MOBILE, Alabama – Mobile Mayor Sandy Stimpson announced from a vacant lot in the Texas Hill community that the city had been selected as one of just a dozen U.S. cities chosen to join the latest expansion of Bloomberg Philanthropies’ Innovation Team program, a distinction that comes with as much as $1.65 million in funding over three years.
Standing near the intersection of Texas and Chatham streets, Stimpson told a small crowd gathered for the announcement that the grant validated the administration’s broader push to position Mobile as one of the safest and most business- and family-friendly cities in the country by 2020.
“This award will provide critical resources to help us move forward on our journey. But it’s about much more than just money. It’s a validation of our efforts to transform Mobile,” Stimpson said.
The Innovation Team, or “i-team,” program was created by Bloomberg Philanthropies, the foundation established by former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg. Twelve U.S. cities selected for this round of the program are together splitting $45 million in funding aimed at helping local governments develop creative solutions to persistent urban challenges.
In Mobile’s case, the funding is expected to support a newly formed i-team made up of three full-time staff members plus additional support, with the team expected to begin its work by the following spring. Stimpson said Bloomberg’s on-loan staff would help assess the city’s priorities and determine how the funding should be deployed once the team is in place.
City officials said the i-team’s mission will center on neighborhoods struggling with blight, poverty and high rates of vacant housing. An assistant city attorney identified two areas already targeted for revitalization efforts: the Texas Hill neighborhood and a nearby community known as The Bottom, both located north of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Avenue just a half mile from downtown Mobile.
Officials said the Bloomberg funding is intended to act as a catalyst that draws additional private investment into these long-neglected areas, helping convert vacant or deteriorating properties into stable housing for residents. As an example of work already underway, the city cited a project splitting a two-dwelling home at Texas and Chatham streets into separate houses, one of which will be relocated to a nearby vacant lot, with both slated for a ground-up rehabilitation once a contractor is selected.
Stimpson framed the grant as part of a broader “One Mobile” vision for the city, describing a goal of creating neighborhoods where residents want to live, work and spend time together. City leaders said they expect the partnership with Bloomberg Philanthropies to bring proven, data-driven problem-solving methods to bear on some of Mobile’s most entrenched neighborhood challenges in the years ahead.