Neighborhood

Phillips Lombardy is located in congressional district 12 and measuring barely a

mile. The main road is Phillips Avenue, which is the Northern boundary of Phillips
Lombardy. This is the only street with the presence of sidewalks and bike lanes. The
Eastern, Western, and Southern boundaries of Phillips Lombardy do not have these
transportation options. From our observation, the Phillips Lombardy population consisted
of primarily African-American with only a few other races noticed.
Purpose
The purpose of the interviews in Phillips Lombardy was to attain an
understanding of what were the main health issues according to the community. This is
invaluable information that cannot be determined from secondary data. The community
leaders and members who were interviewed helped pinpoint priority concerns and needs
based on their work and involvement within Phillips Lombardy. This allowed us to
identify common themes as well as the strengths of the community, which resulted from
empowerment from within.
Methods
Two different methodologies were used to locate interviewees. The first was
finding people who worked for the city in different capacities. They were found on the
City of Greensboro website or working within the community. Community participants
were found networking through the Renaissance Co-op, a community activist project.
Participants were interviewed in the community itself, at their office, or at UNCG.
Interviews were conducted in person with an interviewer, note taker, while being

recorded for future review. Interviews were analyzed by recurring themes, their different
responses, and their insights into the community.
Results
Mrs. Bright:
A skill that Mrs. Bright strongly expressed she had was the ability to comfortably
go door-to-door and get the community involved in activities. For example, she got
enough people to sign a petition to get light posts on their street as well as a library.
However, she is not comfortable doing this anymore due to lack of familiarity with her
new neighbors. She had trouble believing that she was an asset to the community, but
believed there were many other people who were assets to the community, such as
Cynthia Pinnix. One of the main topics that Mrs. Bright brought up was food
accessibility. She has been desperately working to get a grocery store in the community,
as well as a restaurant, and expanding the kitchen at the rec center to allow more
activities to be conducted there.
Where do you usually get your groceries? I go to Wal-Mart or Food Lion, on
Summit avenue or on Market street. They recently did put a Dollar General, but it is not
the same.
City Councilman Jamal Fox:
As the city councilman for North East Greensboro, he is aware of the difficulties
facing the community. His platforms are transportation, economic opportunity, and food
accessibility. He repeated these themes over and over again, each time within a different
context. Transportation issues were covered, but the dynamics of how it could be
improved were not developed, even though he covered how to solve the other issues in

the community. Economic opportunity was related to how the racial dynamics and crime
in the area have hurt their chances for small business development.
He addressed how food security is mainly caused by lack of access to grocery
stores, in this case only having access to a Family Dollar and Kims Food Mart. The
Dollar General, to him, is an improvement upon the community, even though he said
earlier that the community needs access to fresh fruits and vegetables. Dollar General
does not have either, so there came the question about the upcoming Renaissance Co-op.
Although he recognized their existence, he criticized them by saying the space needed
renovation. He recognized how these activist groups were successful in the past, and
described how. It is interesting how he wants greater food accessibility, but deducts the
work of the local community to take this issue under their own hand. At the end, he says
more people in the community need to become involved, yet recognizes that there are
activist units in the neighborhood.
What is the goal of this city council? One of my big issues and visions for East
Greensboro is that we are healthy, we want you to live healthy, so we want to make sure
we are helping you access options for food.
Deloris Lawrence:
She has been the head librarian at the McGirt Horton Library on Phillips Avenue
since moving to Greensboro in 1995. Even though she does not live in the neighborhood,
she feels as if she is a part of the community. She focuses on community involvement and
believes the people of the neighborhood are very active and focused on community work,
and they have a good community spirit. She brought up several times the overall
portrayal of the neighborhood based on physical appearance. She mentioned there a quite

a few vacant areas, such as the shopping center behind the library, and empty homes with
boarded windows. She would like for these things to be taken care of, because it gives the
community a negative appearance, and a perception of crime. She does not believe this is
true and thinks it is a good neighborhood, but based off appearance, it can be seen as a
neighborhood with crime.
One last key point she discussed was the community being a food desert. She says
the local gas stations do not offer fresh fruits and vegetables like other small gas stations
do outside of the area. Proximity to amenities such as restaurants was also a concern for
her. Despite the setbacks, she would recommend living in this community, because the
people who live there are involved, and she has seen improvements throughout the years
since working there.
Would you consider Phillips Lombardy a food desert? Definitely! I think they
have some organization that is bringing in fresh fruits and fresh vegetables maybe once a
month. I think the co-op once its in effect, once the grocery store is there that will be a
great help, but I think they do like having those type of amenities.
Cynthia Pinnix:
Mrs. Pinnix chose to move to Phillips Lombardy in 1988, for she saw the
community as a good place to raise her family, and continues to live there now. Her
decision came from the fact that it had good schools, convenient highway access, and at
the time, it had all the amenities necessary for her family. Her leadership in the
community-based organization, Concerned Citizens of Northeast Greensboro, was
focused on closing the amenity gap that surfaced after she moved to the area. She is
spearheading the Renaissance Community Co-op, extremely confident in its ability to

provide new services to the community. One of the greatest assets that Mrs. Pinnix sees
in her community is the people. She is very aware of the prejudices facing the
community. Her frankness breaks down what has prevented a viable community from
getting the same access to services as every other community.
What do you dislike about this community? It used to be that we couldnt get
the city to listen to us. Since we established the Concerned Citizens of Northeast
Greensboro, we have become a very loud voice. Why isnt there a grocery store? They
said there wasnt enough people for a grocery store, but that was not true. Nobody could
get anyone to put a grocery store here. We knew it was just a racial thing, ya know, just
being in a black neighborhood,.
Chancer McLaughlin:
He is currently in charge of planning for the redevelopment area in Philips
Lombardy. He often mentioned the redevelopment area and the different stages it takes to
get a Dollar General in the area as well as how other nonprofit organizations are willing
to help make the food desert label an issue of the past for this community. Throughout, he
reiterated how this area is a food desert and how passionate, involved, and how much the
people are their own advocates for change. The people of this area attended every city
hall meeting to get their voices heard about the changes they wanted to see. The mayor
and city council members heard these voices and brought a Dollar General to the area as
well as created much needed jobs and to help people have closer access to staple food
items. He takes any suggestions that the community makes and goes to other people to
make sure it comes to fruition. He does not contradict himself at all during the interview;
he just gave many details on the redevelopment area and the people of the community.

What is your description of the people in this area? When you can get a
neighborhood where members show up regularly to city council meetings to track
initiatives, I wouldnt say its rare...thats pretty much what I would consider a very active
neighborhood association.
Describe your themes
Community activism, food insecurity, and economic development were brought
up continuously in our conversations. Over the past twenty years, this community has
banded together to voice their concerns about injustices in their neighborhood. Their most
recent concern is the lack of access to food in their neighborhood. This was a topic of
considerable buzz in our interviews, because through community efforts, the Renaissance
Co-op is set to open in 2015. This is a resource the community has been trying to secure
since Winn-Dixie left over sixteen years ago. Some community members expressed that
there was racial prejudices at work, keeping their community from gaining a grocery
store and other necessary resources. Community members expressed concern about the
perception of violence in their community. Community members also did not feel like
this was an accurate representation, but felt that the perception alone was enough to keep
needed economic development out of the neighborhood.
Discussion
When the results were brought together, the first thing that became apparent was
that many of our interviewees mentioned that the community members attended city
council meetings and are very active, but City Councilman Jamal Fox did not mention
that throughout his interview. As health educators, we would like to know more about
the failed community garden, possibly where the Dollar General is located, and if it

influenced the creation of the Renaissance Co-op. We would have liked to get an opinion
about the community from one of the many religious leaders in the area to gauge how
involved they are in the community. A few of the interviews indicated that swaths of
people are moving out of the area, and we want to know if the lack of quality food items
is a reason, the lack of economic development, etc. Lastly, we want to know how we
could possibly engage new voices in the community in the future and to get their
opinions on the Renaissance Co-op.
Ending/conclusion
Phillips Lombardy is steadily making improvements via the active involvement of
community members. As a result, the Renaissance Co-op will be opening in 2015.
Potentially, it will be a major asset to the community, fueled by the passion of community
members to improve fresh food accessibility. There is an overall awareness by the
community at large of what can be improved. That recognition has facilitated an open
conversation on improvement. Redevelopment is underway that utilizes the input of the
community members. Everyone involved is willing to make any effort to improve the
quality of life, food and the economy.

Appendix I:
Community Leaders Interview Questions:1) What is your name and title/background
info (keep brief)? 2) What is your role in this organization/place of business/institution?
3)What is the general role of this organization/place of business/institution? 4) How long
have you lived in Greensboro and worked with this organization/place of
business/institution? 5) What is your description of the people/community? 6)What do
you believe are the assets of this community? 7) What do you think are the barriers or
disadvantages to living in this community? 8) What do you think are the needs of this
community? 9) Overall feelings about this community?
Community Interview Questions:1) How long have you lived in Phillips Lombardy?
2)Why did you move to this neighborhood? 3) What do you like/dislike about Phillips
Lombardy?4) Is there anything that you believe that the community needs or is missing?
5) What are some assets or useful things that are provided for you in this community? 6)
Do you think this community is suitable for people of all ages? Why? 7)How would you
describe your community and the people who live there?8) Would you recommend living
there? Why? 9) Overall feelings of the community? 10) What changes do you want to see
in the community?
Appendix II: Interview Notes
Deloris Lawrence: By Carlie
Works in Phillips Lombardy at the library. She has worked there since 1995. Has worked
there since she moved to Greensboro in 95. Feels very much apart of the neighborhood
Likes the good community spirit. There are a number of individuals with a firm
community focus who work to make it a vibrant community. The physical surroundings
are a dislike. The shopping center where the library is a dislike. All are concerned that a
lot of time the neighborhood is portrayed as a crime ridden community whether or not
that is true. It may be, but dont care for that portrayal.
Could use a lot more economic development in the neighborhood. Could still use some
more grassroots support for some of the segments of the neighborhood. For example,
residents down Phillips and in Claremont Courts, if these two groups of residents were
more vocal or involved it would positively contribute to the neighborhood.
Assets: Library, The Peeler Recreation Center, churches. No other physical buildings that
are assets.
Suitable for all ages. Because there are people of all ages in the neighborhood. Maybe
used to be older, but as those people have died a lot of the houses have become rental
properties drawing back in younger families.
Community minded, resourceful, some segments need more enrichment as far as more
opportunities, some studies found that the zip code had a high teen pregnancy rate, which
brought some foundations into the community to implement some programming around
this.
Would recommend living there. Has a strong sense of community. Has houses with good
amenities at a lower price. A drawback is the perception of crime. Dont know the
numbers actually are, but the perception is there. Maybe the actual crime figures are a
deterrent as well. Proximity to amenities such as restaurants, fast foods. Definitely a food

desert. Even the gas stations there do not have fresh fruit like you might find across
town.
She would like to see more development. Its not a blighted neighborhood. But there
are some properties that are vacant, boarded up, would like to see those kind of things
taken care of. They exist in other neighborhoods too, but it would be helpful for them to
be taken care of.
Overall a good community. Has seen improvement from when she started over there. In
the last couple of years there has been a better mindset within the community, but it is a
constant battle to keep negative elements out of the community.
Within the last 6 weeks there were a number of murders in the city of Greensboro and
one was one in Claremont.
A number of residents that impacted Greensboro as a whole, have been vocal and
community minded, leaders, community members have served as resources for the whole
city, and the area itself has a rich history. The city does not recognize the assets, and
maybe only sees the challenges
Community garden used to be one, and there has been a lot of talk, but no garden has
bloomed as a rich community resource the
Cynthia Pinnix: By Zoe J
Moved to PL in 1988 after divorce bought a home in a neighborhood in
Woodbriar Estates
Easy access to highway; good schools; grocery store years ago; close to job;
retired from Moses Cone
Grocery store and drugstore has since moved out of area
Been apart of Renaissance Center- UNCG/City of Greensboro did survey
concerning neighborhood grocery store
Many elderly people live in neighborhood
Family Dollar started keeping staple foods such as bread, eggs, milk, flour, etc.
Several people in neighborhood worked w/ GTA and community organizations
Dislikes: Citys lack of paying attention to peoples needs
Likes: People being able to have a voice in what comes into neighborhood
o Prestigious People in Neighborhood
Goldie Wells- 1st President of the Concerned Citizens of Northeast
Greensboro
Yvonne Johnson
Claudette Burroughs-White (deceased)
o Sat-in at every city council meeting (Mayor Holiday was the 1st mayor to
be hands-on w/meetings in PL area; community members were very active
as well)
1993-1994 started trying to get a grocery store
o Got White St. Landfill closed; city got it transferred to Salisbury or Troy
o White St. Landfill used to be a chemical dump site
Got Attorney w/ state that with contamination to help; case was
won
Many people died from cancers such as Pancreatic from city dump
chemicals

Sewage running down streets where children play

Renaissance Co-op
Have a voice w/ what goes into store
Concerned Citizens of N.E Greensboro are apart of the
Renaissance Co-op
Hold back to school drives to give out school supplies
Every 1st Thursday @ 7pm at Peeler Center meetings are
held
Contact Pres. Goldie Wells, City of Greensboro website
City Council Meetings i.e. closing Winn-Dixie
No limitations for any age group but have gotten a bad
reputation for being a Black neighborhood
A lot to offer; NC A&T, parks, access to library; Dollar General
Diverse community: educationally, economically.
Architect Gravely lives in neighborhood
Study was done in neighborhood called Renaissance in
2000
PL area is rich in history
Would recommend living in PL neighborhood
Greensboro Neighborhood Congress

o
o

Chancer McLaughlin: By Zoe L.

Chancer came very prepared for the interview. He had various maps and a copy of the
redevelopment plan. Before the questions, he talks about the redevelopment plan defined
by the City of Greensboro. It is located in the vacant lot behind Kims Food Mart.
He also talks about the Dollar General and says it was not in the plan. Three lots were
sold and rezoned by the city. The city established conditions for the developer in case it
were to leave in the future; therefore no establishments like fast food restaurants or
anywhere that sells alcohol could take its place in the future. Ten people from the
neighborhood work at the Dollar General and 20 people from the neighborhood found
jobs at other locations.
He mentions how an urban farm over 3 acres is going to put in place in the near future.
There will be three 90 foot long greenhouses in place. A nonprofit company called Edge
will be working on it along with NC A&T.
Chancer is a planner/project manager for the city of Greensboro. His role is to help
development and carry out plans for redevelopment areas. He identifies areas of needs,
designate it, work with a neighborhood for a specific plan, and implements the plan.
Some examples: sidewalks and vacant lot construction. Different developments based on
the area.
He lives in Sanford which is about an hour and a half away. He has worked for the City
of Greensboro for almost 4 years. He went to NC A&T.
Description of people: They are passionate and involved. They are active and show up
regularly to meetings and they push for the highest quality of development.

Assets: Good core of people. He sees vacant land as an asset because it marks area for
future development. The shopping center is an asset because of possible futures. The
library is a big asset.
Disadvantage: Lack of food. He considers the neighborhood a food desert. Even though
there is a Dollar General that offers basic needs such as milk, cereal, and bread, it does
not offer fresh fruits and vegetables.
Needs: Food access. Need access to fresh fruits and vegetables. Also need access to
businesses such as places of employment for the community members. Need other things
such as a laundry mat and other retail stores.
Overall feelings: Accountability. The people of the neighborhood hold him accountable
for making changes. The neighborhood is filled with passionate people who want positive
change.
Jamal Fox By: Gill
Question: Background on yourself?
Jamal: Born and raised in Fredericksburg, VA, moved to Greensboro 16 years ago in the
late 90s. Went to two middle school, two high schools, and three colleges/universities in
the area. Worked in the private sector at Walgreens for several years. Worked with other
retailers and restaurants, used to be in sales. Went to NC A&T BA in Poli Sci, at the
same time did community work with the American Cancer Society doing Relay for Life
every year for many people in my life had cancer, also very active in the Democratic
Party, served locally as the president of the Guilford County Young Democrats. Served at
the state level as the minority affairs chair for the party. Doing all that increased my
leadership capabilities. Started working with different groups, transportation is my
passion, so a community group came together allying with the Piedmont TAP (Transit
Alliance of the Piedmont). Had the opportunity to intern with the city manager four years
ago. In my time in that role worked in planning, learned different things, managed
programs. Savored the work with HR and job performance, so the whole process with the
city. Went back to A&T, while full time there I figured out that we need new leadership in
Greensboro, so I decided to run for office. Basically as a city councilperson and as a
representative of the community, Northeast Greensboro, we are making the laws for the
City of Greensboro. Dealing with police, fire, you name it, when there is an issue its my
job and duty to the citizens.
Question: Was this all during your undergraduate?
Jamal: Yeah.
Question: What is the goal of this city council?
Jamal: Collectively we are focused on economic development, public safety, basically
jobs. For me, individually, I am focused on community and poverty. The community to
have a voice, getting them participate whether it is commissions, advisory groups, giving
them the opportunity to participate. I am focused on economic development, making sure
that we are bringing people to the area, showing them what we have to offer

infrastructure-wise. Also, public safety making sure that Greensboro is safe. If your
parents drop you here, they know its okay, Greensboro is safe place to live. Quality of
life, sustainability, transportation, which is a key focus of mine, make sure that you have
the accessibility if you live in a community like Phillips Ave. One of my big issues and
visions for East Greensboro is that we are healthy, we want you to live healthy, so we
want to make sure we are helping you assess options for food. Transportation to get
around, because they are sort of landlocked, it takes them over a mile to get to a grocery
store. We do not have great connectivity North and South, in some sense East and West
within our district, so we are trying to look at what can we do to work on those issues?
Question: What are your impressions of food accessibility in the Phillips Lombardi
community?
Jamal: They do have the family dollar near where the co-op is going to go. Right now
people living off Phillips Lombardi are going to the gas station (Kims Food Mart) across
from Claremont, before Dollar General and Family Dollar, there was only only Kims and
Family Dollar. What we are trying to do and the focus is on trying to get the co-op just
because you should have the opportunity to go to a grocery store. There was a grocery
store there, but sixteen years ago they left. There should be fresh fruits and vegetables,
this could cause the issues of children obesity in the area. Not being able to assess the
nutrients that they need. You look at a lot of the students in the area are going hungry,
because they dont have the quality of food that they need to take with them. You take
that a little bit farther and you have homelessness. Children are going through this with
their family. Its like a bowling ball, one affects the other.
Question: What information do you have on Textile Park?
Jamal: Great community, they have, just that park is coming alive, the basketball court
and the recreation they have down there. Theres still a need, because I look at Textile
Park the same way I look at Phillips or Lombardi, we are one district, one community, if
we are hurting over here, we are hurting all over the district. Not just in food desert, food
security, but also in jobs. If you look around the area, a lot of folks left the area. Small
businesses are having trouble accepting capital. When youre small business, and you
cannot get money to increase production-wise that hurts. So a lot of people closed down
the small businesses, laid people off, so you have people unemployed, or have fallen out
of unemployment period. When we look at the numbers, it is really ingenious, because
we see the people not working, unemployed. We have that, or we have people who are
skilled, but cannot find the jobs. Schooling, education, they may not have it or it could be
an ex-felon. Thats an issue too, if you served your time and enter the community and you
have a certain skill set that could enable the community, some people wont hire you. So
there are lot of ailments.
Mrs. Bright (Tou):
- Lived in the community for over 20 years (22 to be exact)
- Was here during development of the community

- Why she moved here? Just wanted a big yard, a big kitchen and a bathroom in the
master bathroom. This fit her and her husbands need.
- Mrs. Bright was laughing and focusing her attention on us.
- Used to live in Davie County, lived in Cooleemee.
- Was working in Winston Salem, her and her husband was going to get married. So
during her vacation, she came to look for a job in Greensboro to move here.
- Got a job in Greensboro, Nurse Tech at Moses Cone.
- Moses bought out Womens Hospital, worked at Moses for 20 years and Womens for
2o years. Retired in 2005.
- Laughing and said she missed her job and interacting with baby (Started playing with
her fingers). Still focusing her attention on us but started to get more relaxed and leaned
back in chair
- Goes to fellowship every Thursday, plays Bingo. Also do a chair exercise. Mrs. Bright
laughed and said she gets to meet new friends every week
- Got involved in co-op in Northeast Greensboro meeting every first Thursday of the
month. Her sister got sick and passed away so missed a few meeting. But went back and
got back into getting a grocery store into the community.
- Goes to Wal-Mart or Food Lion, on Summit avenue or on Market street. They recently
did put a Dollar General, but it is not the same. Bit of a ways to go get grocery. Mrs.
Bright laughed when she said Dollar General is not the same as a grocery store!
- Housing project, been there a long time.
- Kept petition for and got a new library, came about 3-4 years ago
- Never had the same neighbor, all neighbors on block has moved. Moved for different
reasons: Moved to Mclains Ville, moved with their children, got married and moved to
community, and husband passed away and moved out with Grandson. All happened in the
past 5 years.
- Other changes Mrs. Bright would like to see is: Rec have a kitchen, too small right now.
Need a big one for events and for the co-op meetings. Rec center has been there since
Mrs. Bright came.
- When asked if this is a good community to raise kids, start a family, etc.Mrs. Bright
started playing with her fingers again but this time, did not look up too often. She said
that the community was just as good as any other community and that its very quiet. She
then proceeded and started talking about how many kids were getting on the school bus.
She was shocked and said what goes on around here.she doesnt hear anything.
- She would recommend others to live her but when Gill was trying to ask Why she
would recommend it, Mrs. Bright cut Gill off and said Nobody has bothered us for 20
years. Chuckled and laugh afterwards

- Would like a restaurant in the neighborhood. Closest one is downtown or on summit,

too far.
- Mrs. Bright does not go to the churches in the neighborhood.
- Said all kinds of people live in the community, all very nice and pleasant. Get along
with one another.
- Anticipate that the Co-op would be coming in 2015. Just had their 2nd anniversary.
Served delicious food there. Giggled afterwards.
- Made a cookbook and sells them for $10. Use to go Door-to-door to get community
involved. Cleaned up the street, got enough to sign for light post, and was comfortable
then to go Door to door. Not comfortable doing it now because her friend knew
everybody and she doesnt. Shes also afraid of dogs.
- Mentions Cynthia, the friend who knows everyone and Alice who lives on Woodright
(currently on vacation). Provided phone number to contact for additional interviews.
- Ended Interview.