Category / Business

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by Vickii Howell

Birmingham: Epicenter of the New Economics Movement?

On Wednesday Thursday, journalism colleague Kathy Times nationally launches her new website – aimed at improving the status of black-owned businesses – in Birmingham that is known as the universal vortex of the civil and human rights movement.

Where2Go411.com is an online destination to help connect black enterprises to local and national buyers, including city governments, school boards, counties, airport authorities, and other entities specifically seeking to aid the growth of these businesses.

Now, if you’re questioning the connection between Birmingham’s civil and human rights history and this announcement, please let me connect the dots for you. Continue reading →

by Vickii Howell

Little Known Black History Facts, and More Events

I am not a historian by inclination. Being young means you focus more on the future and where you want to be when it gets here. But because of several projects that required research into Birmingham’s past has shown me the value of understanding the here and now. Continue reading →

by Vickii Howell

ATL Film Workshop Prepares Takers for Potential New Job Creators: Filmmakers

I’m under no illusions: Birmingham is not Hollywood. Heck, it’s not even Atlanta when it comes to the business of filmmaking and video creation. But I believe it can be.

It has everything a moviemaker could want: historic old buildings, gritty urban alleys, antebellum homes, rolling hills, and suburban oases. And if we expand our vision to the state at large, we have waterways and lakes, picturesque towns, sandy white beaches, not to mention places of historical significance for the Civil War to Civil Rights. (We wrote about this topic years ago in our article, “Birmingham Rolls Out the Red Carpet for Hollywood.)

Yes, Alabama is far behind the curve among states that offer tax and other incentives (like Michigan and Louisiana) to draw location scouts to consider Birmingham and other parts of Alabama. But we are getting there. Continue reading →

Skilled Labor and Schools
by Vickii Howell

Skills and Schools: A Crucial Connection

SkillsUSA Alabama– a two-day expo, competition and conference that allows businesses in industries such as construction and technology to expose schoolchildren to technical careers – starts today in Birmingham.

If you’re wondering why I would take the time to write about this, let me explain.

Recent reports, such as a recently completed Harvard University study, show that too many of our kids and youth are not prepared to enter the workforce as well-trained workers, and certainly not enterprising entrepreneurs who create jobs. Continue reading →

thecashflow-meagan-and darrius peace 100 urban entrepreneurs
by Vickii Howell

The Power of Good Ideas

Creation, it is said, starts with an idea, a thought that builds in the mind. The mind contemplates it, turns it over and around, studies it from different angles, and images how it could work under various conditions and circumstances.

The appearance of that idea, turning it from a thought into a tangible reality, is where the mind uses its power – its experiences, its reasoning ability, its access to resources, its outward actions through the physical body it controls – to act on the idea.

Faith (idea) without works (action), after all, is dead.

Putting faith into action is how TheCASHFLOW, and its non-profit foundation 100 Urban Entrepreneurs, came into existence. The idea is to provide start-up funding and coaching to young inner-city entrepreneurs who have great business ideas but little to no support that can help them turn those ideas into reality. Continue reading →

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by Vickii Howell

The Blueprint for Economic Prosperity: Is Birmingham Finally Ready?

Today, in Birmingham’s newest park — the result of community collaboration — comes the unveiling of a new plan for economic prosperity that is also the result of community collaboration.

The Birmingham Business Alliance will formally release Blueprint Birmingham, a strategic action plan that might finally help Birmingham unleash its always latent but awesome potential. If followed with the same thoughtful planning, cooperative spirit and passion that created the Railroad Park, this plan can guide Birmingham toward its destiny as a great city.  Continue reading →