Just outside Tampa's city limits sits Progress Village, a neighborhood with deep roots in Black history and community support that many people don't know about.Progress Village was born from a vision of Black homeownership in th e late 1950s, when local community leaders and businessmen came together with a revolutionary idea for the time."A group of local community leaders businessmen got together in the late 1950s and they began talking about creating an area where blacks could buy their own homes, become homeowners and live in the Tampa Bay area, not inside the city limits, but just outside the city limits in unincorporated Hillsborough County," said Fred Hearns, Black History curator for the Tampa Bay History Center.The first families moved to Progress Village in 1960, with fewer than 100 families that first year. But the community quickly grew as word spread about affordable homeownership opportunities. "The idea of Progress Village came about because it was progress for many of these families who had lived in apartments or they had rented houses that they did not own, so they could become people who were stakeholders in the community by owning property," Hearns said.For residents like Eloise Griffin, who moved to Progress Village 60 years ago, the neighborhood represented something unprecedented."It gave them the privilege to live in a home, a home that they were able to pay for, because these homes was not very expensive when they came in those days, the mortgage payments were low and they had 30 year mortgages," Griffin said.Griffin, a retired teacher who spent 48 years in education, purchased her first home on 87th Street in 1964 after graduating. She later moved one street over to 88th Street, staying within the community she had grown to love.The neighborhood truly lived up to the "village" part of its name, Griffin said."Everything just worked out for me being here in Progress Village, because Progress Village is a place where, you know, when you said, take a village to raise a child, Progress Village was a village, but you raise a child because everybody helped you raise your child here in Progress Village," Griffin said.Children walking home from school were watched over by church deacons and neighbors who knew every family. Fighting and misbehavior were quickly corrected by community members, with parents' full support.Griffin established the first tutorial program in Progress Village, working with Reverend Rodriguez from St. James Church. The program eventually moved to First Baptist Church and then to the community park, where the county added two rooms specifically for the tutoring center."I hired teachers. They gave me permission to hire teachers," Griffin said. "We had certified teachers to work."The program served both children and adults, with Griffin tutoring many residents in her own home before they transitioned to the center.As Hillsborough County has grown, Progress Village has evolved. The once-segregated community is now integrated, with new apartments and buildings changing the neighborhood's character."I love all of my neighbors, regardless of the race or whatever. I love everybody, but now we are a mixture. We are integrated. At first we were segregated, but now we're integrated, and that's okay," Griffin said. "We have to accept that, because change take place, and we have to accept the change."Despite the changes, the community spirit remains strong. After recent hurricanes, neighbors came together to help one another, with food trucks and military personnel delivering supplies to residents.For Griffin, who is now raising her great-grandson in the same community where she built her life, Progress Village remains home."The village is a beautiful place, and I'm going to remain here," Griffin said. ...read more read less