Today, we’d like to introduce you to J.W. Carpenter.
Thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
I moved to Birmingham in 1993 from New Jersey and thought as soon as my four years were up, I would be long gone. But in 2006, I moved back to be near my parents and because I felt like there was tremendous opportunity in the city and the state. After a short career as a lawyer, I jumped headfirst into the non-profit space, helping to bring and lead Teach For America’s expansion into Alabama.
I traveled the entire state, meeting education leaders, students, teachers, and community members whose examples still inspire me today. After nearly four years, I moved to the Birmingham Education Foundation, where I spent eight years building a team and community network that would work together to expand opportunities for students in the Birmingham City Schools (BCS). Our students continue to have limitless potential, and there is so much power in bringing them together with families, educators, and the broader community to invest in them. I am proud of the team’s work and glad I can still spend time with current students and BCS alumni. Top leaders in the city launched Prosper after two years of research and learning, and I took the helm of the new non-profit three years ago.
We are working to build the most thriving and inclusive economy in the Southeast in Birmingham with a specific thought, not an exclusive focus on supporting Black people and women. Birmingham is big enough to matter and small enough to move where the grass tips and grassroots are aligned toward building this more inclusive economy. It is an exciting role to get to work with my team and community, investing in innovative leaders and ideas, convening and collaborating to build the vision and strategy that will expand opportunities for everything from Black-owned businesses to our healthcare economy to expanding and retaining young talent, and telling Birmingham’s story to a national audience that will find our commitment to inclusivity an attractive option for their companies, their investments, and their ideas.
We want to be the sandbox where innovators don’t wait in line and have an impact right away, and thanks to our city and community leadership, we will get there. I have two great kids (Jack and Kate), my entire world, and a group of great friends and family who are always helping me get into good trouble.
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
I choose to see what we face as an opportunity. We have opportunities to collaborate better, and we have demonstrated that collaborative spirit with our outsize success in securing federal grants, the launch of the first-ever regional Catalyze Challenge, and designing a vision for a best-in-class Black business ecosystem.
We have opportunities to tell our story more completely, including the tragedies in our past and the inequities of our present, and also honor the leaders who did so much to expand opportunities for all of our residents and the alignment of our current city and community leadership to build the most inclusive and thriving economy in the Southeast.
We have an opportunity to be a place where national leaders, investors, and thinkers spend time and launch ideas, initiatives, and partnerships. We can leverage our considerable strengths in healthcare innovation and advanced manufacturing to be among the best in the country in this work.
Too often, though, Birmingham is not on the radar, and the impression of our city is overwhelmingly negative. We want people to see who we are now, meet our diverse group of community leaders, and visit to see all of the actual and all of the potential that our residents are harnessing and could harness.
Other than that, the major obstacles I have are making sure I eat right, exercise and sleep, being a present and thoughtful parent, and showing gratitude to all the people who tolerate me.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe you can tell us more about your work next?
At Prosper, we are trying to build the Southeast’s most thriving and inclusive economy. That’s a big job. Our role is to ensure we have an aligned, inclusive, measurable, and funded Job Creation, Job Preparation, and Job Access strategy for the city and county.
We are not the executors, but we work with them to make sure they are aligned with meaningful, measurable goals, connected to others in their work, the work is inclusive by race and gender, and they have the funding they need to achieve those goals. Since launching in 2021, we have invested in or supported several great projects, including:
1. The launch of a Health Tech Accelerator that has welcomed 20 health tech start-ups led by underrepresented founders, many of whom are now relocating to Birmingham.
2. We have partnered to study and help build a plan for the best-in-class Black business ecosystem and made investments directly in Black-owned businesses in addition to using Black-owned businesses as vendors in our work.
3. We were part of a City of Birmingham-led effort to secure a Good Jobs grant that will help train 1000 people into living wage health care jobs over the next few years.
4. We collaborated with several partners to launch the first regional expansion of the Catalyze Challenge, which invests in transformational ideas to benefit young people in education and the workforce.
What do you like and dislike about the city?
I like it when people work together collaboratively and honestly to do big things and don’t quit when it gets hard.
I like going to a nice restaurant with friends and having a good meal and a great conversation. I like to be outside on a hike or playing tennis or playing golf. I like to read and listen to a new podcast or hear from a great thinker or doer to feel inspired. I like going to a great concert or play stand-up comedy, or any type of sporting event.
I like going to a new place and seeing what they have going on or a city like Atlanta or New Orleans that I’ve been to one hundred times and love. And then, I like to come back home to Birmingham
I like spending time with my kids doing anything they want to do. I don’t like pickles, cold weather, or cynicism.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.prosperbham.com
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jwcarpenter/
Image Credits
A. Boswell Media Services (Antonio Boswell) https://www.aboswellmedia.com
