Digital Media Center
Bryant-Denny Stadium, Gate 61
920 Paul Bryant Drive
Tuscaloosa, AL 35487-0370
(800) 654-4262

© 2024 Alabama Public Radio
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

Mental Health, IBM Grant and Aerofest

MobileAeroFest.com

Officials with Alabama Psychiatric Services say they are ending their service next week.  The company released a statement on their website saying services will stop on February 13. 

Officials say the company is shutting down because of a decline in funding and a change in how it provides behavioral health services.  They also say the company will work to help patients transition to other service providers. 

The change will affect clinics in Birmingham, Cullman, Decatur, Dothan, Fairhope, Florence, Madison, Mobile, Montgomery and Tuscaloosa.

IBM is looking for a few good ideas on a campaign to help cities work smarter and how Birmingham could serve as an example.

IBM is offering grants to municipalities worldwide. It’s called the Smarter Cities Challenge, and Birmingham won one of those grants last year to address what are known as food deserts. Those are neighborhoods where it’s hard to find fresh and healthy food choices at a grocery store.

Birmingham used that IBM grant to send out mobile food markets to underserved areas. Today is the deadline for cities to propose ideas for this year’s round of the half million dollar grants.

Five hundred communities have applied over the past four years. One hundred and sixteen were selected to address issues like health, public transportation, social services, and utilities.

                Veterans will be honored next month with a festival at the Mobile Aeroplex. The brand new event is called Aerofest and will be combining several events into one major festival. Dave Glassman is a retired Lieutenant Colonial in the U.S. Marines and President of Aerofest. He says two existing festivals will be joining Aerofest.

Arts festival that has been going on for 10-11 years in the downtown Mobile area and they have relocated, it’s called Arts Alive, and they will be a major component of Aerofest. Also, LA Gumbo festival which is also a very establish food type festival and that too will be coming to Aerofest.

Glassman says they are expecting around thirty thousand people to attend what they hope will become an annual event. The non-profit festival will take place in March.

?

News from Alabama Public Radio is a public service in association with the University of Alabama. We depend on your help to keep our programming on the air and online. Please consider supporting the news you rely on with a donation today. Every contribution, no matter the size, propels our vital coverage. Thank you.