The Housing Authority of the Birmingham District (HABD) will receive a $50 million federal grant to help revitalize Birmingham’s historic Smithfield community, where some of the most violent clashes took place during the city’s civil rights journey.

“The emotions I feel are indescribable,” HABD CEO Dontrelle Young-Foster said during a news conference announcing the grant from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD).

“It is official. It is real, Birmingham. It is real, Smithfield. The first email I opened this morning was a congratulations letter from HUD, and now, we’re here today to hear that we are awarded for this great event.”

The Choice Neighborhoods Implementation Grant from HUD is intended to help replace distressed public housing and improve its surrounding neighborhoods. The highly competitive grant is given to only a handful of communities across the country each year.

HUD secretary Marcia Fudge, in Birmingham for the announcement, congratulated the city on receiving the grant and the impact it is expected to have to help transform the Smithfield community.

“People talk about how there’s no affordable housing, and I admit that there is not. There is a crisis in this country, but your community has come together, put together one of the best grant proposals we have ever seen,” Fudge said.

The plan calls for replacing the Smithfield Court public housing development with new mixed-income housing and creating more multifamily and single-family housing, as well as mixed-use developments, throughout the Smithfield community, which includes the Smithfield, College Hills, East Thomas, Enon Ridge and Graymont neighborhoods. Graymont is the home of Legion Field.

Nearly 1,000 housing units could be built across the community as a result of the plan, including 350 units on 11 acres of former surplus property near A.H. Parker High School.

Birmingham Mayor Randall Woodfin said the city’s selection for a Choice Neighborhoods Implementation grant “further strengthens our shared commitment to neighborhood revitalization.

“The many partnerships developed to strengthen our neighborhoods and enhance opportunities for our residents created the climate to successfully secure this grant … as a city, we look forward to working closely with HUD, HABD and the many partners who will transform our neighborhoods through this opportunity,” Woodfin said.

The Smithfield neighborhood, along Center Street west of downtown, was the scene of multiple bombings in the 1950s and 1960s aimed at the homes of Black families and civil rights leaders who began moving into the area following a court order that struck down the city’s segregated zoning ordinance. The terrorist attacks, many of them orchestrated by the Ku Klux Klan with the tacit approval of police, earned the city the notorious nickname, “Bombingham.”

Today, the area has begun to revitalize, with a civil rights waking trail up Center Street and a recently announced, $21 million grant to better connect the community to downtown civil rights sites.

The Smithfield home of Black civil rights attorney Arthur Shores was bombed in 1963 by pro-segregationists. No one was ever prosecuted for the crime. (Alabama Department of Archives and History, donated by Alabama Media Group. Photo by Tom Self, Birmingham News)

City Council President Wardine Alexander said the HUD grant and plan is not just about improving housing. “It’s about fostering holistic development, ensuring access to community resources, and building a strong foundation for economic growth and prosperity. This grant is a testament to our collective dedication to create a better future for all our residents.”

Councilor Darrell O’Quinn, who represents a portion of the community, said the residents helped in securing the HUD grant. “I firmly believe that every person, no matter their station, has the capacity to have a positive impact on their community,” he said. “… To those among you who believed, who preserved in the face of doubt, and refused to let our past define our future, please know that you have our profound gratitude.”

Residents of Smithfield Court have waited “for decades” to see the community revitalized, Young-Foster said.

“Generations of families have called this community home, and one of the most remarkable things we have about the residents here in Smithfield Court is their unique sense of pride in their neighborhood,” she said.

Parker High School, in the heart of Birmingham’s Smithfield community. Surplus land near the school will be used as part of the revitalization plan. (contributed)

Moving forward, Young-Foster said, wins like the Choice Neighborhoods grant will position HABD “to be a stronger driver of community and economic development.”

“As we redevelop public housing, develop new affordable housing in this neighborhood, we also look forward to working with our partners to expand wraparound services to residents, from education and health care to workforce development and commerce to this neighborhood,” Young-Foster said.

U.S. Rep. Terri Sewell, whose congressional district includes Smithfield, said the grant is a “catalyst for change, change for the better.”

“This is a major step toward leveling the playing field and revitalizing these neighborhoods, and other neighborhoods, but we start right here in Smithfield … It means rebuilding Smithfield Court … Honoring our history but building and envisioning a better future — that’s what it’s about,” Sewell said.

A version of this story originally appeared in The Birmingham Times.