Rise Together: Rebuilding Lives with Hope, Healing, and Community

Join us for an inspiring luncheon with Avery Rhodes as she shares the story of Community on the Rise, a 501 (c) (3) nonprofit organization dedicated to empowering people experiencing homelessness in Birmingham, Alabama through a holistic focus on Housing, Education, Employment, and Healing.

About Avery Rhodes:

Community on the Rise is a nonprofit and social enterprise dedicated to empowering people experiencing homelessness in Birmingham, Alabama through a holistic focus on Housing, Education, Employment, and Healing. We honor our mission offering free housing for up to 2 years; meaningful employment; healthy community; a holistic healing curriculum; and recovery of vital identity documents. Community on the Rise is a place where survivors of homelessness begin to heal, thrive, teach, and lead the way forward. We believe that when people reconnect to their self-worth and know that they are deeply loved, all things are possible.

Community on the Rise is a 501 (c) (3) nonprofit organization founded and directed by Avery Rhodes. Before launching Community on the Rise in 2020, Avery spent 10 years volunteering for and learning from the homeless community in Birmingham. Through the relationships she built, Avery learned about the complex reasons why people may struggle with homelessness and she spent many years furthering her academic knowledge of systemic poverty and the deep harm it causes. Avery also trained at Thistle Farms in Nashville, Tennessee, and at Community Development for All People in Columbus, Ohio, to develop best practices for trauma-informed care and harm reduction amongst vulnerable populations.

Before launching Community on the Rise, Avery started a family furniture business, Alabama Furniture Market, with her husband, Chris, in 2006. She has also taught public speaking, interpersonal, and group communication for the Alabama Community College System as well as the University of Alabama. Avery is graduate of the University of Alabama (2001) with an MA in Organizational and Group Communication. Avery and Chris have four wonderful children, Willa Rose (17); Hopper (16); Walton (12); and Scarlet (9).

Avery is committed to cultivating healthy community by focusing on authentic relationship-building, the power of sharing stories and vulnerability with one another, and by building opportunities for survivors to vocalize their wisdom, advocate for themselves, and lead the way. Avery applies her teaching and communication skills, business and marketing design experience, and experiential learning about systemic poverty everyday to the work of cultivating a compassionate, innovative, and authentic space that invites people into belonging, understanding, and love.

When Avery is not working or planning for Community on the Rise, she enjoys reading, writing, and spending as much time as she can outside!

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