Driving Local Impact: Catalyze Birmingham's Place-Based Mission

When Birmingham, Alabama, became the first city to incubate a regional version of the national Catalyze Challenge, the phrase “small enough to move, and big enough to matter,” was repeated to describe the city’s overall adaptability in innovation and growth.

The city’s momentum as a national Tech Hubs grant recipient in 2023 showcased the region’s collaborative workforce ecosystem and a commitment to career-connected learning. With this strong foundation of building regional partnerships and a commitment to inclusive growth, Birmingham emerged as the ideal location to launch the first regional Catalyze Challenge, embodying the transformative power of localized impact. These initiatives were so successful that Birmingham ran a second round of the challenge and recently announced grantees.

While other top-down investment approaches can often bring assumptions and a one-size-fits-all mentality to what works and what doesn’t, place-based philanthropy is informed by and follows community needs — and when localized trust and relationships are intentionally built, it can lead to projects that are more intentional and impactful.

Collective funding as a catalyst for collective action.

At its launch, Catalyze Birmingham secured pooled resources that allowed for greater investment in innovative programming — including support from the Walton Family Foundation and matched funding from the local philanthropic and business community.

The challenge encouraged regional nonprofits to think bigger and foster impactful career-connected learning projects built around the region’s learners and employers. And once selected, Catalyze Birmingham grant recipients joined the national Catalyze community of practice, allowing them to experiment with risk and innovation without acting in a silo.

 ”The challenge attracted more than 70 applications the first time and nearly 50 the second round. That doesn't happen if you have individual funders just reaching out to individual grantees,” said Nicholas Bolt, team member at Equity Cities and partner who helped launch Catalyze Birmingham. “It really becomes a collective that takes on a life of its own and says Birmingham is a place that supports career-connected learning.”

Elevating local perspectives.

The regional focus meant that Catalyze Birmingham could be agile in responding to community needs. Leaders were able to talk to community members in less-serviced areas who might have otherwise been overlooked. Participants hosted technical assistance in rural communities and grant workshops. These workshops created an avenue to hear from the community while also filling resource gaps.

“We are amplifying counties and people who are doing really good work without always being recognized for it,” said Carlisha Harris, Catalyze Birmingham Specialist. “I'm excited to see what they'll be doing in the next two years and the overall impact for people.”

Community collaboration drives success.

Strong community partnerships across local government, workforce, and nonprofit sectors have allowed Catalyze Birmingham to thrive through collaboration.

 ”We have two nonprofits, an independent consulting agency, four different local funders, a national funder, the mayor's office, and they're all sitting down and talking about what this needs to look like and how we need to work together on this,” said Bolt.

Before the local challenge launched, Birmingham Mayor Randall Woodfin had already established strong support and partnerships for youth and community-led initiatives such as Birmingham Promise. His personal belief in this approach meant that Catalyze Birmingham fit into his community-driven narrative.

This alignment across sectors has amplified impact and created cohesive, community-driven solutions for workforce development in Birmingham.

At SXSW EDU last year, Mayor Woodfin said, “What we’ve done in Birmingham, we’ve tried to create tools to support our young people, from mental health to conflict resolution to financial literacy to programs for young people who are locked up.”

With strong relationships and a solid investment in youth programs in place, Catalyze Birmingham was able to build upon what the city started.

Overall impact.

Catalyze Birmingham’s impact is clear: place-based initiatives can be immensely successful when you have a commitment to an investment in innovation, listen to community needs, and develop dedicated partnerships.

See how this year’s Regional Round Two grantees are creating positive change in Birmingham. Click here to meet the grantees.