Alabama Non-Profit Awarded Grant from ALTA Good Deeds Foundation

The ALTA Good Deeds Foundation awarded a $5,000 grant to Urban Ministry, Inc. in Birmingham.

The announcement was made at the ALTA ONE conference in Colorado Springs, CO, in October. Urban Ministry was one of 21 non-profits around the country awarded grants. Grants are designated for organizations that are focused on housing issues and benefit communities at the local level. Total grants for 2023 amounted to $276,000.

The Urban Ministry grant supports its WE Build program, which provides an affordable and sustainable path to home ownership in the West End Community of Birmingham. WE Build hires apprentices who learn from licensed contractors to rehabilitate houses in the area. When houses are finished, apprentices who complete the apprenticeship program have the opportunity to lease-to-own the home, interest-free. Proceeds are used to purchase and renovate the next home, making the program self-sustainable.

It is hard to say just how much this means. But one apprentice has expressed it well. At a neighborhood meeting, he spoke about the program and his daughter ran up to the front. While she stood at his leg, he said that growing up, he drove down the street and saw abandoned houses fall further and further into disrepair. But now, when he drives her to school, he points out the window at beautiful homes and says with overwhelming pride, “Your dad built that!”

This ALTA Good Deeds Foundation grant means that young people can cultivate their gifts, keep them in the neighborhood, and share them with neighbors for years to come.

“Since the inception of the ALTA Good Deeds Foundation in October 2020, ALTA members and the Foundation board have raised more than $1.2 million,” said ALTA CEO Diane Tomb. “To date, the foundation has awarded $844,000 – approximately 70 percent of the funds raised – to community non-profits. I am incredibly proud to be part of an industry that supports this meaningful work.

Title insurance professionals apply for grants on behalf of 501 (c) 3 organizations that they support financially or through volunteer efforts. Urban Ministry’s application was sponsored by David Higginbotham of Westcor Land Title Insurance Company.

For more information, go to altagooddeeds.org.

By William Scruggs, Communications Manager, Urban Ministry, Inc.