Monday 14th November - Norwood

The final destination of our first day with the MHRC was a resource centre in the neighbourhood of Norwood. We were introduced to the director of the Norwood Research Centre, Melodie Echols. This resource centre is located in the heart of the community and provides a number of services to local residents, including a computer learning centre, volunteer income tax assistance, nurse wellness visits, chronic disease management courses, health talking circles, financial conselling, neighbourhood clean-ups, REACH US (Breast and Cervical Cancer Awareness) and many more.

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Norwood-Resource-Center/116157115085577

 The motto for this research centre is "Neigbors Helping Neighbors" which leads on to Norwood's mission statement "...to strive to improve the quality of life for each and every resident of Norwood and to make our neighborhood a model community in the City of Birmingham and the State of Alabama".

We were very impressed with the amount of services available in the resource centre and also the community's abilities to attract funding. In addition, the community had produced a neighbourhood plan in a very professional manner which emphasised environment and economic impacts on health and community safety. It was clear that there were strong coalitions between residents and community partners who had a clear mission - renovation, innovation, diversity and community partnership. The coalitions strength was also demonstrated in their ability to stand up to any industries which may go against their mission statement.