RISE Birmingham

This article is about the 2014 neighborhood stabilization initiative, for the 2022 business incentive program see RISE Initiative.

RISE Birmingham (for Removing blight, Increasing values, Strengthening neighborhoods, Empowering residents) was a neighborhood stabilization initiative developed by Birmingham Mayor William Bell in 2014. The program was intended to supplement and guide the activities of the newly-established Birmingham Land Bank Authority.

In addition to land banking, the RISE Birmingham initiative involved streamlined code enforcement, a new property management code, and enforcement of environmental regulations as tools to combat blight and stabilize neighborhoods at risk of decline. Redevelopment efforts would be prioritized based on the recommendations generated in the Birmingham Comprehensive Plan's Community Framework Plans which to that point covered the North Birmingham, Titusville and the western Birmingham communities of Smithfield, West End and Five Points West.

One component of the program was to partner with Legal Services of Alabama to provide estate planning help to property owners, a need that was identified as a contributor to blight.

References

• Price, Shelley (November/December 2015) "RISE Up: Birmingham Battles Blight." Partners Update. Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta