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Commission establishes Community House foundation and appoints founding board
Summary
After dozens of applicants and public presentations, the commission created a Community House foundation board, set aside two commissioner seats, and unanimously appointed multiple founding board members to oversee the newly city‑owned Community House.
The Birmingham City Commission moved forward with governance steps for the newly city‑owned Birmingham Community House on June 22, establishing a Community House Foundation (a 501(c)(3)) and appointing founding board members after an extensive public interview process.
Commissioners reserved two two‑year seats specifically for commissioners to provide oversight. Applicants — many of whom gave two‑minute statements emphasizing fundraising, governance, youth programming and financial sustainability — included local nonprofit leaders, development professionals, museum and arts advocates, and former Community House staff. Commissioners voted to appoint a first slate of directors including Linda Solomon, Ambika Roberson, Anthony Long, Robert Bowen, Sam Serna, Eva Kirkman and Kevin Denha (terms vary by stagger), and then named two commissioners to the board (Mayor Clinton Baller and Commissioner Therese Long) as the foundation’s initial ex officio oversight representatives.
Applicants and commissioners repeatedly emphasized two priorities: (1) immediately building a reliable fundraising pipeline and (2) conducting detailed community outreach to define programming that will serve multiple generations. Multiple candidates said the top short‑term task is a fundraising push to stabilize operations — several estimated the foundation will need multi‑hundreds of thousands to low millions annually to operate at scale while longer‑term endowments are developed.
The commission approved a motion to reserve two two‑year commissioner seats and then made nominations and unanimous votes for the founding directors. Newly appointed members took the oath of office at the meeting.
What’s next: The commission scheduled an initial organizational meeting for the appointed founding board (proposed the next day), and staff said the foundation will draft bylaws, decide whether to hold meetings under an open or closed format (the foundation is a private 501(c)(3)), and begin an initial fundraising strategy and bylaws review.
