We needed change: Northside Development Group helps transform Spartanburg community [Video]

GREENVILLE, S.C. (FOX Carolina) – Inside the Spartanburg City limits is a community that’s been in transition for a decade and now—they’re entering the next phase of community revitalization.

“We knew as residents of this community that we needed change,” said Tony Thomas, a Northside resident.

Once upon a time, Spartanburg’s Northside was a crime hotspot, flooded with blighted properties. At the time, Thomas was a barber, he’s now the Community Engagement Manager of the Northside Development Group.

“They would sit in my chair and tell me–I wish we had this, I see my community this way and I wish we had the resources to make these changes,” he explained. “I think we inherited a lot of the issues that those before us created because they thought they were doing what was in the best interest of the community without consulting with the community.”

So when a former Spartanburg mayor …