CITY KICKS OFF PARKS AND RECREATION COMPREHENSIVE PLAN 

Earlier this week, the City of Hoover kicked off its first ever Parks and Public Spaces Comprehensive Plan. This public/private partnership will allow the City to catalog all of its recreational amenities for purposes of marketing different areas throughout the city.

A kickoff reception was held at the Hoover Randle Home Tuesday evening. Signature Homes has partnered with the City on this project.The groups Land Design, Inc. and BerryDunn are also helping to spearhead the project.

Monday night, Hoover's City Council heard a presentation that details the project. You can hear the report in its entirety by clicking the link below and scrolling to 28 minutes and 25 seconds into the meeting:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=POQJ2H9X7gM

HOOVER MET COMPLEX SEES GREAT SUCCESS IN FISCAL YEAR 2022 

"Reinventing ourselves". That's how officials with the Hoover Met Complex (HMC) and Sports Facilities Management (SFM)  describe their results in fiscal year 2022. "Reinventing" themselves after coming out of a post pandemic slump that battered the United States and abroad.

On Monday night, HMC General Manager Shannon Ealy presented the year's findings to the Hoover City Council. Joining him in that presentation was SFM CEO Jason Clement. 

Some of the highlights from the report included these statistics:

-More than 82-thousand community members used HMC's recreational fields and courts

-More than 375 –thousand athletes used the Met for some sort of practice or competition.

-Net revenues in FY 2022 exceeded $1.1 million.

You can find the entire presentation made to the Council by clicking the link below and scrolling to 9 minutes and 30 seconds in to the meeting.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=POQJ2H9X7gM

DOZENS ATTEND TOWN HALL MEETING FOCUSED ON VETERAN SUICIDE PREVENTION 

Nearly 40 veterans, community members and service providers took part in a town hall meeting focused on veteran suicide prevention. The event was held Wednesday and was a joint effort between the City of Hoover and the Alabama Department of Veterans Affairs.

The town hall was inspired by a statewide effort called Alabama’s Challenge for Preventing Suicide Among Service Members, Veterans, and their Families (SMVF), which seeks to combat the continuing stigma veterans face with mental illness.

Recently released data shows 143 veterans in Alabama died by suicide in 2021, a rate higher than the national veteran average and significantly higher than the national civilian average.

Wednesday's town hall featured a host of speakers including Hoover Mayor Frank Brocato and representatives from the Birmingham VA Medical Center, JBS Mental Health Authority, the Alabama Suicide Prevention and Resources Coalition, Hoover Police Department, Birmingham Career Center, and Alabama Department of Veterans Affairs. Attendees also learned about the new 988 crisis line, VA programs, QPR training and more.

Those in attendance were also able to meet one-on-one with service providers after the event.