BIRMINGHAM UNITED NEIGHBORHOODS

Birmingham United Neighborhoods (BUN) is a coalition of eight neighborhoods that has been working with the UAB Center for the Study of Community Health since 2018, when they collaborated on plans for the 2019–2024 core research project, CHEER. BUN provides input to guide CHEER, and two representatives from BUN serve on the Center’s community participation board, which advises on the Center’s research, translation, training, and service activities.

In September 2018, the representatives of the 8 neighborhoods decided to establish themselves as Birmingham United Neighborhoods, with a mission to improve neighborhood health through collaborative partnerships and projects. Rather than work separately on neighborhood issues, BUN decided to work collectively as a demonstration project to improve neighborhoods across the city. During a January 2019 strategic planning session led by Clarus Consulting, BUN identified environmental blight as its highest priority. BUN pursued grant funding to start the project Magic City Blight Busters to address blight in the 8 partner neighborhoods.

BUN has met monthly since 2018 and was incorporated as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization in 2021. In addition to CHEER, BUN has applied for and received funding from the Community Foundation of Greater Birmingham and the Jefferson County Health Advised Fund for Magic City Blight Busters, a project to address abandoned and deteriorated homes, overgrown lots, and litter, “a plague identified as the greatest detriment to the health of neighborhoods.