Special series: Inside NACo - what Black leaders say their communities need

On this episode of Connected Nation, we continue our special coverage from the National Association of Counties (NACo) Annual Conference and Exposition. The event brings together county leaders from across the country share ideas, talk about challenges and what's next.

In this episode, we talk with leaders in the black community, including representatives from the National Organization of Black County Officials (NOBCO) and a leader in one of the biggest counties in Tennessee.

Jessica Denson, Host (00:02):

This is Connected Nation, an award-winning podcast focused on all things broadband from closing the Digital Divide to improving your internet speeds. We talk technology topics that impact all of us, our families, and our neighborhoods.

(00:16):

On this episode, we continue our special coverage from the National Association of Counties Annual Conference and Exposition. It brings leaders from counties from all over the country to one spot to convene and share ideas, talk about challenges and what's next, and that includes the issues of technology.

(00:34):

On today's episode, we talk with leaders in the black community, including representatives from the National Organization of Black County officials and a leader at Shelby County, Tennessee.

I'm Jessica Denson and this is Connect Nation. I am still at the NACO conference and exposition and I've been wondering around just seeing what's going on around the conference and I ran into Miska Clay Bibbs, who is the county chairwoman of Shelby County, Tennessee. Correct?

Miska Clay Bibbs, Shelby Co., TN (01:06):

Correct. Yeah.

Jessica Denson, Host (01:07):

Tell me a little bit about Shelby County, Tennessee.

Miska Clay Bibbs, Shelby Co., TN (01:10):

So Shelby County, Tennessee is the county that represents seven municipalities. Memphis included is our large one in West Tennessee. So our work really is dealing in three major things that we talk about, our education system, our public health system, as well as our justice system.

Jessica Denson, Host (01:28):

So is that county partially rural and partially urban?

Miska Clay Bibbs, Shelby Co., TN (01:31):

No, we're all urban.

Jessica Denson, Host (01:32):

All urban. What are some unique challenges? Why are those three things so important for you guys?

Miska Clay Bibbs, Shelby Co., TN (01:38):

Well, those three things are important. What's in our county charter? We're a dual government. Large city for Memphis is city government and county government. So county government is charged for taking care of those three issues.

Jessica Denson, Host (01:50):

And again, say that for me

Miska Clay Bibbs, Shelby Co., TN (01:51):

Again. Education, our public health system and our justice system.

Jessica Denson, Host (01:54):

Alright. So with the pandemic and stuff that we had with kids being offline, how important is it for your population to have access to broadband, access to technology, that type of thing? Just in general for education, justice and

Miska Clay Bibbs, Shelby Co., TN (02:13):

Health. I mean all of the things. So we are in a partnership with the city now as we talk about moving fiber connection across all of Shelby County. So that is a huge project that we are working on in conjunction with our city government.

(02:26):

It really important because through Covid we realized it's a former school board member. We realized how important it was for us to make sure that our families had access to everything from internet access to mental health to food stability, and making sure they also had housing stability as well. So that's a lot of what me as a commissioner when I moved over to the commission that we're focusing on.f So you

Jessica Denson, Host (02:48):

Had experience as a school board member then too? I did. And what were some challenges that you saw that were unique? Was that just in the last few years over the pandemic that you held that role?

Miska Clay Bibbs, Shelby Co., TN (02:57):

So I was a school board member for eight years up until 2022. Came onto the county commission in 2022, came into the body as a vice chair of the body, and now I'm serving as chairwoman of the body. So

Jessica Denson, Host (03:09):

You've really seen that transition and the ups and downs of that.

Miska Clay Bibbs, Shelby Co., TN (03:12):

Absolutely. Absolutely. What are

Jessica Denson, Host (03:14):

You hearing from your constituents and their needs when it comes to those? I know those three core things you're talking about, education, health, and justice. What are some things that they need right now?

Miska Clay Bibbs, Shelby Co., TN (03:25):

When I think of our public health system, one of the things that I realized through covid is just access to quality public health care. We do have a solid health department, but our public health health hospital needs to have a huge overhaul because the facility itself is kind of crumbling and falling apart. So for the past two years, we've really been focused on rebuilding our hospital, which is regional, one in the west side of Tennessee. So that's going to be a huge undertaking that we are really lobbying for is going to be an academic hospital. We want to partner with ut, the University of Tennessee for those, don't get it confused with Texas, it's the University of Tennessee. So we'll be partnering together with that rebuild. So that's really important because that is where people go who don't have access in their local community.

Jessica Denson, Host (04:12):

And how important is the technology with that? With telehealth?

Miska Clay Bibbs, Shelby Co., TN (04:16):

Very important. That is something that a lot of the doctors are using, but for us it's more important because it's a trauma center. If something happens to you, that's where you want to go because that's how your life will be saved at our trauma center at Regional one. So of course technology is being used all throughout that process.

Jessica Denson, Host (04:34):

And on the justice side of things, tell us where things are for your county right now.

Miska Clay Bibbs, Shelby Co., TN (04:40):

So all of our courts are run through there as well as we run the local jail. And that for us is another huge bill that we may have to undertake around building a brand new jail. We started off kind of slow by first. We're building a mental health facility that's going to help alleviate some of the issues that are currently happening in our jail system because some people are being locked up who really have more mental health issues first that need to be handled before we get into the true justice cycle.

Jessica Denson, Host (05:11):

And it becomes a cycle, right? Where

Miska Clay Bibbs, Shelby Co., TN (05:13):

They have bed

Jessica Denson, Host (05:13):

Health, they get picked up, then they're in it. There's no one really helping. So talk about the challenge of navigating all of these different needs from technology to justice to, I mean, they're all different boxes. How do you navigate all of that? It

Miska Clay Bibbs, Shelby Co., TN (05:32):

Is a hard job. I think everything that I just mentioned has a price tag to it, and you want to make sure that you use your taxpayer's dollars to the best of ability. But the reality of it is these are large projects, so we really have to spend time trying to really plan and map out what we can do and how we can do it, but at the same time, be cognizant of the fact that the investment is coming from our taxpayers.

Jessica Denson, Host (05:56):

You seem to me a young woman, still a young woman, but you're

Miska Clay Bibbs, Shelby Co., TN (06:02):

Great jeans. Great jeans, great jeans. I have a birthday that's happening at the end of the month. And if I told you what that number was, you probably wouldn't believe

Jessica Denson, Host (06:10):

It. Don't tell me. We can tell me afterwards between us girls, but because I audience can't see you, you are a black woman. I am. And you are with three other leaders in the black community. Talk about what are some unique challenges for the black community in your county?

Miska Clay Bibbs, Shelby Co., TN (06:25):

Well, for us, we are predominantly black county. So there's not a day we don't wake up and think, let me say this. We're a predominantly black county, but we're still not the majority as far as who actually is the purse holder. And that's a huge difference when yes, large in number, but when we think about who's holding the purse economically in Shelby County, that is still the FedExes of the world. That is still our international papers, just our larger corporations. So we are still very much a logistics manufacturing hub, which is great for us, but we are still trying to make the connection of closing the economic wealth gap.

Jessica Denson, Host (07:05):

What are some things that people get right or wrong about your county and Memphis in general?

Miska Clay Bibbs, Shelby Co., TN (07:09):

I think people get it right, that understanding that the soul of Shelby County is our people. Our people is how we move forward. Our citizens definitely believe in change, want to see things different, and also will spend a lot of time truly being activists around change. So we get that right. I think as sometimes people get it wrong when thinking about, a lot of times on the news you see the negative first and don't get an opportunity to see the positive. I feel like we need to spend more time reminding people about how great we are. The same people that you see in a negative light. There are a hundred times more people who are doing more positive every day, and those are the people who don't get seen.

Jessica Denson, Host (07:52):

Why do you come to naco? Why is it important for county leaders to come together during the year at these annual conferences?

Miska Clay Bibbs, Shelby Co., TN (07:58):

I think it's important to pick up new ideas, understand what other counties are doing, to see some of the best practices that are happening around the country and see if that's something that could be used in our county. But as well as I think it's good to be able to meet new people, understand build relationships, because I'm a strong believer that relationships is how you move this work forward.

Jessica Denson, Host (08:19):

What is something that you're excited about that's happening right now in Shelby County?

Miska Clay Bibbs, Shelby Co., TN (08:23):

Oh, I'm very excited about the way we're looking at how we spend our money. I'm excited about us truly being activists and activating community power around building a new hospital that has been kicked down the road for quite some time. But this group of commissions when we came in in 2022, recognize we have to do some things differently. For sure. Excited about that. I'm excited about how we're really looking at mental health in a different way for our community. That's something that's different. I'm excited about how we're doing more community centered projects in different ways versus it being a way of thinking about communities that haven't been touched before. We are really making a collective effort to say, we got to do this differently.

Jessica Denson, Host (09:10):

You really have a passion for it. Did you always want to serve?

Miska Clay Bibbs, Shelby Co., TN (09:14):

Ironically, I think I was serving and I didn't know it. I am someone who grew up being SGA president, a class officer through middle school, high school and college, you name it. I challenged the system, or I won't even say challenge the system. I was always clear on understanding systems because I needed to know who the decision makers were and that's the table I needed to be at or around and understand how to move a thought forward.

Jessica Denson, Host (09:42):

Well now it seems you are one of the decision makers, so that's pretty exciting. Well, thank you so much. I was going to mess it up the second time. No worries. Miska Clay Bibbs, you are the county chairwoman? Yes, ma'am. Right, for Shelby County, Tennessee. I really appreciate

Miska Clay Bibbs, Shelby Co., TN (09:57):

It. Thank you so much. Yeah,

Jessica Denson, Host (09:58):

I am still at the NACO Conference in Florida, Tampa, Florida, and it's very humid and hot, but I have run into two leaders in the black community. Milli Moto, who's the CEO and executive director of the National org of Black County Officials. Hopefully I got that right. Also called NAB cco. And also Alicia Bell, who's the chair of the Wayne County Commissioners, is a chair of the Wayne County Commission for Wayne County, Michigan. And she is also a board member for NAB bco. Welcome. Let's start with you, Milli.

Milli Motto, CEO & Exec. Dir., NOBCO (10:32):

How are you doing? Good, how are you? Thank you for having us. Tell

Jessica Denson, Host (10:35):

Me a little bit about the organization. I just learned about it, so I am a novice. So explain it to me in layman's terms, what you all do.

Milli Motto, CEO & Exec. Dir., NOBCO (10:44):

Sure. So NOBCO is an affiliated group of the National Association of Counties. We are the national organization of Black county officials. So we specifically support our black and minority communities and our county leaders. We also provide resources and education to county leaders to help excel their communities and the regions in which they work.

Jessica Denson, Host (11:07):

And do those counties covers both rural and urban? It's not just an urban outreach, right?

Milli Motto, CEO & Exec. Dir., NOBCO (11:12):

Absolutely. Rural and urban nationwide.

Jessica Denson, Host (11:16):

People are waving at y'all. You guys are popular. You two are popular. Alicia, tell me a little bit about your county and your role with nco.

Alisha Bell, Board Member, NOBCO (11:23):

Absolutely. Thank you again for having us. I'm the chair of the Wayne County Commission in Michigan. Wayne County is the largest county in the state of Michigan with 1.8 million people honored to be elected by my peers to be chair. I've been on the commission for 21 years. I've been active with naco, nco and NCO for most of those years. I've proudly served as president of the National Association of Black County Officials, and that's the member organization of the county officials here in naco. So I'm also with that on the board of Naba co. National Organization of Black County officials, which is our 5 0 1 C3 arm of our organization. So we do a lot of great work throughout the country as really just stated, we've done work with HIV awareness, we've done work with tobacco suspension and making sure that people are aware of what tobacco does and how it affects their bodies. So we've had wonderful grants that we've gotten from the CDC over the years, but we just want to make sure that we are giving the information to our residents throughout the country, our African-American residents in particular, about what the needs are, and they give us those that direction and then we go back with programming that we can bring back to our counties.

Jessica Denson, Host (12:33):

Before I come back to you, Milli, I do want to say Alisha, that that Michigan stole one of our people, Eric Frederick. He heads up the broadband state office. It's very likely that Michigan is going to be one of the best connected states in the country because you've been really forward thinking. Talk about why that would be important to your county and the black community.

Alisha Bell, Board Member, NOBCO (12:52):

Absolutely. Long story short, I'm part of what's called a Tri-County Summit in Michigan. That's Oakland, Wayne, the Macomb County, the three largest counties in Michigan. We've been doing a Tri-County summit with the commissioners from those three counties for a couple of years now. And last year, one of our focus was on technology and broadband. We brought leaders throughout the state on to talk about what we're doing and what we can do. We're so excited to receive those funds from the federal government. Rural and urban counties are absolutely in need of broadband throughout, and we want to make sure that they're getting those services. We did a study in Wayne County to see where the gaps in services are. So we're working tirelessly to make sure that we're filling those gaps, especially in our urban cores, and again, in our rural, because we do have rural communities in Wayne County as well.

Jessica Denson, Host (13:36):

So as the leader or one of the leaders of NOBCO, Milli, tell me what are some important issues to those that you serve

Milli Motto, CEO & Exec. Dir., NOBCO (13:44):

Right now? The Affordable Connectivity Act and also the introduction and the use of ai. I think that that was the main focus of our national convention that we just had in Fulton County, Atlanta, Georgia, in June. We really wanted to focus on being providing information for county officials to go back to their communities and give education about technology moving forward and about what the future of AI looks like for these counties and labor workers as well.

Jessica Denson, Host (14:16):

So is there any effort to train people in the black people in black communities to get some of these jobs that are high tech and that kind of thing?

Milli Motto, CEO & Exec. Dir., NOBCO (14:26):

Absolutely. So we're actually working on a NCO pathways initiative, which is a pipeline from educating our young interns who receive our scholarship and giving them opportunities to work in AI and in technology. And also AI is going to need repairing. So AI cannot fix itself. And so in that sense, it can't get rid of human resources and what human abilities can do. So we're also helping to train up young people and young professionals and young people who want to work in government to understand what policy looks like around ai.

Jessica Denson, Host (15:08):

Can it be challenging sometimes to have to wear so many hats because not only, I'm sure that you have to deal with AI and technology, but also justice and education and all these telehealth or any kinds of types of issues. Is it difficult sometimes to wear all those different hats, or how do you guys organize that?

Milli Motto, CEO & Exec. Dir., NOBCO (15:26):

It's difficult. However, everything comes back to the center of education. As long as we're providing the resources and people know that we're kind of the one-stop shop, that they can find solutions in each area that they're looking for. I think that's the key to NCO is that we reach out to, we have sponsors, we have partners that provide us with the information and keep us up to date with policy so that we can then spread it to our members.

Jessica Denson, Host (15:54):

And when it comes to diversity, that's something a lot of people use. I would even use air quotes, EDI or DEI type things. Are there things that you both are doing to ensure that that's part of the agenda when it comes to government programs and things?

Alisha Bell, Board Member, NOBCO (16:10):

Absolutely. As city of Detroit is our central city in Wayne County, so obviously with a city with 75% black, we have a great leaders in that space, and we are very cognitive of making sure that we're inclusive of all of our members. Of that 1.8 million people in Wayne County, about 40% are African American. And then we have Latino population, Arabic population. So we are very diverse. We want to make sure that all of the contracts that we enter into show that diversity. There's a lot going on, especially when you talk about ai, but also with broadband. There's a young man doing some phenomenal work in one of our smaller cities, which is mostly urban and African-American training people to work on the broadband and training people to install the wires. And that's so important that we're getting those jobs to our young people so that they can have great careers in that broadband AI technology world.

Jessica Denson, Host (17:03):

Yeah, there's a shortage in that right now. That's a big, I hear that from everybody, a need for people who are trained. And those jobs are not going away. They're just going to change. So how would you answer that same question about diversity and the importance of it?

Milli Motto, CEO & Exec. Dir., NOBCO (17:16):

Well, that's what NCO is all about. People see that we're the national organization of black county officials, but if you look at our membership, it's actually pretty diverse. And because people want to make connections with urban communities. And so it's very important for us to keep that in mind, to make sure that our people are included in every partnership that we make. And I think that's why people want to work with us is because they know that we have that crowd under our belt.

Jessica Denson, Host (17:46):

As I said, people were waving at you both while we going by people were shaking your hands as you were even walking up to me and stuff. You're obviously both very popular with everyone here. I think it might be your passion for it. Am I wrong? Do you both really? You have an excitement for it, Alicia, I'll let you answer that first and Milli could wrap us up.

Alisha Bell, Board Member, NOBCO (18:05):

Oh, absolutely. As I stated, I was elected 21 years ago, a long time, so I guess I would still be here if I didn't

Jessica Denson, Host (18:12):

Love it.

Alisha Bell, Board Member, NOBCO (18:14):

And I love the organization, naco, nco, nco, working together. Again, the education, bringing all of us together, getting all the information that we need to spread out to our communities is so key. My residents look to me as what's new, what's forward thinking, what is innovative? And I get all of that when I come to these conferences. And we even have our own economic development conference with nco, which really stated was just in this June. We do that every year. Blessed to have done it twice in Wayne County. So making sure that we're getting that great information and it's spreading it out so that we're not necessarily reinventing the wheel, but we're increasing it and making a better wheel.

Jessica Denson, Host (18:48):

And for you, Milli,

Milli Motto, CEO & Exec. Dir., NOBCO (18:50):

I said this at our last conference that for me, unlike Chairwoman Bell, I'm not an elected official. So I really choose to be here because I love what I do and I love being of service to those who are in service. So it is a passion of mine, and I love npo. I'm really pleased to have this opportunity to serve people who serve their communities every single day.

Jessica Denson, Host (19:15):

And where are you based? I neglected to ask

Milli Motto, CEO & Exec. Dir., NOBCO (19:17):

You that. Oh man. I'm like, try Tri Coastal. I'm in Los Angeles primarily, but then in DC because our headquarters are in DC and then in Detroit, so I do a little triangle around the nation.

Jessica Denson, Host (19:32):

Those got to be some of the biggest counties in the country. Somebody told me that LA County was 10 million people,

Alisha Bell, Board Member, NOBCO (19:39):

One county.

Jessica Denson, Host (19:40):

That's crazy. So a lot of different needs. A wide range of people. People who aren't from the US, I don't think they realize how big it is. Right.

Milli Motto, CEO & Exec. Dir., NOBCO (19:50):

Yes.

Jessica Denson, Host (19:50):

Well, thank you so much, ladies. I really appreciate you taking the time with me.

Milli Motto, CEO & Exec. Dir., NOBCO (19:53):

Thank you. Thank you for having us.

Alisha Bell, Board Member, NOBCO (19:55):

Thank you so much. We'll

Jessica Denson, Host (19:56):

Continue our coverage from the National Association of County's Annual Conference and Exposition Center. In our next episode. I'm Jessica Denson. Thanks for joining us. If you like our show and want to know more about us, head to connected nation.org or find us on all major podcast platforms.

Connected Nation

Special series: Inside NACo - what Black leaders say their communities need

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