AL.com’s Trisha Powell Crain will take the national stage with Birmingham Mayor Randall Woodfin next month, joining many of the city’s nonprofit leaders as they head to Austin’s SXSW EDU conference in March.

Woodfin and leaders from the city’s nonprofit sector have been invited to speak at the conference, which focuses on education. Woodfin and Crain, a senior reporter for The Alabama Education Lab, will discuss the impact of Birmingham Promise, a college tuition granting program available to all Birmingham City Schools students.

The Ed Lab team at AL.com covers issues facing Alabama schools and students, and creative ways that local schools are solving big problems. Crain, an award-winning journalist, has led coverage of reading, math, special education services, funding and other topics.

Birmingham is the nation’s only city to be featured in four panels at the conference. Those conversations will include topics such as boosting college access, early literacy, innovations to support neurodivergent learners and the role of AI in preparing students for the future of work.

“I am excited about this opportunity to tell the story of how the City of Birmingham is not a bystander in educating Birmingham’s children but an active participant,” Woodfin said in a news release. “Birmingham has a school system as well as public and private partners committed to harnessing the potential of innovation in supporting our young people. I look forward to not only highlighting the advances we’ve made but also opening doors for collaboration, sharing our experiences, and learning from others.”

“We’re excited to see Trish and Mayor Woodfin on the national stage in Austin,” said Ruth Serven Smith, education editor at AL.com. “It’s a great opportunity to highlight the good work happening in Birmingham and in Alabama. Our journalism team believes that a high-quality education can and should be available to every child, and Trish’s discussion with Mayor Woodfin will explore how one city has expanded opportunities for local students.”

SXSW EDU is the premier national convening on the future of learning and draws more than 16,000 attendees annually.

“From a ‘college promise’ that guarantees tuition to every graduating high school student, to the nation’s largest early childhood implementation of edtech, Birmingham is proving that government and nonprofit leaders can work hand-in-hand to tackle the city’s most vexing problems,” said JW Carpenter, President of the Birmingham-based nonprofit Prosper. “The nation’s largest foundations, from Bloomberg Philanthropies to the Walton Family Foundation, are taking note. Now the mayor is taking the show on the road to tell our story and bring more resources back to the Magic City.”

Below is a full list of presentations from Birmingham organizations:

• One Mayor’s College Promise in the Heart of the Deep South presented by Trisha Powell Crain, AL.com and Mayor Randall L. Woodfin, City of Birmingham
• Conversations Count: Innovating Early in the Deep South presented by Ruth Ann Moss, Small Magic, Rocy O’Keefe, LENA and Alyssa Singer, Personnel Board of Jefferson County
• Step Up to the Challenge: Using AI to Future-Proof Students presented by Candyce Monroe, Ed Farm, Allen Antoine, The University of Texas at Austin, and Krystal Chatman, Mississippi Al Collaborative
• Providing a Voice & Making the Nevers Possible for ALL presented by Chris Jackson, KultureCity, Meg Raby Klinghoffer, KultureCity, and Michele Kong, University Of Alabama at Birmingham

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