HEART Birmingham

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HEART Birmingham' is a City of Birmingham program to provide more effective responses to non-emergency situations involving the city's homeless population, mental health episodes, or issues arising from substance abuse which are judged not to pose an immediate risk to public safety.

Operation of the program is contracted to the San Francisco, California-based non-profit Urban Alchemy, which trains and employs response teams to answer calls referred by 311 and 911 operators. The "Homeless Engagement Assistance Response Team" members are often recruited from among the formerly-incarcerated or formerly-homeless, who can better empathize with individuals experiencing crises. They undergo 40 hours of classroom training and another 40 hours of field training in Urban Alchemy's program, which prioritizes the core values of respect, integrity, empathy, empowerment, self-discipline, self-control, and self-esteem. Their priority is to de-escalate conflicts, and to help connect individuals in crisis with shelter, medical care or other needs. The program is viewed as an alternative to police interactions, which can often provoke fear or panic.

The Birmingham Department of Community Development coordinated the program, which began operating in early 2025 under a $1,717,881 contract which also includes community engagement and outreach, interim housing, hygiene services, street cleaning, and work "to address the challenges created by the intersection of poverty, mental illness, addition and homelessness." The Birmingham HEART response team is expected to have around 20 staffers, on duty from 7:00 AM to 11:30 PM.

Urban Alchemy is also a finalist for a separate contract to manage a pilot site of the city's "Home For All" initiative for temporary housing in groupings of "micro-shelters".

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