MEMPHIS, Tenn. (localmemphis.com) – The group charged with saving the historical Orange Mound community is working on a master plan to completely restore the neighborhood.
Orange Mound once served as one of the oldest planned communitiesfor African American homeowners in the United States. But the once vibrant areais now plagued with crime and filled with blighted and abandoned properties.
Thursday, the Orange Mound Community Task Force met to discuss thebest way to revitalize the neighborhood.
“You gotta have a plan, a master plan, when you go tobanks and when you go the city and the county to try to get funding forrevitalizing Orange Mound. So that’s the most important thing to study,” said ShelbyCounty Assessor Melvin Burgess.
The 21-member task force consists of communityleaders, locally owned businesses, real estate developers, and governmentofficials.