Do You Know What All He Has Done In Macon-Bibb?
Macon-Bibb County is at a crossroad. Citizens of this great city face a critical decision, one that will forever change the course of this community.
We must choose new leadership, we must choose the next Mayor of Macon-Bibb.
The real question is whether we will have the courage, the objectivity and the foresight to choose the person with the leadership skills, the knowledge of the community, the compassion and empathy for others, the dogged determination to make a difference and with a track record of bringing jobs to Macon-Bibb.
That person is Cliffard Whitby.
Macon-Bibb needs a Mayor who will listen but not be afraid to make the tough decisions. Macon-Bibb needs a Mayor who can bridge the racial divide and bring this community together by working for the entire community.
Cliffard Whitby is that person.
Cliffard understands that to grow Macon-Bibb we have to grow the entire community. If this vicious pandemic we are facing has taught us anything, it has taught us that “what affects one affects us all”. Poverty, blight, and crime affect us all no matter where they are found.
Cliffard Whitby as the next Mayor has a plan to attack and defeat these problems. When people have jobs making decent wages, and can afford decent housing and provide for their families, poverty, blight, and crime do not flourish.
A Brief Introduction
Mr. Whitby has the knowledge, experience, compassion, empathy, and courage to take the reins at this critical juncture. He is a God-fearing man, a devoted husband, a present father, and a proud grandfather. Family is his focus, work is his best friend, and he produces results.
A staunch Democrat and lifelong resident of Macon; Mr. Whitby is a Southwest High School graduate.
The founder and CEO of Whitby Construction, Inc, he grew his company from a one-man operation to a multi-million-dollar corporation.
Cliffard Whitby served as Chairman of the Macon-Bibb County Industrial Authority (MBCIA), the lead economic development arm of Macon-Bibb County, from 2007 -2017.
Under his leadership, the MBCIA brought the largest projects to Macon in the city’s history and he did this during the Great Recession. Some of the companies that he brought to Macon were Kumho Tire, Amazon, and Irving Tissue.
Mr. Whitby’s life’s work is community building. He is the former president of 100 Black Men of Macon Middle Georgia. He is married to Dr. Shantel King-Whitby and the father of six daughters.
His Record on the Issues
Blight
Starting in his early twenties as a sole contractor doing minor home repairs, Mr. Whitby would go on to partner with the City of Macon, the local Department of Housing and Urban Development Authority, and the College Hill Alliance in the Beall’s Hill Area, to name a few.
These projects and many others focused on residential revitalization in destitute neighborhoods.
Mr. Whitby worked with five former Macon mayors and their administrations to reduce blight and as a result, won two federal awards for the work to combat substandard housing.
Additionally, no other candidate can boast cultivating condemned and unwanted excess properties from the Board of Education’s inventory into a multi-million-dollar state of the art facilities, not once but twice in recent years.
Economic Development
From leading Whitby Inc. as an entrepreneur, he was appointed as Chairman of the Macon-Bibb Industrial Authority (MBCIA), at a time where economic development in Macon-Bibb was stagnant.
Under his leadership, MBCIA grew from a sleepy quasi-governmental agency to a self-sustaining, job-creating economic powerhouse. From operating on a $250,000 annual appropriation to having $10,000,000 of newly self-generated revenue.
Mr. Whitby welcomed companies such as, Tractor Supply Company, Kuhmo Tire USA, Irving Tissue, Amazon, First Quality, and dozens of others who chose to plant their corporate flags in Macon-Bibb.
Attracting such economic juggernauts to Macon resulted in the creation of hundreds of new high paying jobs to the area, thus raising the standard of living for our citizens, and countless opportunities for small and minority-owned businesses to flourish.
Additional initiatives include partnering with both Newton Macon and Mercer University to establish incubator hubs for entrepreneurs.
From 2007 when Mr. Whitby first arrived until 2017 when he resigned he increased small-business expenditures from ZERO to $7.2M.
He facilitated 10 X more project investments from $280M to nearly $3 BILLION; grew the partner base from 5 partners to over 30 partners.
Also, he DOUBLED the land acquisition and assets from 1K acres to over 2K acres; and improved & increased community engagement, investment, and buy-in at every level.
Education
As a member of the 100 Black Men of Macon and Middle Georgia (100 BM), Mr. Whitby has always been at the forefront of education reform and supporting at-risk youth in their academics.
Several of the programs the 100 BM sponsors provides tutoring, mentoring, post-secondary and vocational program assistance, scholarship, and funding.
While serving as both the Chairman of the Macon-Bibb County Industrial Authority and a Tri-Chair for the Macon-Bibb Economic Impact Study Cliffard Whitby through MBCIA facilitated the launch of the Leader In Me programs in Bibb County Public Schools through the contribution of the seed funding.
As the former Executive Director of Macon’s Promise Neighborhood Initiative, Mr. Whitby worked for Mercer University on behalf of the several non-profit organizations partnering together, to create and grow public-private partnerships aimed at establishing a fully integrated cradle to career pipeline that would improve academic outcomes and address many of the pressing needs of the residents in the Unionville and Tindall Heights areas to ultimately benefit the broader Macon community.
His work with Mercer and the Promise Neighborhood Initiative resulted in a 2014 Servant Leadership Award from Wesleyan University.
Leadership
Mr. Whitby has served in numerous leadership roles.
He is the President and C.E.O of Whitby Inc. a property and business development company he has successfully managed for over three decades.
His former Chairmanship & Board positions include:
- Macon-Bibb County Industrial Authority,
- Tri-Chair for the Macon-Bibb Economic Impact Study (aka One Macon),
- 100 Black Men of Macon-Middle Georgia (former president);
- Board appointments have included…
- Star Choices Inc. Executive Board of Directors,
- BB&T Board of Directors,
- Mercer Innovation Center Advisory Board,
- Joint Development Authority Board,
- and he has served as Mercer University’s Executive Director of Macon’s Promise Neighborhood Initiative.
Community Building & Advocacy
While serving as the President of 100 Black Men of Macon and Middle Georgia from 2008-2012, Mr. Whitby spearheaded and participated in numerous events targeting at-risk youth.
Such programs included Project Reach, which offered academic support, workshops, one to one tutoring, cultural activities, and post-secondary funding to Macon students and Rites of Passage, which exposed African American Male teenagers from single-parent households to an array of cultural, academic and life-coping skills over a twelve-month period.
He continues to be an integral supporter of many of the 100 BM’s fundraising events such as its Annual Music City Classic whose funds helped prepare and assist at-risk youth on a path to college and the organization’s Annual Career Fest which exposes local and regional students to post-secondary educational and vocational programs.
Additionally, Mr. Whitby is a champion of the Macon Museum of Arts and Science, the Family Counseling Center, Big Brothers Big Sisters, Cirrus Academy, and the Tubman Museum.
A proud alumnus of Southwest High School, where three of his daughters graduated, Mr. Whitby not only stayed engaged over the years, but provided supplies, resources, made donations, and gave out scholarships.
Endorsements and Community Support
The Whitby for Mayor of Macon-Bibb Campaign has garnered the support of some of Macon’s most influential Democrats including, Senator David Lucas, Commissioner Elaine Lucas, Former Mayor C. Jack Ellis, Former County Attorney Virgil Adams, Former County Chairman Sam Hart, Sr, over 100 members of the clergy, business leaders, and women entrepreneurs and influencers.
The campaign is also grateful that our supporters cover the span of generations from the Silent Generation to the Millennials and crossing racial, faith, and other social status lines.
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