Birmingham is building a story of community safety rooted in people, partnership and sustained investment. The forthcoming second volume of The Journal of Social Justice in Action brings that story into focus: Birmingham at a Turning Point: The People, Partnerships, and Prevention Work Behind a Historic Decline in Homicides.

Presented in partnership with Miles College, this special edition will explore Birmingham’s evolving approach to community violence intervention, from federal grant support to a growing place for prevention in the city’s budget. It asks what becomes possible when a city invests in the people closest to the work and builds partnerships that can sustain it.

Across six planned articles, the issue will follow the people who helped lay the groundwork, the frontline practitioners interrupting violence and supporting families, and the community leaders turning lived experience into action. It will examine the role of Miles College, a historically Black college, alongside community partners and the City of Birmingham in connecting education, research and neighborhood-based practice.

The issue will explore these investments and partnerships alongside Birmingham’s decline in homicides, examining the role of prevention within the city’s broader public-safety efforts. Through community voices and careful analysis, it will consider what other cities can learn from Birmingham’s emerging model, what it takes to sustain progress, and the work still ahead.

This is the story of the people behind the numbers and the relationships helping a city move forward.

Coming soon: Volume 2, Birmingham at a Turning Point.