TWO-TERM MAYOR

ERRICK D. SIMMONS

“Serving Not Sitting” 

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Mayor Errick D. Simmons is a national municipal leader known by mayors across the country. After a historic landslide win for mayor in 2015, Mayor Errick D. Simmons, the first black male mayor of the City of Greenville, Mississippi, won re-election to his second term as mayor in 2019, without facing an opposing candidate.  Mayor Errick D. Simmons began his career in municipal government as a city councilman in 2007, as the youngest to serve in the position at that time.  

 

Before returning home to Greenville to start his legal and municipal government career, Simmons graduated salutatorian in his class at T.L. Weston High School in 1995, second to his twin brother and law partner, Mississippi State Minority Leader, Senator Derrick T. Simmons, who is also Chair of Senate Municipalities Committee.  Simmons later studied at Jackson State University, where he received a Bachelor in Business Administration in Economics in 2000.  In 2002, he received a Master’s in Arts in Economics from Howard University Graduate School of Arts and Sciences and received his Juris Doctorate from Howard University School of Law in 2005.  

Under his administration as mayor, Greenville has announced more than $400 million in local, state, federal, and corporate investments including a $142 Greenville Freight Corridor, an announcement of a $50 million new federal courthouse which is under construction; $25 million MARS Uncle Ben’s R & D Investment; $15 million Greenville Kearns Aerospace Maintenance project with an additional $2.5 million Delta Regional Authority (DRA) grant award, a $9.1 million redevelopment of the Sears, Roebuck & Company building to include a boutique hotel, microbrewery, downtown restaurant, and butcher shop; and, $6 million Reserves at Ed Gray “low to moderate income” housing development. In August 2018, an estimated 100 new jobs were announced through economic development projects. Nufarm announced 68 manufacturing jobs with a $20 million investment, the first such announcement in Greenville since Textron in 2004. Tru by Hilton announced an 84 room hotel with 30 jobs with an estimated $10 million investment. Most recently in February 2021, Simmons announced a healthcare laundry company Westport Linen Services is locating operations in Greenville with a $5.8 million investment creating 75 new jobs and retaining 75 existing jobs.  Equitable and innovative policies have Greenville experiencing a spike in new store openings with the largest number of businesses openings in the history of the city in 2022, including small, minority and women owned businesses, a highlight that garnered the attention of Biden-Harris Administration in April 2022 with a visit by Vice President Kamala Harris.  

In workforce development, the City has announced $1.5 million aviation airframe and propulsion (A and P) school with Mississippi Delta Community College (MDCC); $850,000 Greenville Higher Education Center Career Technical Training Facility; Greenville  College Access and Attainment Network (GCAAN), Mississippi’s first formalized college network in partnership with Mississippi State University and Woodward Hines Foundation’s Get2College; Greenville Early College and Dual Enrollment Programs with Mississippi Valley State University and MDCC.  Other innovative programs include Greenville Re-entry and Training Program, the city’s first ever reentry program, and several food security and health-related programs (i.e. Mayor’s Health Council, Hunger Free America partnership,  Mars-Morlina Health-Kroger Collaboration for Food Nutrition, Equitable Access, and Educational Opportunities Project, and City-FoodCorps Partnership with receipt of the African American Mayors Association and American Beverage Foundation Grant Award).

Infrastructure remains a top priority. Public infrastructure is a quality of life issue and is vital to economic development, industry retention, and recruitment. Under the current administration, more than $50 million in local, state, and federal monies have been spent to fix our aging infrastructure and addressing the impacts caused by climate change. Simmons seeks local, regional multi-state, and federal solutions to address the climate crisis and impacts to his constituents through an equity vantage point. In October 2020, Simmons $16 million infrastructure equity project inclusive of $7.7 million awarded to the City of Greenville by U.S. Department of Commerce’s Economic Development Administration to make infrastructure improvements needed to reduce flooding and respond to locally-driven disaster resiliency plans in disadvantaged areas. The City has an EPA sanitary sewer project of more than $150 million with close to $50 million dollars spent on infrastructure this year. 

 

As a climate mayor, Simmons attended both COP26 in Scotland and recently COP27 in Egypt promoting nature-based solutions to climate impacts on the Mississippi River. In Egypt, Simmons joined U.S. Climate Envoy Michael Bloomberg in opening United States subnational activities with a focus that cities, states, and businesses can bridge emissions reductions gap to deliver U.S. targets. In February 2023, Mayor Simmons joined transatlantic mayors at the U.S. Embassy in London to discuss just transition to net zero economies putting justice and equity at the heart of climate action for a fairer society.  In April 2023, Mayor Simmons headlined Cities Summit of the Americas in Denver telling cities to find their leverage points to motivate climate investment by partnering with global commodity companies that depend on the resources of the Mississippi River for their bottom lines. As the only United States mayor in Paris, France, in May 2023 at the Global Plastic Pollution Treaty, Mayor Simmons engaged with several national and international leaders on the impacts of plastic pollution on the Mississippi River and the world. Simmons also highlighted the triple threat of petrochemicals to health, environment, and climate progress spotlighting a section of the Mississippi River called “Cancer Alley” where mostly African American people are subjected to cancer, respiratory diseases, and other health problems caused by petrochemical plants and facilities. 

 

Currently, Simmons serves as a member of several local, state, and national boards and organizations, to name a few: Immediate Past President of Mississippi Municipal League, Co-Chairman of Mississippi River Cities and Towns Initiative, President of Mississippi Delta Mayors Association, Vice- President of Delta Council, Mississippi Economic Council Board of Governors, Boys Scouts of America, Rotary Club (Paul Harris Fellow), Board Member of Southern Municipal Conference, Board Member of African American Mayors Association, U.S. Conference of Mayors, National League of Cities, Inaugural Mayor Institute on City Design Just City Lab with  Harvard University’s Graduate School, life member of NAACP, life member of Magnolia Bar Association, life member of Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity, Inc., board member of Mississippi Association of Justice, Mississippi Bar Association, and Chairman of Washington County Democratic Executive Committee. 

 

Simmons has been featured on local, state, and national media outlets and newspapers for his municipal work and activism, including, but not limited to, the Washington Post, Washington Times, CNN, Bloomberg News, Wallstreet Journal, MSNBC, New York Times, Epoch Times, Mississippi Business Journal, Associated Press, Christian Unity (featured cover story), Delta Business Journal (featured cover story), Attorney-at-Law (featured covered story); National Public Radio, Municipalities (featured covered story), Mississippi Public Radio, SuperTalk Mississippi, WBAD 94.3, Delta Radio 97.7, Keep Hope Alive with Reverend Jesse Jackson, Delta Democrat Times, just to name a few.  Simmons is also featured in the U.S. Congressional Record, Vol. 166, No. 147 for his service and leadership.

 

Among several other things, the Simmons family sponsors an annual Christmas Toy Give-a-way, providing toys to nearly 600 needy children and families annually.  To date, Simmons family has held their toy giveaway for thirteen (14) consecutive years serving more than 6,500 children. Additionally, Mayor Simmons financially contributes to both Jackson State University, Howard University, and faith-based, charitable, civic, and social organizations.  He is a mason and member of the Greater Springfield Baptist Church in Greenville, Mississippi where Mark S. Buckner is pastor.  He is the son of the late J.C. Simmons, Jr. and Alzena Bruce Simmons. He and his wife, Dr. Temika M. Simmons, have three children, Errick, Eriel, and Elin.