Greater Birmingham Ministries
Postponed until further notice. Serving People, Building Community, Pursuing Justice.
Deep Dives
Deep Dives are free site visits to selected nonprofit organizations that serve critical socioeconomic needs in Alabama. The CEO describes the work of the organization, its history, challenges, and needs. A tour of the facility provides a deeper understanding. Participants may optionally use a provided checklist to make observations and discuss what they observed and learned. Recommendations can be sent to the CEO. This Deep Dive is limited to 20 participants. Please send an email to our Events Chair to reserve your seat and you will receive a confirmation and checklist by reply email: Email John Whitman.
The Organization
Greater Birmingham Ministries (GBM) was founded in 1969 in response to urgent human and justice needs in the greater Birmingham area. GBM is a multi-faith, multi-racial organization that provides emergency services for people in need and engages the poor and the non-poor in systemic change efforts to build a strong, supportive, engaged community and pursue a more just society for all people. Our mission is to "Serve People, Build Community, Pursue Justice."
GBM has three basic areas of work in the community:
- Serving People: Providing financial help, food and clothing and support for families and individuals in crisis, and connecting their daily struggles with systemic and structural injustice;
- Building Community: Working with faith communities of Birmingham and Alabama to expand beyond direct human services to serve as allies in organizing efforts.
- Pursuing Justice: Working alongside low-income neighborhoods and people as they organize to improve their lives and the community. They become informed and engaged, work creatively with institutions that affect them, become effective collaborative decision-makers, and work to develop viable solutions for the future of their families and communities.
From time to time, we work to establish new social capital infrastructure and new organizations to address unmet needs in our community. Among the organizations we have incubated are The Crisis Center, Jefferson County Meals-on-Wheels, Firehouse Ministries, Alabama Arise, and the PATH Center for Women and Children.
The Dive Leader
Scott Douglas, III is Executive Director. Scott a native of Nashville, TN, a graduate of the Organizing Committee for Economic and Social Justice (SOC). From 1984-1989, he served as Executive Director of SOC under the Board leadership of Anne Braden and Rev. Fred Shuttlesworth. From 1989-1992, Scott worked as Southern Regional Program Officer for the Partnership for Democracy Foundation. After a stint as the first Environmental Justice Grassroots Organizer for the Sierra Club, Scott became Executive Director of Greater Birmingham Ministries, an interfaith, multi-racial organization that provides emergency services to families in economic crisis while assisting low-income families empower themselves through community organizing. Scott, a former board member of the Needmor Fund, the New Birmingham and Leadership Alabama and was a founding board member of the Alabama Association of Nonprofits. Scott and his wife, Lynn, a retired Birmingham teacher, haveUnited Methodist Church.
The parking lot is entered on the 22rd Street side at the rear of the building. Entry is at the front on the 12th Avenue side of the building.