 The United Negro College Fund kicked off its fundraising campaign Wednesday afternoon at Green Island Country Club.
And the keynote speaker was Columbus Mayor-elect Isaiah Hugley, a graduate of a Historically Black College and University.
Justine Boyd, the assistant vice president of UNCF Atlanta, noted the significance of Hugley’s rise to the city’s top job.
“We can point to that man sitting right there in front of me, a Talladega graduate who is preparing to lead the city of Columbus,” Boyd said.
Hugley will become the 71st mayor of Columbus in January. He will become the first black elected mayor in the city’s 198-year history.
And his journey to the mayor’s office started when he decided not to enlist in the Army after high school. He enrolled in Talladega College, a small HBCU in Alabama.
“My HBCU,” Hugley said. “I came back to show them what they had done for a poor black boy from 196-E. Baker Village, from the hood, living on welfare, going to the store at Fort Benning Road with food stamps, riding the Metra bus.”
With an HBCU degree, Hugley landed a job with the city of Columbus. He rose to the director of the Metra system.
“I Â came back home and I showed Columbus, Georgia that with a quality education from an HBCU supported by UNCF include a poor black boy,” Hugley said. “I can do more than just ride the metro bus. He can run the whole damn bus system.”
The main fund-raiser of for UNCF is the Mayor’s Masked Ball in March. Having Hugley lead that is important, said Calvin Smyre, the co-chairman of Hugley’s transition team and also a graduate of an HBCU.
“Not only is it symbolic, but is very, very helpful to us and sends a strong message that now the mayor elect of Columbus, Georgia, is going to be next mayor in Columbus and is a graduate of an HBCU,” Smyre said.
