One On One
People Talking.
Caring about the community, the importance of education, and a belief in the power of voluntarism kept the conversation lively during our one on one conversation between George T. French, Jr., president of Miles College and Liz Edwards, president of the Junior League of Birmingham.
George: I think that’s one of the beautiful things about Birmingham. The diversity. We have Mt. Brook, Homewood, Fairfield. There is diversity in the school systems, and we have deficiencies, of course, in some of our areas and strength in others. One of the things I think we really need to focus on in our community is that there is a gap sometimes in resources between communities, and we’re going to have to look at how we bridge that gap, because if we have children doing well coming out of Mt. Brook, and not doing as well coming out of Midfield, then when both get to higher education institutions, whether they be UAB, Miles of Samford, and there may be some large disparities in what their skill sets are. This presents a problem in higher education. But, if they were more level, more of a median, I think we could see higher successes in higher education in Birmingham, which means a better community. We wouldn’t lose our students to the Georgia schools, and others.
Liz: Absolutely. I agree, and I think the Junior League volunteers would love to be a part of helping evaluate what solutions we could come up with to address those issues. They’re very important to us as we see the high school completion and the GED program declining. As there are less and less children graduating and getting their diplomas from high school. It’s very important, not only to our city right now, but to the long-term success and future of it.
George: What do you think about the new Birmingham Schools superintendent?
Liz: I’m excited about the new superintendent. I think he will help us and really bring the school system to its fullest potential.
George: I think he’s really doing a great job. I’ve had the opportunity to meet with him several times. His wife is actually working with Miles in our Education Division now. We’re doing an assessment. We are preparing for re-accreditation with SACS, Southern Association of Colleges and Schools, a re-affirmation, I should say for 2013. We’re in the process now, and she’s helping, and she’s awesome.
Liz: So, what do you think is important to be sure that every child has, by the time they graduate high school. What can we do as an organization, as a community to make sure all of our students are ready when they get out of high school, besides receiving their diploma?
George: I think we need to look at those skill sets that really go to the students, making sure they make it to graduation. We need to identify those deficiencies, bring in organizations like yours for tutoring, or whatever support you can, because President Obama has as a goal to increase the college graduation rate by 2020. So, that only gives us a few years to increase it significantly. He wants us to become the number one producer of college graduates again. And, the way to do that again, of course, is to start at K through 12 then into higher ed to make the president’s objective.
Liz: Exactly. It looks like from the Kids Count data, that we are making progress in those first and third grade reading scores and science and math scores. So, we are doing the right things and we just have to keep on working in those areas to make those strives that we have and continue the focus the need for pre K education and making sure students are ready to learn when they go to school.
One of the big programs that we as a league have been a part of here in the community is the Imagination Library Program. It is a program, which provides a book a month to any child registered in Jefferson County from zero to age 5. The Junior League of Birmingham provides the funding for that. And, it’s done through the Dollywood Foundation in Sevierville, Tennessee. It’s part of a program that’s statewide in Tennessee. It’s made a significant impact on school readiness and those Dibels testing scores that are so important to childhood education. That’s a program that we’ve really been involved in. In fact, the Junior League had the opportunity to be a part of the awarding of the 25 millionth book of the program, which was awarded to a child from Jefferson County, this summer.
George: 25 million. Well, Miles needs to be actively engaged in this process.
Liz: We’d love for you to.
George: Just let us know what we can do.
Liz: We appreciate all you do in the community. And, it’s exciting to hear about all of the great things that are going on at Miles.
George: Come over.
Liz: I’d love to
George: Not just the campus, the community. We started a community development corporation. We received about a million-dollar grant from the Wachovia Foundation to purchase a beautiful Tudor-style house. It’s a beautiful house within the community where we actually house our headquarters for the CDC. We purchased homes around Fairfield. We received a $700,000 grant from the Department of Housing And Urban Development to provide first time homeowner training, for first time homebuyers to rehab the homes, to purchase them, to resell them. So, we can establish a solid tax base in Fairfield. We don’t want so many renters, but we want home ownership to increase.
Which of course increases revenues for the school system there in Fairfield. Right up the street from the CDC, you’ll have to see the north campus. We purchased the old Lloyd Noland Health South property, which was 41 acres. Our existing campus was 35.
Liz: So you doubled your space.
George: More than doubled, so we’re going to do about $110 million in new construction there. Our new School of International Studies and Public Policies, our new Health And Wellness Center, which will have a child development center, state of the art child development center, housing 300 students, a natatorium so that we can have an Olympic-sized swimming pool there, a 5,000 seat gymnasium. On the other side of campus, we will have a performing arts center, second to none. It will be on the line with the Alys Stephens Center. This sits on the highest point in western Jefferson County.
Liz: Sounds like a great view. It sounds like Miles is really an economic engine for the whole city of Fairfield and I was reading recently that you have some very esteemed civic leaders on your faculty there at Miles.
George: Yes, Dr. Arrington is still on faculty, as well. He’s doing a fabulous job. He helped us raise $34 million dollars recently, in a $30 million capital campaign. We finished ahead of schedule and raised more and Dr. Arrington was instrumental. Alabama Power, talk about a great corporate citizen. Alabama Power, Charles McCrary, president and Steve Spencer, as well as Bobbie Knight, vice president. They got out into the community with us. And, basically, they said it’s time to support Miles now. So, the corporate community of Birmingham, like they always do, they came through.
Liz: It’s an exciting time to be a part of community leadership in Birmingham. The city is really poised and we continue to make great strides in the needs and issues facing our community, especially in these difficult economic times.
George: Again, congratulations to the Junior League. Ya’ll have done a fantastic job within the community, and we want to help in any way that we can.
Liz: Thank you. We are committed to developing the potential of women in our community and improving our community, through our trained volunteers. It’s an important part of everything we do and we try to make it a cornerstone to every project we touch.
George: Now, let me ask, what is the leadership of the Junior League?
Liz: I am the current president of the Junior League. And, one of the unique things about our organization is that we are a training organization. So, the leadership changes completely every year, which is a challenge but also a blessing to us because it allows us to develop women to lead, not only fund raisers, but also community projects, other philanthropies around town and community agencies.
George: So, you’ve been president, for how long now?
Liz: For three months. It’s June 1 through May 31st. So, it’s a one-year term.
George: Do you do a capital campaign?
Liz: No, we don’t do a capital campaign, but we do an annual campaign. One of the exciting things we’re going to do this coming spring is to kick off celebrations for our ninety years of service. We’re going to hold a community circle event, which is going to award community awards to each impact area we’re involved in with the community. For nonprofits or individuals who have had a lasting impact on issues on each of our impact areas, health, education, financial stability or safety and crisis intervention. We have a list of over 50 nominees, so we are excited to see how that list whittles down and who the finalists will be in each of those award areas. It will culminate with an event on April 1st, which will be held at the Cahaba Grand, and we’re really, really excited about it.
