Latino community residents founded Inquilinos Boricuas en Accion (IBA) in 1968 to develop and now maintain Villa Victoria, a subsidized housing community built on a parcel of city land slated for urban renewal. IBA promotes the social and economic well being of Villa Victoria’s residents with programs that support the arts, especially expressing the Latino cultural and artistic heritage. IBA offers intergenerational activities, programs for elders, educational initiatives, and job training.
Among the Latina activists was Paula Oyola (1917-2004), who was born in Puerto Rico, the ninth of eleven children. Although she left school after the second grade to help on her family’s farm, she taught herself to read and write with the help of her grandmother. In 1961, then the widowed mother of five, she moved to the United States and settled in the South End. She enjoyed introducing people to Puerto Rican culture. She said, “If you learn to dance salsa, you can dance anything.” Once Villa Victoria was on its way, Oyola traveled to cities in Texas, California, and Florida helping to empower Latinos to fight urban renewal plans that would force them out of their neighborhoods.
