Urban Alchemy, the California-based organization, selected by the City of Birmingham to help with homelessness has hired 20 members for its HEART (homelessness emergency assistance response team) group that is currently training to hit the streets.
A partnership was announced back in September between the city and Urban Alchemy.
“Training all of our teammates on trauma-informed process, de-escalation, sexual harassment, and basically what our policies are about and how we operate as an organization,” said Artie Gilbert, director of operations.
Gilbert’s personal life journey is one that Urban Alchemy’s guests can relate to. He spent 26 years in prison.
“It’s most definitely a way of paying back and giving back to the community and society in which I once took from,” he said.
Stephanie Hicks is a new trainee of the HEART team who has previous experience in a closely related field. She believes those who are homeless shouldn’t be invisible to the community because of their circumstance.
She loves this kind of work, mainly because she, too, has a personal journey that involved prison. However, the things she’s had to endure have not held her back.
“My compassion is not tied to my paycheck, my compassion is tied to my experience,” Hicks said.
