Filed under: AL, BCAP, Birmingham, Birmingham Alabama, Birmingham Civil Rights Institute, Birmingham, AL, Civic Engagement, cultural institutions
BCAP initiative honored in DC
The Birmingham Cultural Alliance Partnership (B-CAP) was one of 17 honorees from the U.S. and Mexico presented with the 2006 Coming Up Taller Award in Washington, DC on January 22. Coming Up Taller is an initiative of the Prresident’s Committee on the Arts and the Humanities. The awards recognize and support outstanding community arts and humanities programs that celebrate the creativity of the young people of America, providing them with new oppportunities to learn and contribute to their communities. It also highlights the contributions made by historians, scholars, librarians and visual and performing artists to families and communities by mentoring children.
B-CAP is a initiative led by the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute (BCRI) involving six area cultural institutions, the City of Birmingham, Alabama and the Birmingham City Board of Education. It annually connects 200 inner-city youth from Banks and Hudson Middle Schools with BCRI’s community partners using arts and humanities to reinforce classroom learning, promote student achievement, nuture personal development and increase parental involvement in education.
For more information, visit the Coming Up Taller website by clicking here. Congratulations, now if I could only find out the names of all of the institutions involved…
Cheers.
Filed under: AL, B'ham Wiki, Birmingham, Birmingham Alabama, Birmingham Civil Rights Institute, Birmingham, AL, Cities, Civic Engagement, Civil Rights, Dr. Martin Luther King, history, Jr., Kelly Ingram Park, Martin Luther King, memories, My Birmingham, News Media (as source & subject), people, Photographs, Race and Prejudice, Random shots, Sixteenth Street Baptist Church, urban issues, urban parks
Today many in the nation will take a moment to honor the life and legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. during unity breakfasts, prayer meetings and television montages that will no doubt have people in Birmingham believing that the only thing people think of when they hear the name of their city is fire hoses and dogs. Commissioner Langford, a likely candidate for mayor in this fall’s election will speak at Sixteenth Street Baptist Church here in the city this afternoon. There will be wreath-laying ceremonies at the base of the above statue of the fallen civil rights leader later this morning with other political and social leaders taking part. The Birmingham Civil Rights Institute will be open to the public for free, leading to an influx of cars from across the country coming to see the exhibits and the history of this facility.
An early morning walk through the downtown area showed many treating it as they would any other Monday morning. There are considerably less cars downtown today as many have the day off. This afternoon several hundred people will culminate a weekend of service to the community throughout the greater metropolitan area. There are those that will push the issue of whether or not a city celebrates the holiday. The Birmingham News provides this list in today’s paper. The issue of taking the day off just to have the day off or spending the day working is one that will be raised for some time to come. How do you honor a man who led one of the most important fights in the history of civil rights in this country?
I say one of them because there is still progress to be made in race relations in this country on all levels. Homelessness and poverty still rear its ugly head at levels much greater than we need or want. Gay and lesbian rights are still a long way from being dealt with openly and candidly. So what do we do?
As mentioned last year, I’m still not sure why we choose to focus on these issues and challenges at only one time of year on such a national level. I’m hoping that some people choose to voice their thoughts today as that would be as great a tribute to Dr. King as it would be to roll up your sleeves and do something about it without feeling the need to resort to violent tactics.
The irony of the focus of many of the local activities here in Birmingham, Alabama is the significance of the person that Kelly Ingram Park is named for:
It’s named for the first American sailor killed in “the war to end all wars.” For both Ingram and those that sacrificed for my ability to write these words today, we must really ask ourselves what must we be willing to do to finally achieve victory over these issues.
Let’s hear ’em.
Cheers.
Filed under: AL, Birmingham AL restaurants, Birmingham Alabama, Birmingham Civil Rights Institute, Birmingham, AL, Hurricane Katrina, Hurricane Katrina Relief, New Orleans, News Media (as source & subject), Traffic, Transportation, urban issues, WorkPlay
The Ramblings computer decided to do what it always does after an upgrade – it wouldn’t boot properly. So most of the things I wanted to post about today are locked away until I figure out how to get my new hard drive to serve as the location for Windows XP without losing whatever I have on drive C. In the meantime, we’ll post some things to do for the first part of the week.
Monday…
We recently posted about the meetings being held today and tomorrow to discuss a proposal supported by Progress 280 to build elevated lanes along one of the busiest roads in the state. The Birmingham News article from yesterday’s paper we link to explains what the goals of the meetings are. It also explains how they plan on doing the presentations. They will deal with one portion of the 10 mile bridge each day at the Birmingham Marriott Hotel, 3590 Grandview Parkway, between 2-4 and 6-8 p.m. each day.
We hope that as many people as possible use this opportunity to look at what’s going on in our region and voice your opinion on a project that will greatly affect how we deal with traffic congestion for some time to come.
Meetings Monday, Tuesday to discuss elevated highway, The Birmingham News, 8.27.2006
… and Tuesday
Remember the people of Katrina
Click on the badge with the red type in the sidebar to learn more about “Happy Hour for a Cause” on the 29th. WorkPlay Bar will be open for business as we collect goods and monetary donations for Katrina survivors. If you’re looking for other ways to help others still affected by Katrina or for other activities taking place on that day Keep on reading.
Share our Strength’s Restaurant for Relief 2 – The link will take you to the list of local restaurants taking part in this nationwide event benefiting Gulf Coast recovery efforts. Click here to read more about other efforts being taken by SOS and about some sobering facts about the recovery effort so far.
The Birmingham Civil Rights Institute will have a town hall meeting on Tuesday evening at Sixteenth Street Baptist Church entitled, “Katrina, One Year Later….A Town Hall Meeting”, from 6 p.m. – 8 p.m.
There’s also an ecumenical service being held Tuesday afternoon. Click here to view a previous post about this event.
If you know of anything else going on in town, please post a comment and let us know about it. We’ll also post some examples of things being done elsewhere this evening.
Silvertron’s neon glow returns to Forest Park this week
According to the current copy of Black and White, one that also contains your trusty guide to next week’s Artwalk, The Silvertron Café will be reopening on the 29th. There are plenty of people that will be excited for the return of this local favorite. We’re hopeful that the crowds are a plenty for them in the coming weeks.
Wednesday
This is the last day for the Park Place Farmer’s Market in Linn Park. If you have a chance, go and check it out.
Enjoy the day.
Cheers.