HOPE

JUSTIN BIBB

58th Mayor of Cleveland

In a city like Cleveland that has overcome so much, hope is a virtue that we come back to often. Places in a community, like churches, schools, or a neighborhood, can be where hope is found. Hope can also be what a person instills in others through their actions. This definition of hope exemplifies Justin Bibb, the new mayor of Cleveland.

Justin Bibb was born in Cleveland, Ohio, on April 26, 1987, to his father, Donald Bibb, who was one of the first African American first responders in Cleveland Heights, and his mother, Charlene Nichols. Justin split his childhood days between family in Shaker Heights and Mount Pleasant. He has especially fond memories of staying with his mother's family in Mt. Pleasant on summer days and riding his black bike around the neighborhood. 

From a young age, Bibb learned the meaning of hope through his mother's drive for education. Once a woman who couldn't read and write, she earned three college degrees to become a social worker for the elderly. When explaining her son's passion for politics, Bibb's mother recalled her son wanting to become mayor at 16 years old after completing the Look Up To Cleveland Program. She recalled, "He fell in love with Cleveland and being a part of Cleveland politics through that program."

As a senior at Trinity High School, Bibb volunteered for the 2004 John Kerry campaign and became interested in politics. His family's church, Olivet Institutional Baptist Church, was served by Pastor Otis Moss Jr, who worked with Black activists like Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

Bibbs earned a degree in Urban Studies from American University, interned for then-senator Barack Obama in 2007, and returned to Cleveland to earn a JD-MBA at Case Western University. Following the police murder of Tamir Rice in 2014, Bibb founded Hack Cleveland, and in 2019, he launched Cleveland Can't Wait; both initiatives dedicated to bridging inequality gaps in the city. In 2021, Bibbs announced his candidacy for Cleveland mayor. During his campaign, Bibb noted that "Elections are about hope."

Bibb aims to make Cleveland a city built on equity and people power, to pour as much back into the city that gave so much to him.