Our Issues & Projects

The Committee of 100’s two major focus areas are economic development and public education.

The Committee of 100 believes the number one economic development issue in our community today is the quality of public education. The Huntsville area has enjoyed rapid job growth and prosperity in this community primarily due to the outstanding reputation of our three public school systems.

For decades, our school systems have been the crown jewel in North Alabama, setting new standards for excellence in education. They offer enrichment programs including more foreign languages and arts classes, smaller class sizes than most other Alabama schools, and fund several hundred additional teachers for those classes.

The financial picture has now changed. Due to our school systems losing millions of dollars over the past several years with the new equity funding program, they have been unable to fund much-needed improvements to our facilities, teacher training programs and new technology, and the academic test scores in many of our schools are unacceptable.

It is essential to Huntsville and Madison County’s continued jobs growth and quality of life that new funding is found to support capital improvements and new schools, expanded professional development for teachers and principals, and enhanced curriculums – especially in math and science – that will better prepare our workforce of the future.

More than half of our city governments’ tax base if supported by local sales taxes, making it critical that the Huntsville area maintain and grow its position as the regional retail center for North Alabama. To compete, our community must develop incentives to stimulate retail development – the five Tax Increment Financing (TIF) plans enacted in the past few years are excellent examples. Strategic planning for retail growth and national marketing initiatives should also be expanded.

The Committee of 100 worked for four years to form and get non-profit IRS status for Big Spring Partners, a privately funded organization to stimulate downtown development. It was modeled after a successful organization in Chattanooga and launched in October 2004. The Committee of 100 continues to financially and politically support this organization in its mission to bring new retail, residential, and commercial activity to stimulate the downtown economy and attract and retain the young professional workforce.

To repace the expected high number of retirees and fill the anticipated growth in new jobs, it is essential that the Huntsville-Madison County community strategically recruit and work to retain young professional workers. The Committee of 100 is working to strengthen young professional networking organizations, such as Huntsville Young Professionals and the Emyrge Council, and stimulate new groups within large employers. The Committee is also encouraging elected leaders to invest more in downtown development and the development of public parks, hiking trails, the riverfront and greenways, quality of life features that are especially attractive to young professionals. We are also working with other organizations to involve college students and young professionals in the community and provide additional co-op and intern opportunities. For more information, please review the Huntsville Talent Magnet Report.

The Committee of 100 works to encourage teamwork and cooperation among local governments, including the City of Huntsville, City of Madison and Madison County, believing we can accomplish greater success in economic development by working together. The Committee of 100 also works with other organizations and business leaders to encourage cooperative economic development efforts in the North Alabama region.

Major Current Projects

• Continue to support Big Spring Partners, a non-profit private downtown development organization founded by the Committee of 100 in 2004, in its early years of operation.
• Full implementation of the Huntsville Talent Magnet strategic plan to better attract and retain the young professional workforce.
• Continue to support strategic retail development efforts, including TIFs that also provide capital funds to public school systems.
• Support strategy to prepare for BRAC jobs.
• Support for downtown development efforts in the City of Madison.
• Development of a plan to address quality improvement and long-term funding of local public education.
• Support full implementation of the Huntsville City Schools Strategic Plan.
• Support a young professional organization within the Committee of 100 to encourage political involvement through training and mentoring.
• Support curriculum enhancements in local schools to improve workforce readiness, including full implementation of the Alabama Reading Initiative and Alabama Math, Science & Technology Initiative.
• Study potential opportunities for consolidated or shared educational and governmental services and facilities.
• Improve diversity within membership and expand membership.