| No Images? Click here   Last night, we gathered with residents of Birmingham at the historic 16th Street Baptist Church to talk about violence in the city. It's been 54 years since four little girls died in a bombing at the church. Mayor William Bell kicked off the forum by noting that a variety of investments and initiatives — beyond more stringent policing — are needed to address Birmingham’s lingering challenges. “We’ve got to put more dollars into educating our children, training our children, and giving them hope and opportunity,” he said. After a panel discussion featuring community organizers, police officials and legal professionals, audience members launched into the kind of tough, grating conversation that many people say are needed to spark tangible change throughout Birmingham. — By Ja'han Jones   Alabama ranks 49th in the United States when it comes to access to behavioral health care, according to a 2016 report. There’s a glaring shortage of mental health professionals in the state — averaging one worker for every 1,200 people, when the national average is about one for every 529 individuals. State-funded psychiatric hospitals are also pushed to the limits. The few available facilities often don’t have enough available beds to care for the number of people who need them.HuffPost teamed up with Birmingham’s WBRC to look into how religious organizations are stepping in to help people who have mental health issues and dwindling resources.  Donna Thornton via The Gadsden TimesCharles Woods uses games and other activities to teach kids in Birmingham about the civil rights movement.“History is an always-occurring event ― it’s not just young people, but getting all people to understand we’re living in history right now,” he told HuffPost. “So we educate the present, about the past, to enhance the future.” Graveside services at Birmingham’s Woodlawn cemetery for Cynthia Dianne Wesley, one of the victims of the 1963 bombing of the 16th Street Baptist Church. Photo by Bettmann via Getty Images.Contributor Doug Jones writes:
Plus: One man's story of being black, gay and HIV-positive in Birmingham.  Brenda Torres (left) is a mom in Idaho who gave birth to her daughter three years ago. Kriss Kokoefer (right) is a mom in California who adopted her two daughters, ages 9 and 5, from China. They talked to HuffPost about choosing to become single moms. Join us virtually on the bus! Ride along with our editor-in-chief, Lydia Polgreen, as she dispatches news from the road via Facebook Messenger.  Learn more about what it really means to be an American by signing up for our morning news brief.Did a friend send you this? Subscribe here. For more politics news, check out our HuffPost Politics email.©2017 HuffPost | 770 Broadway, New York, NY 10003 |
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