The Riley Center for Livable Communities announces six mayors selected for 2026
January 13, 2026
The Riley Center for Livable Communities at the College of Charleston announced the six Mayors who have been selected to participate in the 8th class of the Riley Mayors’ Design Fellowship. The 2026 Riley Mayors’ Design Fellows are:
Mayor Lethonia Barnes, City of Florence
Mayor Demetrius Chatman, Town of Winnsboro
Mayor Jennifer Rushing, Town of Scotia
Mayor Lisa Talbert, City of Easley
Mayor Russ Touchberry, Town of Summerville
Mayor Jeffrey Washington, Town of North
Mayors were selected from a competitive group of nominees based upon demonstrated visionary leadership and the quality of an idea for a physical project to improve community character and drive development.
When developing this program, Mayor Joseph P. Riley, Jr. said “The decisions on matters of design of and in our towns and cities often have lasting impacts. If the decisions are well thought out and wise, present and future generations of citizens will benefit, with their quality of life enhanced.”
The Riley Mayors’ Design Fellowship is a partnership between the Riley Center for Livable Communities at the College of Charleston, Clemson University’s Master of Resilient Urban Design, the SC Arts Commission and the Municipal Association of SC. The program equips South Carolina Mayors with the tools necessary to implement projects that positively impact the built and/or natural environment in their communities.
Preparation and research take place in January and February under the guidance of Clemson’s Master of Resilient Urban Design program. The culmination is in March with a two-and-a-half-day design workshop during which each mayor presents the challenges and opportunities of his or her project. From these presentations, mayors receive feedback as well as information on relevant design and planning topics from a group of expert faculty.
Each Mayor will return home equipped to begin a transformation. “The Design Fellowship stretches beyond creating better cities, I believe it makes them better mayors” is how Todd Glover, Executive Director of the Municipal Association of South Carolina has described the program.
According to David T. Platts, the Executive Director for the SC Arts Commission “As this cohort of mayors begins work on their projects, the South Carolina Arts Commission is eager to help them imagine vibrant and distinct public spaces developed using the lenses of creativity and creative placemaking. Those are two proven methods to enhance the identities, character and stories unique to every city or town in South Carolina.”
With roots in the former SC Mayors’ Institute for Community Design and modeled after the national Mayors’ Institute on City Design which was founded by Mayor Riley, South Carolina is the only state to have such a program. Learn more about Riley Mayors’ Design Fellowship at https://rileyfellowship.org
The College of Charleston is looking forward to hosting the program on campus March 25-27th.
