IBA forum pays homage to 50 years since its founding
Original leaders and donors reflect on the struggles and achievements

In 1968, a group of Puerto Rican residents in the South End fought against urban renewal and displacement, forming the grassroots organization, Inquilinos Boricuas en Acción. Last Wednesday at Villa Victoria Center for the Arts, IBA hosted a forum to celebrate and look back at their last 50 years of history.
The “Stories of Villa Victoria” history forum featured a panel of guests: Victor Feliciano, a founder of IBA; Paul Grogan, president and CEO of The Boston Foundation; John Sharratt, architect and designer of Villa Victoria and moderator Carmen Lennon, IBA board member and former resident of Villa Victoria.
Taking back the community
Feliciano spoke about what it was like moving from Puerto Rico to the South End and living in apartments, designated as “parcel 19” by the Boston Redevelopment Authority. The living conditions were substandard, according to Feliciano, with falling ceilings, broken windows and pest infestations.
“We tried to get landlords to fix the apartments but they only cared about the rents,” he said. “They did not care about the people living there.”
A group of concerned tenants met in the basement of St. Stephen’s church to not only rally against the city’s urban renewal project which would demolish their housing and upend their community, but to fix the apartments themselves.
“The Emergency Tenants’ Council went in, fixed the apartments and did what the landlords were supposed to do,” Sharratt said.
When they won the right from the city to retain long-term control over their housing and neighborhood, the ETC eventually morphed into the sister social service organization, IBA, and through grants and federal funding, developed Villa Victoria in 1970.
Villa Victoria is an affordable housing community that began with 435 units and today has expanded to 521 units.
Architect Sharratt said that as an ally to the organization, he agreed to help bring the community’s vision of what Villa Victoria should look like, to life. The resulting design was inspired by traditional Puerto Rican architecture with a central plaza, parks and the housing units facing one another.
“There was at first, resistance from the BRA,” said Sharratt. “But the community was able to prove themselves. They identified every organization in the South End and asked for their letter of support.”
IBA was able to continue to prosper and grow, opening the Villa Victoria Center for the Arts, a community credit union and one of the first bilingual preschools in the country, with help from local donors including The Boston Foundation.
“The Boston Foundation made the first grant to IBA,” Grogan said. “We’re very proud of having made that grant.”
Grogan recalled what was going on in the city during this time; Boston, as with many other cities during the “white flight” era, saw a major population decline, abandoned businesses and housing, and racial tensions and violence.
“It was hard to imagine the city coming back [from this] and yet, in the face of this overall very negative picture, IBA was able to go forward with optimistic, hopeful, future-oriented development,” said Grogan. “It magnifies their accomplishment to recognize that things were not good in the city at all.”
Lessons from the past
Rep. Byron Rushing attended the history forum event and offered insight into what IBA’s legacy means for the state of social justice today.
“It’s so important that young people understand that none of this happened overnight,” he said. “To have courage on what they are doing for gun control and sexual assault on campus.”
Jovita Fontanez, longtime community organizer and former IBA board member, also recalled the chaos occuring in Boston during IBA’s early days.
“The Fenway was burning, this building was on fire,” she said referring to a time in the 1970s when Boston landowners were charged for committing arson-for-profit crimes.
“We need to look back at our history and see what worked then and do it today,” she said.
Grogan, who worked with foundations across the country, said the scope of IBA’s impact was not just on a local level.
“IBA became a renowned national model. It convinced people to have a grassroots strategy,” he said.
My hope is that Villa Victoria continues to grow and people never forget what we fought for 50 years ago,” said Feliciano. “And that the people living here stay united and recognize the power in fighting together.”