Focus Areas

Rural Health & Access Improving health outcomes and access to care.

Education Opportunity Expanding learning and supporting student success.

Workforce & Mobility Strengthening jobs, skills, and economic mobility.

Community Data & Demographics Understanding our communities through reliable data.

Place-Based Policy Advancing policies that reflect local needs and strengths.

About the Black Belt Series

The Black Belt series has been a project partnering the Education Policy Center at UA with AL.com, as well as the Center for Business and Economic Research at UA, aiding in gathering data.

More can and should be done to brighten futures in Alabama’s Black Belt. A long-term comprehensive approach that includes transportation, childcare, food security, and housing, as well as braiding the federal funding streams for workforce training, welfare-to-work, and adult literacy with secondary and higher education is needed.

Featured Resource

Children of Alabama in 2025

Children are on the forefront of our minds, but at the backend of major policy decisions. Children of Alabama in 2025 explores the arc of a child’s life in Alabama from infant health, all the way through K-12 outcomes.

Key Facts:
– In 2024, the average infant mortality rate in Black Belt Counties was 9.1 deaths per 1,000 live births, while the average rate in non-Black Belt Counties was 6.5 deaths per 1,000 live births
– Within Black Belt counties, the estimated percentage of children who live in a single-parent household is 35%

Compilations

Key Research