When the staff of Hattiesburg Publishing – publishers of the Pine Belt News and Signature Magazine – sat down in 2017 to brainstorm how to institute an award based on someone who represented the whole community to make it better and more inspirational, they probably couldn’t have chosen a better person than James “Jay” Slaughter, quite possibly one of the most active community members the Hub City had ever seen.
So it seems only fitting that the latest recipient of that acknowledgement – the James “Jay” Slaughter Catalyst Award – is Mayor Toby Barker, who served in the Mississippi House of Representatives before being elected Hattiesburg mayor in 2017, leading the city through the COVID-19 pandemic three years later. Barker was announced the recipient of the award at last month’s Best of the Pine Belt event, sponsored by Southern Eye Center.
“It’s very humbling and very much an honor, given who it’s named after and the many recipients who have come before me,” Barker said. “I’ve always said the strength of our city is not who sits in a political office, but instead it’s the talent, passion and work ethic of our people.
“The people who have won this award have been the people who have put themselves out there, taken a risk and seen it through. To be considered among those kind of folks is something I’m very honored (for).”
Originally from Meridian, Barker moved to Hattiesburg in 2000 to attend the University of Southern Mississippi, where he earned a bachelor’s degree in communications in 2004 and a master’s degree in economic development in 2006. While at Southern Miss, he was heavily involved in the Student Government Association, being elected student body vice president as a freshman.
Barker also was active in his fraternity, Pi Kappa Phi, as well as the Baptist Student Union and Men of Excellence. He served more than two months as a summer missionary in Burkina Faso, West Africa, and completed several short-term mission projects in Juarez, Mexico, New England, New Orleans and the Pacific Northwest.
Barker was elected to House District 102 in 2007 to take over for retiring representative Lee Jarrell Davis. At age 25, Barker was the youngest legislator elected in Mississippi and the first elected in his generation.
While representative, Barker served as Chairman of the House Performance Based Budgeting Committee. His other committee memberships include the Appropriations, Apportionment & Elections, Education, Medicaid, Public Health & Human Services and Technology committees. He also established an evidence-based process to evaluate all new program requests.
In 2013, Barker co-sponsored, negotiated and secured support for Senate Bill 2395, which created the first state investment in early childhood education. Eight years later, the Hattiesburg Public School District earned a $2.1 million grant for its collaborative, which came as a result of that legislation.
Barker was elected Hattiesburg’s 35th mayor in 2017. Since then, his administration – along with Hattiesburg City Council – has made investments throughout the city’s five wards, in areas including paving, water and sewer improvements, and major facility projects.
He also has helped to renew Hattiesburg Public School District’s school bond to renovate schools, seeing many of those schools achieve high performing status; passed new mechanisms for investments in city parks; passed the city’s first structurally balanced budget in 10 years; and secured federal funding for two overpasses in downtown Hattiesburg to help solve train traffic in that area.
After the COVID-19 pandemic hit the area in March 2020, Barker helped guide the city through those uncertain times, setting safety mandates and working with essential businesses to maintain operational hours. The mayor also provided weekly updates via Facebook regarding case and vaccination numbers, as well as other measures regarding the pandemic.
Despite all those accomplishments, Barker said being named the winner of the award came as quite a surprise.
“A few months ago, (the staff of Hattiesburg Publishing) invited me up for a meeting, and I didn’t know what the meeting was for, and that’s where they told me that I was going to be given the award in July,” he said. “All the past recipients were there, and it was very special.
“It’s something you feel like you haven’t earned, but it certainly gives you more motivation to work harder and do more in our community.”
Slaughter, the namesake of the Catalyst Award, died in 2017 after a lengthy battle with cancer. He was 59 years old.
Slaughter was born in 1957 and graduated from South Jones High School in Ellisville before earning a bachelor’s degree from William Carey College.
He attended New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary and was employed with HMP Management Corporation as the director of that company’s nursing service for more than 20 years.
Slaughter was a graduate of Leadership Pinebelt and served on its Steering Committee for 10 years. He also served on the University of Southern Mississippi Nursing Advisory Board, the Board for Wesley Manor Retirement Center, Partners for the Arts Board of Directors and South Mississippi Alzheimer's Association Board.
Slaughter also served as Chair of the Board of Directors of the Parkway Heights United Methodist Church Day Care, Early Encounters, and as the Staff Parrish Relations committee. He served as treasurer of the Oaks District Neighborhood for several years.
He and his wife Susan taught Children's Sunday School for eight years, and together served on the Mississippi Miss Hospitality Pageant Board of Directors.
“(Barker) is a wonderful recipient (of the award),” Susan said. “He’s the very definition of a catalyst; he’s a catalyst in his own right.
“Toby knew Jay, and that makes it super special – that’s not a criteria (for winning the award), but it’s just the way it happened. He’s done great things for our city; he’s very forward-thinking, and he’s hard-working, and he really cares about the progress of our city. I have a lot of respect and appreciation for that, having grown up here, and this has always been my home.”
Past recipients of the James “Jay” Slaughter Catalyst Award include Samantha McCain Alexander, Sarah Newton, Abigail Allen, Nelson Haskin, Mike Lopinto and Leigh Ann Underwood.
“Jay was one of a kind for this community, and anybody trying to fill Jay’s shoes, that’s a very hard task, but I know we’ve had some great people follow Jay and his family,” said Lacy, who was best friends with Jay for almost 25 years. “We wanted someone (for the award) who did everything at a higher level of excellence, and who helps lift the spirits of people around them so that people could really realize their full potential.
“I think (the fact that the award is still being given out) is a wonderful thing, and I know when people hear they are a recipient, it’s the highest honor that they have received, as the award is second to none. I think (Barker getting the award) is perfect; it follows exactly what we wanted when the award was being started. He’s a great family man, community, church – all those things. He possesses the skills and traits that we were looking for, so the tradition continues.”
