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August 1995—National BLACK MONITOR
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(From top) John Smith, James |I. Usry,
Unita Blackwell and Mayor Henry Espy.
development of programs that correlate
with the organization's Five Point Plan,
which implement its goals.
With the election of Ron Kirk as Mayor of
Dallas, Texas, there are now 382 Black
Mayors inthe United States. While it is not
possible to list all these mayors, we be
lieve ourreaders will be impressedwiththe
state counts:
10
Alabama - 31; Arkansass - 28; California -
10; Colorado -1; Delaware -2; District of
Columbia -1; Florida - 16; Georgia - 21;
lllinois - 18; Indiana -1; Kansas- 1; Ken
tucky -1; Louisiana 30; Maine -2; Mary
land -9; Massachusetts -1; Michigan - 16;
Minnesota -2; Mississippi - 35; Missouri -
21;New Jersey - 13; New Mexico -1; New
York -5; North Carolina - 16; Ohio - 14;
Oklahoma - 15; Pennsylvania -4; South
Carolina - 30; South Dakota -1; Tennes
see -3; Texas - 18.
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IN Decemberofl977, whilewalking along
the Atlantic Ocean West Coast of Africa
during a Sister City-Transfer of Technol
ogy trip to Banjul, The Gambia, Tuskegee
Mayor Johnny Ford, and Banjul Mayor,
George Monday, first discussed the wis
dom of an International Conference of
Mayors. The idea was born.
In 1983, Ford was President of the Na
tional Conference of Black Mayors, Inc.,
and Cledor Sall, Mayor of Dakar, Senegal,
was President of the Union Des Villes
Africaines. The leaders of the two organi
zations met in a historic summit in the Fall
of 1983 at the Howard University Inn and
on the campus of Howard University
agreed to organize an International Con
ference of Mayors. The staff of the two
organizations was instructec to exchange
andto consolidate their respective consti
tutions and bylaws and to formulate one
organization that would include mayors
from Africa, the United States and the rest
of the World. The idea was continued dur
ing the April 1983 NCBM meeting in New
Orleans, Louisiana. Mayor Ford convened
a meeting on the subject during the con
ference which included the Mayor of
Abidjan, Cote D'lvoire, and the Ambassa
dor to the U.S. from Nigeria. The Avon
Corporation, Inc. donated the first $5,000
to the National Conference of Black May
ors to be used as "seed money" to orga
nize the World Conference of Mayors.
Mayor Ford, later during the year, flew to
Washington and addressed the Washing
ton African Diplomatic Corp and appealed
tothe ambassadors to assist with organiz
ing the conference. The meeting was
hosted by the Ambassador of Egypt.
A call was sent out to ambassadors to
bring mayors from their countries to the
annual meeting of the National Confer
ence of Black Mayors in St. Louis in April
1984. It was there at the Sheraton Hotel
with the assistance of Paul Pondifrom the
Cameroon, now Dean of the Diplomatic
Corps, that the World Conference of May
ors was founded in St. Louis, Missouri.
Tuskegee Mayor, Johnny Ford, was
elected Founding President, Monrovia,
Liberia Mayor , the late William Snyder,
was elected IstVice President, and Dakar,
Senegal Mayor Cledor Sall was elected
3rd Vice President. Along with other board
members, the Founding-President then
Have you made a contribution to the NAACP, Operation PUSH, SCLC, or the Local Urban League This Month?
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Tuskegee's Mayor Johnny Ford is Founder of the World Conference of Mayors and
Co-Founder and former President of the National Conference of Black Mayors, and
the newly appointed National Administrative Co-Chairperson of AOIP.
voted to convene the first board/confer
ence meeting in Monrovia, Liberia in De
cember of 1984. The conference was in
corporated by Attorney George Howell
and executive director, Michelle Kourouma
in Atlanta, Georgia in the Fall of 1984.
Since that time, the conference which
has sT's asits goal: Trust, Trade, Tourism,
Technology Transfer and Twin Cities. It
has held meetings in the following cities:
1985, Nassau, Bahamas; 1986, Chicago,
llinois hosted by the late Mayor Harold
Washington; 1987, The Peoples Republic
of China (Beijing/Hong Kong); 1988, Wash
ington, D.C.; 1989, Paris France; 1990,
Montgomery-Tuskegee, Alabama; 1991,
Montego Bay, Jamaica; 1992, Dakar,
Senegal-Banjul, The Gambia; 1993, Wash
ington, D. C. at Howard University and the
U.S. State Department; 1994, St. Thomas
US, VI; November 3-5, 1994 St. Louis -
East St. Louis, lllinois. The conference has
come full circle; from 1984, when it was
founded in St. Louis, now back to St.
Louis, in 1994.
The organization, the World Conference
of Mayors, Inc., is a non-partisan, non
political, tax exempt, 501 (c) (3) organiza
tion, which now represents more than 1000
mayors and local officials from more than
33 countries, and has truly grown into a
United Nation of Cities.
A Message From the
Founder:
" The greatest challenge facing nations
today isthe eradication of human suffering
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through economic and social progress
and the promotion of peace among na
tions. Clearly, in our world today, no na
tion, no city can attain economic prosper
ity or the fullest realization of its cultural
and technological potential without inter
dependence and sharing of mutual re
sponsibilities.
"Today, we as mayors, are assuming
new levels of leadership. Functioning in
ways that our forebears never envisaged a
decade or so ago, we are opening the
doors of trust, trade, tourism, technologi
cal transfer and twinning of cities world
wide. The establishment of the World Con
ference of Mayors--an international orga
nization, designed to encourage and
strengthen development of supportive re
lationships between world mayors--exem
plifies this new direction and the willing
ness of mayors to expand their horizons
by becoming ambassadors for their cities.
"Formation of the World Conference of
Mayors is indeed an accomplishment--a
symbol of brotherhood for mankind. Judg
ing from our first annual conference which
was attended by representatives of over
40 countries, we feel that we have laid the
foundation for greater cooperation be
tween mayors and peoples of the world.
We have progressed steadily, but to con
tinue these strides requires a healthy
economy for our communities and to pro
mote cultural and educational exchange.
"We invite your active support and par
ticipation to help make the World Confer
ence of Mayors stronger and our world
better for us all."
