Loading…
avatar for James McKissic

James McKissic

City of Chattanooga
Director: Multicultural Affairs
Chattanooga, Tennessee Area
James McKissic is the Director of the City of Chattanooga Office of Multicultural Affairs. His role for the City includes linking diverse businesses to City Government contracting opportunities, improving the City’s supplier diversity efforts, and working to promote inclusion and diversity among the employees and citizenry of Chattanooga. Since being appointed by Mayor Andy Berke four years ago, James has established the City’s Internship Program; set up a project to provide Citizenship assistance, free ESOL and GED classes to Chattanooga’s immigrant population; and, managed a local hiring initiative for the demolition of the Harriet Tubman housing Development.

He is a native of Cleveland, TN and has worked in the nonprofit and public sectors for more than 20 years. James holds a Bachelor of Science in secondary education from the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, a Master of Public Administration from the Robert F. Wagner School at New York University and an executive certificate from the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. He recently participated in the Harvard Business School’s Young American Leaders Program.

James is passionate about empowering communities and changing lives through the arts and philanthropy. He is a committed arts advocate, community volunteer and artist, serving on the boards of the SPLASH Youth Arts Program, the Hunter Museum’s Acquisitions Committee, La Paz, ArtsBuild, and the Community Foundation of Greater Chattanooga. He is a founding member of the Sankofa Fund for Civic Engagement, an African American giving circle.

James is also one of the founders of Jazzanooga, a nonprofit organization which promotes youth music education, provides year-round performance opportunities for local musicians, and hosts an annual music festival in April which, last year, drew 6,000 people from throughout the region.
Thursday, April 13
 

11:00am EDT

2:00pm EDT

4:00pm EDT

8:00pm EDT

 
Friday, April 14
 

8:30am EDT

11:00am EDT

12:00pm EDT

3:00pm EDT

6:00pm EDT

 
Saturday, April 15
 

9:00am EDT

11:00am EDT