Live HealthSmart Alabama, an initiative supported by the UAB Minority Health & Health Equity Research Center (MHERC), held a ribbon cutting at Titusville’s Memorial Park on September 20 to celebrate recent community improvements. This project started with the people of Titusville working together to make their neighborhood an even better place to live, work, study, and raise families.
These improvements include 2,300 linear feet of new and updated sidewalks, murals, lighting upgrades, bike lanes, micromobility stations, a new bus shelter, street trees, updates to the Titusville Community Garden, a new pocket park, and Birmingham’s first-ever Neighborway.
“Today we celebrate the improvements in the built environment,” said Mona Fouad, M.D., Chief Executive Officer of Live HealthSmart Alabama and director of the UAB Minority Health & Health Equity Research Center. “But it’s also important to point out that the built environment is for the people—it’s where they live, they work, and they play.”
The Titusville Neighborway—which runs along Kappa Ave S. and 2nd Ave S. from Memorial Park to the Villas at Titusville—connects a full mile of the community. Along this mile, mileage signs are installed for walkers to track their distance, street markers to indicate who shares the road, a traffic circle to relieve automobile congestion, and speed humps to remind people to slow down and keep pedestrians safe. The changes enhance the neighborhood experience for residents.
“Through these improvements, we’ve taken the safest street in Titusville and made it even safer,” said Tiffany Osborne, Program Director for the Minority Health & Health Equity Research Center.
Over the past year, Live HealthSmart Alabama — in partnership with Dunn Construction and Vulcan Materials Company — worked to refresh the neighborhood many call home.
“We’re seeing some really positive momentum building in North Titusville,” said James Fowler, Director & City Traffic Engineer for the Birmingham Department of Transportation. “It is truly a great neighborhood that is an important part of this truly great city.”
This initiative would not have been possible without partners such as the City of Birmingham, National Cement, Kirkpatrick Concrete, Alabama Power, Goodwyn Mills Cawood, Titusville Development Corporation, Birmingham Jefferson County Transit Authority MAX, Birmingham Park and Recreation, Blank Space Birmingham, Navigate Affordable Housing, Birmingham Rotary Club Sunrise Chapter, and Blight-Free Birmingham.
“I’m amazed at the degree of collaboration and support we have received along the way. Because of these collaborations, we were able to accomplish so much in less than one year. This project has brought many groups together, for Titusville,” said Fouad Fouad, Ph.D., director of the UAB Sustainable Smart Cities Research Center.
Going the Extra Mile
The Titusville Neighborway is not the only way Live HealthSmart Alabama plans to make impactful change in the neighborhood. The Live HealthSmart Alabama Mobile Market, a mobile grocery store that travels around the city each week, stops in Titusville every other week to provide the residents access to fresh fruits and vegetables.
One of Live HealthSmart Alabama’s aims is to bring healthy and affordable food to Birmingham residents through the Mobile Market. There are also weekly food demonstrations from local chefs to show how to make simple, healthy meals with food purchased from the market.
During the event, Birmingham City Councilor Crystal N. Smitherman, asked members of the audience to stand if they currently live or have lived in Titusville. With community members standing, she said, “This change is for you. This isn't for me, it isn't for UAB, it is for you.”
