By Chip Reed
Bet you never expected to see a new 30,000-square-foot building rising downtown!
If you’ve driven west on 6th Ave North lately, you may have noticed a construction project at 6th and 22nd Street.
It’s the Junior Achievement (JA) McWane Economic Education Center.
This facility is going to change how kids think about Birmingham and their future.
About one in eight Alabama youth between 16 and 24 are “disconnected”—not in school, not working, not in training.
Nationally, up to 60 percent of high school students are chronically disengaged.
They’ve checked out. And honestly, can you blame them when the education system was designed over a century ago for farms and factories, not the economy we have today? Students need engagement and our educators need our help.
Bringing the Real World to Birmingham Students
I’m the President of Junior Achievement Alabama and we’re bridging the gap by immersing students in the actual world of work. Inside our new Center, we’re creating two experiential learning labs—JA BizTown and JA Finance Park. Think of them as mini-Birminghams where local businesses become storefronts that students both operate and patronize.
Picture a sixth grader from Bessemer or Trussville managing their own business or running for mayor. Imagine an eighth grader from Jones Valley Middle School buying her first car, managing a paycheck, following a stock portfolio. These kids make real decisions about money management, career choices, and business ethics. They’re practicing being adults before they have to be adults.
Why Downtown Matters
Building downtown costs more than renovating some empty suburban big box store. But we’re not just preparing students; we’re inspiring them!
Imagine kids from Jasper or Montevallo, many seeing downtown Birmingham for the first time, stepping off that bus and looking up at the Harbert Plaza, Shipt Tower, and the Regions Center. There’s something powerful about connecting career and success with this skyline.
Birmingham is a hidden gem. The breadth of companies here—from medical research at UAB to manufacturing, finance, and tech startups—paired with our quality of life and cost of living, often goes unrecognized. Too many young people think they must move to Nashville or Atlanta to make it. This facility can show students how bright their future can be right here at home.
Teaching Kids How the Economy Actually Works
When a student runs a storefront in JA BizTown, they learn about inventory, customer service, profit margins, and teamwork. In JA Finance Park, they balance car payments, rent, savings, and unexpected expenses. This is financial literacy in action—not abstract lessons, but the building blocks of economic confidence.
We need young people who understand how businesses operate, how personal finance works, what it takes to build security and wealth. This isn’t about creating little CEOs. It’s about helping kids see themselves as capable participants in Birmingham’s economic life.
An Outsider’s Perspective
My wife and I grew up in Tennessee. We’ve lived in Nashville, Raleigh, Knoxville, and now Birmingham. We used to say we’d get back to Nashville someday. We don’t say that anymore. This is home.
Here’s my outsider take: sometimes Birmingham wears its history like a millstone instead of treating it as a story to learn from while building something better. At a conference in Cleveland recently, our Uber driver mentioned a friend who’d moved from Ohio to Birmingham. “She likes it,” the driver said. “Never heard anything bad about it.”
Maybe we’re harder on ourselves than others are on us.
Building Birmingham’s Future
We believe career-connected learning, paired with hope and purpose, can transform what’s possible for the next generation. Come see what we’re building at 6th and 22nd Street. This is going to be something special for Birmingham’s kids—and for Birmingham’s future.
Chip Reed began his JA career 24 years ago in Nashville with JA of Middle TN. After stops as President in Raleigh, NC and Knoxville, TN, Chip was named President of JA of Alabama in October of 2017.
David Sher is the founder and publisher of ComebackTown. He’s past Chairman of the Birmingham Regional Chamber of Commerce (BBA), Operation New Birmingham (REV Birmingham), and the City Action Partnership (CAP).
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Invite David to speak for free to your group about how we can have a more prosperous metro Birmingham. dsher@comebacktown.com
What wonderful big move toward excellence for Birmingham!
Thank you and all of your supporters!
So very glad to see this long envisioned project cone to fruition. What wonderful opportunities for the young people in our community. My best wishes!
That’s truly exciting news! I was in Junior Achievement when I was 16 (circa 1962). We made wooden cutting boards and wall-mount mop and broom holders. I still have two cutting boards that have received loving care all these decades (bread only!). I went on a hayride with one of my fellow achievers. Indeed a very different era from today. JA is one of the best memories I have of an exceedingly fraught time in my hometown.
Best of luck and success to all the future achievers and to the adults who care for them!
This is a wonderful breath of frest air in Birmingham, I have long complained on this site about the school system in Birmingham and Jefferson County. The other school districts are doing fine, but these two systems are not. We have been rushing them to graduation by indocrination not teaching. My biggest question of this system you are starting in Birmingham is who gets picked for this program or is it going to be open to everyone. If everyone is included you need to program the teachers to stress about the great opportunity available to their students. I wish you all the luck in the world, your ideas are badly needed in Birmingham and Jefferson County.