Georgia state Representative James Beverly was elected to the Georgia General Assembly in 2011 representing District 143 of Macon-Bibb County.
Since being elected, Beverly has taken the mantle of finding ways to diversify the Democratic Party of Georgia. Beverly is currently serving as minority leader of the Democratic Caucus in the Georgia House of Representatives.
Since taking office, Beverly has become very active in the legislature by serving on several committees such as the Rules, Appropriations (Transportation), Ethics, Health and Human Services, Retirement, Special Rules, and Small Business Development.
One of his most accomplished moments is establishing the Macon-Bibb County Community Enhancement Authority.
Local and state leaders often harp on the fact that crime is on the rise and that our educational system is broken. Those things may be true, but Beverly also learned that the No. 1 problem of Bibb County and across Georgia is the number of people living in poverty.
In an effort to eradicate that poverty, Beverly took a deep dive into the situation to come up with a means to an end by creating the Macon-Bibb County Community Enhancement Authority with the sole purpose of decreasing poverty.
For the MBCCEA to work there has to be a buy-in not only from the Democratic Party but also the Republican Party. So how does one do that? You have to be able to take a seat at the table and talk. Beverly states after speaking with Republicans Georgia state Sen. John F. Kennedy and Lt. Gov. Bert Jones, they both saw the value of the authority, thus giving latitude to begin the process.
Since being established, MBCCEA has supported commercial development, community improvement, and alleviation of poverty in Macon, Georgia. The programs benefit local residents, small businesses and minority businesses serving this economically challenged area by providing them with jobs, not just local jobs but also the major bid contracts for the current construction project of Interstate 16/75 that runs through Bibb County.
Tune in on Tuesday, Nov. 22 7 p.m. EST to hear the complete conversation with state Representative James Beverly on A Seat at The Table.
