Candidate Profile: Marcellus Harris III (Newport News City Council – North)

Name: Marcellus L. Harris III

Age: 46

Website: N/A

Biography: Marcellus L. Harris III was born and raised in Newport News, Va. and was a member of the last graduating class at Ferguson High School in Newport News, Va. Mr. Harris is married to Rasheena Harris and has two children, Marlinda Harris (14 years old) and Marcellus Harris IV (12 years old). He received a Bachelor of Science degree in Child Development and Family Relations from East Carolina University in Greenville, N.C. and a Master of Arts – Counseling from Hampton University. In June of 2019, he received his Doctor of Divinity Degree from Canaan Theological Seminary and College in Hampton, Va.

In 2005, he worked for Newport News Public Schools as a professional school counselor and advisor. While serving as a counselor at the elementary level, he founded the P.R.I.D.E. Program (Perfecting Responsible and Intelligent Demeanor Everyday) which is a mentoring and empowerment program that is structured to motivate and provide programmatic support for elementary age male students needed to achieve abundant levels of success academically and socially. The program stresses the development of the character traits and social skills necessary for academic success and social leadership to empower young men to exceed being average. The program was implemented during his tenure at Greenwood, Newsome Park and Epes Elementary Schools and was also facilitated at Denbigh High School.

Through this program, Dr. Harris with the help of his colleagues, coordinated the first elementary-age male leadership conference for young males at Newsome Park Elementary School. He orchestrated numerous career fairs for young people to open their minds to the various occupations available to them through hard work and a desire to achieve their goals. He has been a keynote speaker at schools across the region for citizenship awards, academic promotional ceremonies, and athletic banquets. Under the pastoral leadership of his father, Dr. Marcellus L. Harris, Jr., Dr. Harris III served as the youth minister at First Baptist Church Morrison in the City of Newport News for 6 years.

In 2016, Dr. Harris was elected to represent the North District of Newport News as a City Councilmember and was re-elected in May of 2020. He currently serves in this capacity as he continues his advocacy for youth empowerment, safe communities and maximizing educational opportunities. He also continues his educational service as the school counseling director at the historic I.C. Norcom High School in Portsmouth, Va. During his time as a City Official, Dr. Harris has served as a member on the Hampton Roads Community Action Program Board and as a member of the Hampton Roads Regional Jail Authority. Additionally, Dr. Harris was appointed as the president of the Tri-Citi Youth Foundation which provides organized recreational opportunities for youth to develop social and emotional skills through athletics.

Dr. Harris’ passion is mentoring and being a positive influence in the lives of people in the community in an attempt to allow our young people and their families to recognize the shining lights that they can shine in our communities. He has always felt obligated to give back to others, which has meant so much to him growing up. Dr. Harris has continued the legacy set forth by his father in standing up for social injustice, equality for all, being available to enlighten our citizens, and empowering our communities to enhance our city.

Why are you running for this office?

I am seeking re-election to the City Council of Newport News – North District to continue the work of enhancing our communities by building up and providing opportunities for our residents to thrive personally and professionally. When I first sought out this position, my motivation was sparked by the challenges that the youth in our communities were dealing with daily that often appeared to be overlooked by those in positions of leadership. In addition to that, there was funding challenges for our schools which impacted the operations of the school system along with leaving our amazing educators feeling underappreciated in the work that they do in serving our children. As an educator and mental health professional, my goal was to streamline processes that would provide more positive activities, increase social and emotional programs along with eradicating gun violence amongst our youth. Over the course of my time on council, we have strengthened the working relationship amongst City Council and the School Board. There has been an increase of partnerships with our grassroot organizations that provide resources to our communities. For the past couple of years, our schools have been fully funded. Moving forward to my next term, I am going to advocate for even more for much needed improvements to our school facilities and continued programing for our youth to stay on the trajectory of mitigating violence in the community.

What is the top challenge facing Newport News, and how would you address it?

One of the top challenges that we will be forced to address in the very near future is the state of our public-school facilities. Our public-school buildings are reaching a level in which they are in need of more than just repairs. When I was first elected to serve on cancel, we had a crisis in the physical wellbeing of Huntington Middle School and that took longer than expected to get to a point in which we are finally in the initial stages of building a new school. During that process, students and staff members were transitioned to an alternate placement for their middle school experience. Even though they made the best of the situation, it was an inconvenience to a school community and unfair to the students and staff. If we don’t want history to repeat itself with some of our other school buildings that are in need of upgrades, we need to start planning and preparing for what’s next. Continuing to work alongside our school board colleagues and gain insight on the state of our school buildings and working with our council members to analyze our Capital Improvement Plans to best prioritize how to keep this on the forefront of our attention.

In addition to this, my hope is to find a way to better communicate with our residents the differences between the personal property tax rate and the city assessments. Each year, even when we have lowered the tax rate, the assessments, which are not formulated by the council, will rise. My hope is that we can better communicate and educate the process with our citizens on this annual budgetary concern that so many citizens have each year.

What is your view on addressing the affordable housing crisis?

Since being on council, I have seen the transformative work being done since the City of Newport News and the Newport News Redevelopment and Housing Authority (NNRHA) were awarded the Choice Neighborhood Initiative Grant back in 2019. Much of this work went into not just revitalizing a neighborhood but to bring forth a vibrancy to the community. With this opportunity, we were able to address some of our affordable housing needs with the new housing stock, I was adamant about the Right of First Refusal to ensure that the residents that were impacted during the redevelopment had the initial opportunity to return. There is still much work to be done, but we will continue to work with the NNRHA to ensure that we are continuing to offer opportunities for our citizens to live comfortably.

What is your view on what the City should do with the Newport News Williamsburg Airport? Should commercial services be suspended to save money? Should the city use general fund revenues to subsidize the airport?

When it comes to the Newport News Williamsburg Airport, we need to move forward in deciding as to what do we see our future of air service in relation to our new Transportation Center, which recently opened for service. It had always been my hope to revive commercial services to our airport, but we can’t afford to continue using our general fund to subsidize operations due to a lack of service. Over the next 6 months, we as a council along with the Peninsula Airport Commission, will need to sit down together and review all of our available options and decide what would be in the best interest of our residents and region regarding this valuable amenity that we have in our city.

What is your view on taking money from individuals who will likely have business before the city?

If you are speaking to campaign donations, I have never been one that was able to raise a significant amount of funds from businesses as most of my campaign donors have come from volunteers and small businesses in the City.

How will you still value constituents with whom you disagree with?

I have and always will value the perspectives, opinions of others as that makes us better as a community, not just as city officials, but as people. In the past, I have held my Councilman Corner Sessions, in which this gave residents an opportunity to share information with me as well as voice their concerns regarding issues that they disagreed with. Whenever I can have dignified dialogue with constituents, I feel it makes me a better servant of our community as I will continue to seek opportunities to enhance community engagement for our diverse population.

Will you be accessible to journalist inquiries directly, or rely on the newly created City Council Press Secretary position?

Since the established position of the City Council Press Secretary, I have followed the agreed upon protocols amongst my colleagues regarding information that speaks for the council holistically. If I do have comments that I would like to share with journalists regarding my thoughts on a matter, I have no issue with responding to the media, as I have done in the past.