Birmingham · Alabama · 2026
July 7 – 9, 2026
Birmingham, AL
Turning policy, data, and place into opportunity. A working summit for those building the next chapter of American cities.
Your zip code still predicts your future.
Schools, transit, capital, care — distributed unevenly.
Where dollars land, opportunity follows.
Outcomes change — by design, not by chance.
For decades, we treated mobility as something individuals earn alone. But the evidence is clear: place is policy.
Where you live shapes who you become. The most resilient
cities don’t wait for mobility — they engineer the conditions
that produce it. This summit is a working demonstration of
how.
Birmingham has carried the weight of America’s
hardest questions about opportunity — and now
answers them with infrastructure, capital, and coalition.
Forged in iron and the CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT, the Magic City is
becoming a national model for what happens when policy,
philanthropy, and community move together — by design.
Population 21,000 · Median home value rising 14% YoY
Population 21,000 · Median home value rising 14% YoY
Increase in minority-owned
business formation since 2018
Capital deployed into mobility-
aligned projects, 2020–2026
Economic mobility is shaped by place. Opportunity varies block by block — and historic disinvestment continues to shape outcomes for generations.
In cities across America, a child's life trajectory is more determined by their neighborhood than by their ambition or talent. Access to quality schools, jobs, healthcare, and capital follows geography — often drawn along historic lines of disinvestment and redlining.
Most convenings stop at awareness. This summit moves beyond diagnosis to alignment and action — bringing the right people into the same room, with real data, real neighborhoods, and real accountability for outcomes.
Transit, broadband, capital. The connective tissue of mobility.
Capital follows attention. We point it toward overlooked neighborhoods.
Movement from one rung to the next — measured, not assumed.
Children outearning their parents. Block by block, year by year.
It is a working demonstration of economic mobility in action.
Measured at 6, 12, and 24 months.
Roadmaps committed before you leave.
Quantified opportunity gaps, live.
Site visits, not slide decks.
Commitments, not closings. Each delegation leaves
with a place-based mobility play, the partners to deliver
it, and a 12-month checkpoint.
Working studios, not panels. Cross-sector teams sit with data, maps, and capital — and produce real interventions you can take home.
Move through the neighborhoods, the markets, and the legacy infrastructure that built — and limited — this city. See the system before you redesign it.
It is a working demonstration of economic mobility in action.
Economic Mobility by Design
Traditional conference
Mobility doesn’t move through silos. We work where the systems meet.
Day 3 moves the summit into Birmingham’s neighborhoods. Choose one lab.
Experience one of Birmingham’s leading examples of
collaborative community development,
entrepreneurship, housing investment, and resident-led
revitalization.
Examine how strategic investments, environmental
remediation, workforce initiatives, and neighborhood
revitalization efforts are shaping North Birmingham’s
future.
Explore how housing, education, public safety, and
community investment are being aligned to create
opportunity and improve outcomes for residents.
Learn how arts, culture, entrepreneurship, and corridor
redevelopment are being leveraged to support
economic mobility and commercial revitalization.
Explore the connection between Innovation Depot, the
Civil Rights District, the 4th Avenue Business District,
entrepreneurship, technology, culture, and inclusive
economic growth.
Invite-only by design. This summit does not optimize for attendance numbers. It optimizes for decision-making density — the right people, with the right authority, in the same room at the same time.
“We move the levers.”
“We do the work.”
Philanthropic leaders, impact investors, and financial institutions deploying capital toward equitable economic growth.
“We fund the future.”
“We live the answer.”
Economic mobility requires collaboration across sectors. Whether you’re shaping policy, building communities, supporting entrepreneurs, developing talent, or leading neighborhood change, we’ve curated recommended sessions to help you get the most from your summit experience.
Select the role that best describes your work and explore suggested breakout sessions and Neighborhood Labs. You’ll make your final session selections in Whova after registration.
Who Should Attend: Mayors, city council members, county officials, municipal staff, planners, housing professionals, public administrators, elected officials, and policy leaders.
Recommended Sessions:
Recommended Neighborhood Labs:
Why Attend:
Learn how local governments are using policy, public investment, data, and partnerships to expand economic opportunity and improve outcomes for residents.
Who Should Attend: Economic development professionals, chambers of commerce, business recruitment leaders, workforce organizations, utility partners, and regional development agencies.
Recommended Sessions:
Recommended Neighborhood Labs:
Why Attend:
Explore how entrepreneurship, business growth, workforce development, and place-based investment create pathways to economic mobility and regional competitiveness.
Who Should Attend: Community development corporations, nonprofit leaders, housing organizations, philanthropic partners, faith-based organizations, and community practitioners.
Recommended Sessions:
Recommended Neighborhood Labs:
Why Attend:
Discover strategies for neighborhood revitalization, equitable development, housing stability, community health, and resident-centered investment.
Who Should Attend: Entrepreneurs, small business owners, ecosystem builders, CDFIs, lenders, chambers, incubators, accelerators, and technical assistance providers.
Recommended Sessions:
Recommended Neighborhood Labs:
Why Attend:
Learn how entrepreneurship, capital access, procurement, business ownership, and ecosystem collaboration drive wealth creation and economic mobility.
Who Should Attend: K-12 educators, higher education leaders, workforce boards, training providers, apprenticeships, and talent development organizations.
Recommended Sessions:
Recommended Neighborhood Labs:
Why Attend:
Explore the connection between education, workforce development, career pathways, and long-term economic mobility for Birmingham residents.
Who Should Attend: Neighborhood association leaders, resident advocates, grassroots organizations, community organizers, and civic leaders.
Recommended Sessions:
Recommended Neighborhood Labs:
Why Attend:
Connect with residents, practitioners, and policymakers working to create safer neighborhoods, stronger communities, and greater opportunity for future generations.
Not Sure Where You Fit?
Many attendees wear multiple hats. Don’t worry about choosing the “perfect” category. The summit is intentionally designed to bring together leaders from different sectors to explore how policy, data, place, and partnerships can create pathways to economic mobility for all Birmingham residents.
Chasiti,
Economic mobility requires collaboration across sectors. Whether you’re shaping policy, building communities, supporting entrepreneurs, developing talent, or leading neighborhood change, we’ve curated recommended sessions to help you get the most from your summit experience.
Select the role that best describes your work and explore suggested breakout sessions and Neighborhood Labs. You’ll make your final session selections in Whova after registration.
Who Should Attend: Economic development professionals, chambers of commerce, business recruitment leaders, workforce organizations, utility partners, and regional development agencies.
Recommended Sessions:
Recommended Neighborhood Labs:
Why Attend:
Explore how entrepreneurship, business growth, workforce development, and place-based investment create pathways to economic mobility and regional competitiveness.
Who Should Attend: Economic development professionals, chambers of commerce, business recruitment leaders, workforce organizations, utility partners, and regional development agencies.
Recommended Sessions:
Recommended Neighborhood Labs:
Why Attend:
Explore how entrepreneurship, business growth, workforce development, and place-based investment create pathways to economic mobility and regional competitiveness.
Who Should Attend: Community development corporations, nonprofit leaders, housing organizations, philanthropic partners, faith-based organizations, and community practitioners.
Recommended Sessions:
Recommended Neighborhood Labs:
Why Attend:
Discover strategies for neighborhood revitalization, equitable development, housing stability, community health, and resident-centered investment.
Who Should Attend: Economic development professionals, chambers of commerce, business recruitment leaders, workforce organizations, utility partners, and regional development agencies.
Recommended Sessions:
Recommended Neighborhood Labs:
Why Attend:
Explore how entrepreneurship, business growth, workforce development, and place-based investment create pathways to economic mobility and regional competitiveness.
Who Should Attend: K-12 educators, higher education leaders, workforce boards, training providers, apprenticeships, and talent development organizations.
Recommended Sessions:
Recommended Neighborhood Labs:
Why Attend:
Explore the connection between education, workforce development, career pathways, and long-term economic mobility for Birmingham residents.
Who Should Attend: Economic development professionals, chambers of commerce, business recruitment leaders, workforce organizations, utility partners, and regional development agencies.
Recommended Sessions:
Recommended Neighborhood Labs:
Why Attend:
Explore how entrepreneurship, business growth, workforce development, and place-based investment create pathways to economic mobility and regional competitiveness.
The summit convenes the people who together can move
the needle on economic mobility — across city,
neighborhood, capital, education, workforce, and
philanthropy.
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A city whose history makes the question of designed
opportunity unavoidable — and whose civic ecosystem
makes the answer testable, today.
No. Participation is by invitation and registration is required.
No
No. Participants may select one tour experience
Subject to availability.
By invitation. By design. By those willing to leave the room with a deliverable, a partner, and a date.
