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GCBM to hold meeting in city

• The Georgia Conference of Black Mayors will hold its spring conference at the HIlton Garden Inn this weekend.

Joshua Brown

ALBANY — The Georgia Conference of Black Mayors is bringing its spring conference to Albany this week to discuss everything from the legislative session to economic development.

About 30 black mayors from across the state will stay in Albany for the two-day conference, said organization President Willie Burns, who is mayor of Washington. There are more than 40 members of the GCBM.

“What we do is, from a leadership standpoint, take an overall look at our communities and share what’s working and what’s not working,” Burns said. “We try to deal more or less with economic development.

“The biggest thing is trying to find what’s working out there, especially in rural areas and in urban areas where there is poverty and things like that.”

Adams said he was looking forward to the weekend as Albany hosts the state’s leaders.

“It’s great to have leaders from all over the state who are willing to sit down and discuss the really tough issues,” he said. “It’s an honor. It’s an economic gain.”

The conference, he said, will give Albany’s leaders a chance to network with other leaders from across the state.

“I’m looking for an exchange of ideas,” he said. And while “each community is somewhat unique ... I look forward to any idea that will help us address some of these issues that are causing us a lot of headaches.”

Registration begins Friday at 7:30 a.m. and the conference will begin with a welcome from Adams and Albany State University President Everette Freeman just after 8 a.m. Conference speakers are scheduled beginning at 9 a.m., Burns said.

Speakers at the conference will speak about a fatherhood program and family protection, grant writing and available grants for housing projects, the past legislative year and economic development, among other things, Burns said.

Most of the conference, which is being held at the Hilton Garden Inn downtown, is open to the public, he said.

The conference, normally three days, was cut down to just two this year because Sunday is Mother’s Day, he said.

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