Carmen Mays, MPA
Founder
Coupled with a powerful instinct to discern systemic gaps that too often hinder communities, Carmen has vision. She actively seeks out opportunities to expand equity within underinvested legacy neighborhoods and forges ahead with solutions. She brings this intuitive approach and ardency for action to all of her work.
Carmen Mays, MPA is an urbanist and creative entrepreneur that believes in the balance of thought leadership and implementation. She affirms that all people have value, and each place holds invaluable stories.
Carmen employs a place-based approach that facilitates agency and self-determination to develop blueprints that have been successfully leveraged by industry leaders.
Melvin Griffin
Culture Cultivator
Born and bred in Birmingham, Alabama, Melvin has an immense love for his hometown. Sticking to his roots, he attended the University of Alabama in Birmingham earning a bachelor’s degree in history. His passion for historical research lead him to the local non-profit The Ballard House Project, with the focus on telling the city’s history through the eyes of African Americans.
When not in the library archives, Melvin spends his time at concerts and showcases across the south. He’s built a strong connection with the creative scene in the region as a part of the collective, The Kickback.