common. That assessment might give pause to passionate fans on both sides of what has been called college football’s greatest traditional rivalry. But if the subject is small-but-thriving communities that continue to expand their established industrial base while nurturing new businesses in emerging innovation sectors, the two cities […]

Bronze Valley Accelerator has hired Haley Medved Kendrick as its director and has announced startups from Birmingham, Alabama and throughout the Southeast can apply for the program. Kendrick comes to Bronze Valley Accelerator with a background in economic development and building public-private partnerships in Birmingham’s technology sector, most recently as executive director of Innovate Birmingham. […]

Bronze Valley has been awarded a grant by the U.S. Economic Development Administration (EDA), a bureau of the U.S. Department of Commerce. The $284,500 grant, which will support Bronze Valley’s strategy for making startup funding more accessible to entrepreneurs from underrepresented ethnic, gender and income groups, was announced July 23. “We are extremely pleased and excited with our success […]

“It’s about building an ecosystem that enables people to thrive,” declared Anthony Hood. “It takes partnerships between universities, the corporate community, nonprofits and elected officials. That means cooperation and, in Birmingham, we’ve never seen the level of cooperation that we’re seeing today.” Hood is director of civic innovation at UAB, and his comments came in the […]