Spartanburg is experiencing significant momentum in economic growth and community investment, creating a timely opportunity to build a robust mixed-income housing development pipeline that strengthens economic mobility for residents across the city. The City of Spartanburg and Spartanburg Academic Movement (SAM) will partner with FUSE to embed an Executive Fellow with housing development expertise who will assess priority development sites, build project-level financial models, and engage mission-aligned developers and capital partners to advance Spartanburg's place-based housing goals. This work advances Movement 2030 priorities and SAM's cradle-to-career agenda by ensuring that housing stability, a foundational driver of children's educational success and long-term family well-being, is matched by the supply and investment the community deserves.
Fellowship Dates: October 26, 2026 - October 22, 2027Salary: Executive Fellows are FUSE employees and receive an annual salary of $95,000. Fellows can also access various health, dental, and vision insurance benefits. This amount is not representative of market-rate salaries for the experienced professionals in our program but is intended as compensation for a year of public service.
PROJECT BACKGROUNDAccess to stable, affordable housing is one of the most powerful drivers of economic mobility and community well-being. When families have access to housing that is well-maintained, appropriately priced, and located near quality schools and employment, research consistently shows improvements in children's educational outcomes, family financial stability, and long-term economic opportunity. Mixed-income housing development, which integrates units accessible to households across income levels, is a proven strategy for creating vibrant, opportunity-rich communities while preventing the displacement that can disrupt families and neighborhood cohesion. Communities that invest strategically in a well-structured housing development pipeline, drawing on a blend of public, philanthropic, and private capital, are best positioned to meet housing needs equitably and sustainably.
Spartanburg has demonstrated what is possible when cross-sector collaboration and sustained investment are directed toward a shared community vision. The nationally recognized revitalization of the Northside neighborhood, anchored by coordinated development, strong local leadership, and long-term partnership, offers a compelling model for what place-based investment can achieve. The City has advanced Movement 2030, an ambitious strategic framework for economic mobility and equitable community development. SAM's cradle-to-career work has long documented the relationship between housing stability and children's academic trajectories, identifying school transience, driven largely by housing disruption, as a central challenge for Spartanburg's highest-need students. The City has also identified a growing list of priority development sites, including four candidates in the Highland neighborhood, and is building relationships with CRA-focused banking partners and philanthropic investors who are positioned to support expanded housing investment. A state-of-housing study currently underway will further inform the city's strategic direction.
Spartanburg is well-positioned to accelerate the pace and scale of mixed-income housing development, particularly in Highland and other place-based priority neighborhoods. This fellowship presents an opportunity to bring dedicated technical expertise to translating promising sites and aligned partners into a viable, executable project pipeline. By embedding a FUSE Executive Fellow with housing development experience, the City and SAM can move from identifying opportunities to actively advancing deals, building the infrastructure, relationships, and financial frameworks needed to ensure that Spartanburg's growing economic momentum benefits all of its residents.
PROJECT APPROACHDuring the first 90 days, the FUSE Executive Fellow will conduct an in-depth discovery phase to develop a comprehensive understanding of Spartanburg's housing development landscape. The fellow will lead a structured listening tour with key stakeholders, including City leadership, the Spartanburg Housing Authority, Northside Development Group, the Highland leadership team, A Place to Call Home, local philanthropic funders, banking partners, and SAM leadership and community engagement staff. The fellow will review the city's emerging state of housing report, existing site inventories, the current opportunity zone landscape, and relevant state and federal financing programs available within the South Carolina context, including low-income housing tax credits and Community Reinvestment Act tools. The fellow will also research best practices from peer cities that have successfully built housing development pipelines in growing markets. Based on these insights, the fellow will present a refined project approach for City and SAM leadership review and approval before advancing to the next phase of work.
Building on discovery findings, the fellow will develop and begin executing a structured housing development pipeline strategy. A central focus will be conducting site-by-site assessments of the city's highest-priority development opportunities, starting with Highland and extending to other identified locations, to evaluate feasibility, ownership structures, zoning, and development potential. For each viable site, the fellow will build initial financial models, including preliminary sources and uses analyses and cash flow projections, to illustrate achievable deal structures and the capital needed to advance them. The fellow will identify and engage mission-aligned developers with experience in mixed-income and affordable housing, facilitating introductions and building relationships with city leadership.
In parallel, the fellow will support the development of a local investment case, helping to communicate a clear, data-informed picture of Spartanburg's housing opportunities to policymakers, foundation boards, and banking partners such as Fifth Third Bank, which has expressed interest in expanding its community investment in the region. The fellow will work closely with SAM to connect the housing pipeline to SAM's family engagement data and cradle-to-career indicators, ensuring that priority sites are aligned with the neighborhoods where housing investment will most directly support children's stability and outcomes.
By the conclusion of the fellowship, the City of Spartanburg will have a concrete, actionable housing development pipeline, with site-level assessments, preliminary financial models, and identified developer and capital partners for its highest-priority opportunities. The fellow will work with City and SAM leadership to establish clear ownership of the pipeline function and identify sustainable structures to carry this work forward, ensuring that the technical frameworks and relationships built during the fellowship remain an active resource for the City beyond the fellowship period.
The FUSE Executive Fellow will be embedded within the City of Spartanburg's City Manager's Office, reporting directly to the Project Supervisor and receiving strategic guidance from the Executive Sponsor. The fellow will also maintain a formal dotted-line relationship with SAM, engaging regularly with SAM leadership to ensure that housing pipeline priorities are connected to SAM's cradle-to-career data and community engagement work. This dual alignment will bridge the city's technical housing development work with the community-centered, outcome-focused framework that SAM brings to the partnership. Additionally, this fellowship is one of two complementary FUSE Executive Fellowships being launched simultaneously in Spartanburg. The two fellows are expected to work in close coordination, with this fellow's site-level pipeline work directly informing and reinforced by the parallel fellow's citywide housing strategy and cross-sector alignment efforts.
EXPECTED DELIVERABLESBy Fall 2027, the FUSE Executive Fellow is expected to have produced the following:
- Housing Development Site Assessment and Feasibility Analysis - Conducted a site-by-site evaluation of the city's highest-priority housing development opportunities, including Highland and other identified locations, documenting development potential, ownership structures, and feasibility for mixed-income housing.
- Project-Level Financial Models and Capital Stack Frameworks - Developed preliminary sources and uses analyses and cash flow projections for priority development sites, illustrating viable deal structures and identifying the types and amounts of public, philanthropic, and private capital needed to advance projects.
- Developer Engagement Strategy and Partnership Pipeline - Identified and cultivated relationships with mission-aligned housing developers experienced in mixed-income and affordable housing production, producing a curated set of development partners positioned to advance priority Spartanburg sites in alignment with community and Movement 2030 goals.
- Housing Investment Case and Funding Strategy - Produced a compelling, data-informed investment case for expanded housing production in Spartanburg, tailored for policymakers, philanthropic funders, and banking partners, and connected to Movement 2030 economic mobility priorities and SAM's documentation of the relationship between housing stability and children's outcomes. This includes a framework for pursuing CRA investments, opportunity zone capital, and other available financing tools.
- Housing Pipeline Sustainability and Transition Plan - Developed a documented set of frameworks, tools, and relationship maps that can be transferred to City staff and partners, along with a clear recommendation for long-term ownership of the housing development pipeline function, ensuring that the work and capacity built during the fellowship continues to generate impact for Spartanburg's communities.
KEY STAKEHOLDERS- Executive Sponsor - Chris Story, City Manager, City of Spartanburg
- Project Supervisor - Chris Story, City Manager, City of Spartanburg
- Key City Stakeholder -Martin Livingston, Community Development Director, Neighborhood Services Department
- Place-Based Partnership Liaison - Dr. Russell Booker, Chief Executive Officer, Spartanburg Academic Movement
QUALIFICATIONS- Synthesizes complex information into clear and concise recommendations and action-oriented implementation plans.
- Develops and effectively implements both strategic and operational project management plans.
- Generates innovative, data-driven, and result-oriented solutions to complex challenges.
- Respond quickly to changing ideas, responsibilities, expectations, trends, strategies, and other processes.
- Communicates effectively verbally and in writing and excels in active listening and conversing.
- Fosters collaboration across multiple constituencies to support more effective decision-making.
- Establishes and maintains strong relationships with diverse stakeholders, both inside and outside of government, particularly community-based relationships.
- Embraces differing viewpoints and implements strategies to find common ground. Demonstrates confidence and professional diplomacy while effectively interacting with individuals at all levels of various organizations.
