Reduced fragmentation brings prosperity for communities, chamber speaker says

Chamber members and guests met on Nov. 15 for the monthly Homewood Chamber of Commerce luncheon and listen to the words of Dave Gray, president and CEO of Daxko. 

Daxko, a company that designs software for heath, fitness and wellness clubs operate more efficiently, is headquartered in Birmingham and works with more than 9,000 fitness companies worldwide. But Gray wasn’t at the meeting to discuss his company; he was there to talk about the city of Birmingham and a new Community Foundation initiative, Together We Prosper.

Gray opened with a statistic that he said, “has stuck with him.”

Between 2000 and 2016, Birmingham has experienced job growth of only 0.24 percent. “This sucks,” he said regarding the statistic. “We have got to do something about it.” And that’s the goal of Together We Prosper. 

With the help of the Community Foundation, the Public Affairs Research Council of Alabama conducted a year-long study to delve deeper into what is going on in Birmingham and the surrounding communities with the “Jefferson County Cooperation Study.” Through the study, the Community Foundation hopes to start a discussion surrounding regional cooperation within Birmingham — or rather, the lack of regional cooperation, as their website states.

Gray said that Birmingham has momentum behind it as new businesses are created and local institutions grow, and many of the nearby neighborhoods are prospering, but he is concerned the resurgence may not last an extended time.

“I think the danger in that is we can become very complacent,” he said, speaking to the need to have both cities and suburbs working together. “We all are in the same community, and we’re all going to rise together or fall together, so we need to make sure we don’t get too comfortable in our bubble and realize we are part of a greater community that is Birmingham.”

Despite having positives within and around the Birmingham area, Gray said, “We are the most fragmented metro area in the Southeast now.” After looking at other similarly sized cities in the country and comparing fragmentation, Gray stated that Birmingham could have generated more than 100,000 jobs if working in a more cooperative fashion.

He also presented four other cities — Louisville, Charlotte, Pittsburg and Denver — comparing how they were previously fragmented to where they are now. In all four, the neighborhoods and metro areas were disconnected but worked together to streamline different leadership roles and reach agreements to help both the city and surrounding communities. Now they are thriving.

But doing so successfully required a few key elements.

Gray said a bold vision and long-term commitment were a large factor in reducing fragmentation, as are incremental successes, completing previously elusive projects and continued improvement. 

“It gets traction and it gets momentum, and over the long-term, you know, the results have spoken for themselves,” Gray said. “We believe there is something better we can be doing as a metro area, we believe we have lots of opportunity.”

The study also included a survey to determine residents thoughts on reducing fragmentation in the Birmingham area. While Gray said all demographics were supportive of the idea, millennials were the most supportive. 

“Certainly, [in] my 15 years here [Birmingham] has become a lot more attractive city for young people than when I first moved here,” Gray said, “and so I think that’s to our advantage — the fact that that demographic tends to thinks there’s something we can do that’s different. And I think they’re going to help drive some of this change in the long run.”

Although the report is long, Gray asked that people go to togetherweprosper.org to read at least the summaries and to provide feedback on the findings while encouraging others to discuss the issue. Eventually, he said, they would like to “drive this to concrete action.”

“We all have to be prosperous; it can’t just be in my little bubble that I live in, in my community,” he said. “It has to be Homewood and all of our fellow suburbs and it has to be the city center, and we will all be successful if we’re successful together.”

To learn more, visit the website, or find Together we Prosper on Facebook and Twitter.

The next chamber luncheon will be the annual meeting on Dec. 19.