Redefining Community: Leaders Discuss Birmingham’s Collaborative Efforts to find a Home for All
RCB President Jeff Stone and Rotarian Ed Fields with Gordon Sullivan, Alanah Melton and Artie Gilbert
During this week’s Rotary Club of Birmingham (RCB) meeting, Rotarian Ed Fields, Senior Advisor and Chief Strategist in the City of Birmingham Mayor’s Office, facilitated a panel discussion on the State of Homelessness in Birmingham. He was joined by Artie Gilbert, Urban Alchemy/HEART BHAM Director of Operations; Alanah Melton, City of Birmingham Mayor’s Office Director of Unhoused Strategy; and Gordon Sullivan, One Roof Executive Director, to discuss “Redefining Community—Moving Beyond Us and Them to Find a Home for All.”
The conversation focused on the coordinated efforts between the City of Birmingham, area service providers, and community stakeholders to align strategy, response, and long-term solutions for residents experiencing homelessness. The panelists discussed current data on Birmingham’s unsheltered populations, public safety concerns and outreach models, the city’s new strategic roadmap, encampment assessment efforts, and the progress of the city’s emerging micro-shelter initiative. The panel highlighted the importance of coordinated care addressing mental health and substance use alongside housing needs to move unsheltered residents toward long-term solutions.
panelist Bios
Ed Fields serves as Senior Advisor and Chief Strategist for the City of Birmingham where he leads strategic planning, communications, and partnerships on behalf of Mayor Randall Woodfin. Previously, Ed served in key leadership roles for the Birmingham Regional Chamber of Commerce, Alabama Media Group and as co-founder and managing director of Relax, It’s Handled, a nationally recognized association and event management company. A transplant from Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Ed received his undergraduate degree in Business Administration from Alabama State University and earned his Master's of Business Administration (MBA) from The University of Alabama. He received his IOM (Institute of Management) designation from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. Recently, Ed served as executive producer for As Goes The South, a 4K-color narrative change film highlighting Birmingham’s progress in recent years. Ed is an alum of the Bloomberg-Harvard City Leadership Initiative and Harvard’s Young American Leadership Program. He currently serves as chairman of The University of Alabama Culverhouse College of Business African American Alumni Network, a board member for Leadership Birmingham, and a member of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc
Artie Gilbert serves as Director of Operations for Urban Alchemy/HEART Bham. He has been a part of Urban Alchemy since its early days, having previously worked with Dr. Miller at Hunters Point Family. Shaped by his experience serving 26 years in prison starting when he was 19, he developed a strong drive for leadership and to bring safety and comfort to the people around him. Artie has always found himself in a caretaking and leadership role, as he grew up the oldest of 13 siblings. While incarcerated, he coached winning basketball teams for eight years. After he was released, he was drawn to working with Dr. Miller and Urban Alchemy because of its focus on helping people. He started by keeping public toilets clean and then initiated much of the organization’s early clean teamwork, which also involved engaging people with mental health issues living on the streets. He is proud to have helped bring onboard several other members of the Urban Alchemy team and to being an involved uncle with his many nieces and nephews.
Alanah Melton serves as Director of Unhoused Strategy in the City of Birmingham Mayor's Office. She is a Birmingham native and an Alumna of Spelman College in Atlanta, Georgia. She conducts long-range homeless service planning for the City of Birmingham, regarding services and facilities. Alanah manages process improvements and implements solutions, collaborates with other city agencies, local businesses, nonprofit organizations, community leaders, and national partners to execute programs and initiatives. Alanah’s devotion to improving the quality of homeless services throughout Birmingham has helped birth the newly created Office of Unhoused Strategy within the City of Birmingham. This office will focus on creating policy, securing housing for the unhoused/unstably housed. Melton’s greatest achievement is being a mom to her only son, Damon, age 15.
Gordon Sullivan serves as the Executive Director of One Roof, where he has led efforts to strengthen and coordinate the community’s homeless response system for over a decade. With deep expertise in the Continuum of Care program and federal funding that supports local homelessness initiatives, Gordon brings experience in program development, strategic planning, and systems coordination, with a proven record of advancing collaborative, data-driven solutions to address homelessness in the Birmingham region.