Your Town Alabama inspires and educates Alabamians to use asset-based design for setting and achieving community goals.
Alabama is primarily a rural state comprised of small towns and communities struggling to thrive in a continually urbanizing world. The leaders of these communities face a different set of challenges than cities and towns with larger populations. Their greatest asset is the sense of community that can only exist in a small town.
How can rural Alabama thrive?
- By building on those things that make it unique and viable.
- By solving problems in the context of a bigger idea.
- By remembering their heritage and using it as a foundation for growth.
- By inspiring their youth to stay or come home and be part of the community.
Our workshop provides small town and rural technical assistance providers with a useful tools for organizing, recruiting, and strategically developing community and economic development while retaining the things that make a small or rural town special. It provides a toolbox for identifying what is good in a community and magnifying and expanding the benefits of those assets.
I’ve never been in a place like this in all of my days. Wherever your imagination allows…you can have these discussions about planning and community and it all just fits together. Certain things did not dawn on you until right now.
Phoenix Robinson, City Planner
Please join us in celebrating the beauty of Your Town Alabama.
Board of Directors
Your Town Alabama is a 501c3 organization with a board of people passionate about creating a better Alabama.
Officers
Matt Leavell, AIA LEED AP, Chairman
Ben Wieseman, Vice-Chairman
Katie Thomas, Secretary / Treasurer
Board
Brandon Bias
Goodwyn Mills & Cawood
brandon.bias@gmcnetwork.com
Jim Byard, Jr.
Byard and Associates, Inc.
jim@byardassociates.com
Jason Fondren
KPS Group, Inc.
jfondren@kpsgroup.com
Honorable Drew Gilbert
Mayor, City of Cordova
drew.Gilbert@cityofcordova.org
Mary Helmer
Main Street Alabama
mary@mainstreetalabama.org
Kathleen Kirkpatrick
Sustainability Consulting
kathleen@hometownaction.org
Matt Leavell, AIA LEED AP (Chair)
The Univ. of AL Center for Economic Development
matt.leavell@ua.edu
Debra Love
E3 Solutions
dhllab@aol.com
Lea Ann Macknally, ASLA (ExCom)
Macknally Land Design
lmacknally@macknally.net
Larry Mason
Community Member
glmason.lm@gmail.com
Collier Neeley (ExCom)
Landmarks Foundation
c.neeley@landmarksfoundation.com
Steve Ostaseski
Community Member
sostaseski@gmail.com
Nigel Roberts
Jefferson County
robertsn@jccal.org
Phil Segraves
mayor47@hotmail.com
Jenny Brown Short
Walker County Health Action Partnership
jennybshort@gmail.com
Katie Thomas (Secretary/Treasurer)
AL Association of RC&D Councils, Inc.
kthomas.rcd@gmail.com
Rip Weaver
Aldridge Gardens
rweaver@aldridgegardens.com
Ben Wieseman (Vice-Chair)
REV Birmingham
ben@revbirmingham.org
Nathan Willingham, AICP (Immediate Past Chair)
University of North Alabama
cnwillingham@una.edu
Emeritus
Paul Kennedy
Mary Shell
Randy Shoults