Our Story
ELI-Empowered for Lasting Impact
Founded as a community development organization in 2010, ELI began as an outreach into the neighborhood to offer connection, safety, and resources. We have since expanded to the greater Birmingham community to offer wraparound services to families in the areas of housing, economic development, health and nutrition, and education.
Sustainable change does not happen overnight
Our belief has always been that a holistic program, focused on creating a better circumstance in multiple areas of each individual’s life, can result in long-term change. We began with a commitment to be in relationship with the families of East Lake for a minimum of 25 years and have since expanded our mission to all 99 neighborhoods. We want to serve a whole generation.
We are more than just a ministry. We are relational.
We are client-led. We take into consideration all of our clients’ personal needs, barriers, strengths, and goals for the future and commit to walking with them for 1-3 years.
Our heart is always to connect people.
We are multi-generation minded. We focus on the whole family, understanding that children and adults are interconnected.
Our communities are poised for greatness.
We are empowerment-driven. Our desire is to see every family become self-sufficient. We operate off of a self-sufficiency matrix with the goal of seeing families go from crisis to thriving.