Our Campaigns - Candidate - Harvey Johnson, Jr.

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Johnson, Jr., Harvey

CANDIDATE DETAILS

Affiliation

Democratic

Name

Harvey Johnson, Jr.

Address

Jackson, Mississippi , United States

None

Website

[Link]

Born

December 21, 1946 (77 years)

Contributor

User 490

Last Modifed

Juan Croniqueur
Jun 20, 2023 05:00am

Tags

Black -

Info

Harvey Johnson, Jr. was born in the River City of Vicksburg, Mississippi. He received his early education in the Vicksburg Public School District, where he graduated from Temple High School. He went on to receive a bachelor’s degree in political science from Tennessee State University and a master’s degree in political science from the University of Cincinnati. He has done additional study toward a doctoral degree in public administration at the University of Southern California’s Washington Public Affairs Center in Washington, D.C. Mayor Johnson was also awarded an honorary degree, Doctor of Humane Letters, from Tougaloo College.

Prior to being elected the first African-American mayor of the City of Jackson, Mississippi in June of 1997, Mayor Johnson dedicated much of his time and expertise helping economically depressed small towns with minority leadership obtain basic necessities such as water and sewer service. As the founder and executive director of the Mississippi Institute for Small Towns, a nonprofit agency, Mayor Johnson helped a number of towns in the Mississippi Delta with housing, community development and infrastructure needs.

In addition, Mayor Johnson is continuously in contact with the city’s youth through the Mayor’s Youth Council and by visiting city schools and administering an anti-gun violence pledge to students. He has administered this pledge to students in every Jackson public school at least once.

His professional attributes include more than 25 years of experience in the field of planning and community development. He also has served as assistant professor of political science at Jackson State University, where he taught graduate level courses in public administration and directed the Center for Technology Transfer. He was a Captain in the United States Air Force, and he is a former member of the Mississippi State Tax Commission and the Mississippi Gaming Commission. Additionally, he worked as a manager at the former Mississippi Research and Development Center.

Mayor Johnson, well into his second term, has always worked hard to promote economic development in Jackson. His efforts have paid off. Currently there is over $400 million worth of development planned or underway for the downtown area alone. The city’s train station, Union Station, was recently renovated, transforming it into a beautiful new state-of-the-art multi-modal transportation center, housing trains, buses, taxies, limousines, and spaces for retail shops, restaurants and office space. Farish Street, one of the nation’s oldest African American neighborhoods, had fallen into a state of decay and decline. Part of it is now being developed into a premier entertainment district that will rival Beale Street in Memphis. Construction has started on a state-of-the-art, high tech training and conference center, unlike anything else in the southeastern United States. The construction of the metro parkway is transforming the area around Jackson State University, removing dilapidated houses and blight that have surrounded the campus for years.

Mayor Johnson serves on the Democratic National Committee, on the U.S. Conference of Mayors Homeland Security Task Force, and is President of the National Conference of Black Mayors. He is a member of the National Conference of Democratic Mayors, the Mississippi Conference of Black Mayors and the American Legion Tyner-Ford Post 213. He serves on the Board of Directors of the Mississippi Municipal League, the Metro Jackson Chamber of Commerce, and National Urban Fellows, Inc. He is a former member of the Commission on Colleges for the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools.

Mayor Johnson has served on the Board of Directors of Union Planters Bank of Central Mississippi, Smith Robertson Museum and Cultural Center, the American Red Cross of Central Mississippi, New Stage Theater, the Mississippi Housing Finance Corporation, the Arts Alliance of Jackson/Hinds County, the Metropolitan YMCA and the Reader’s Editorial Board for a daily newspaper. Mayor Johnson is a member of Sigma Pi Phi Fraternity and a charter member of 100 Black Men of Jackson, Incorporated. He has also served in local, state and regional positions for Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc.

Mayor Johnson is married to Kathy Ezell Johnson, and they have two adult children, Harvey, III and Sharla. He is a member of Hope Spring Missionary Baptist Church.

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