By LINDA CHION KENNEY
Residents, business and property owners, and community advocates interested in the development of fast-growing Wimauma are invited to a task force meeting Oct. 13, followed by a meet-and-greet two weeks later with Darlene Vaughn, the newly named executive director of the Wimauma Community Development Corporation.
“Everything that I have ever done has led me to this place and prepared me for this role,” said Vaughn, who comes to Wimauma from her job as president and chief executive officer of Girls Inc. in Jacksonville. “There’s just so many possibilities and so much great work that needs to be done.”
The Oct. 13 meeting of the Wimauma Community Activation Task Force will start at 6:30 p.m. at Wimauma Elementary School, 5709 Hickman St.
Founded in 1967 as the Wimauma Citizens Improvement League, the nonprofit Wimauma CDC champions meaningful change in the community with a focus on economic, workforce and youth development. Envisioning “a diverse and unified community that creates opportunities for everyone,” the Wimauma CDC mission is “to make Wimauma a better place to live, work and prosper, particularly by and for the low- and moderate-income individuals and businesses in the community.”
Inclusivity is a key objective and consideration for Vaughn and the Wimauma community, where she said 40 percent of the population lives in poverty and the average home price is $262,000. In collaboration with Enterprising Latinas and the Hispanic Services Council, Redlands Christian Migrant Association and Beth-El Farmworkers Ministry, the Wimauma CDC is addressing programs and issues related to the changing nature of the community.
With the booming development of subdivisions in a community that relishes its rural roots and “small town charm,” Vaughn said it is essential how Wimauma interests “come together to embrace those differences and what makes us unique and work together cohesively to make Wimauma a great community.”
Toward that end, a meeting for residents, property owners and business owners interested in serving on and learning more about the work of the Wimauma Community Activation Task Force is set to start at 6:30 p.m. on Oct. 13 at Wimauma Elementary School. Two weeks later, on Oct. 27, the two-hour meet-and-greet with Vaughn is set to begin at 2 p.m. at the Holiday Inn Express & Suites, located at 226 TECO Road in Ruskin.
Wimauma Elementary, at 5709 Hickman Road, sits in an area known as “original Wimauma,” which runs from West Lake Drive to the north and Bill Tucker Road to the south. According to Holly Jamison, Wimauma CDC board vice president, the area is one of three that the Hillsborough County Wimauma Village Neighborhood Plan, also known as the Wimauma community plan, addresses and which the task force has been established to help implement. The second area “involves lots of farms and growers and goes all the way to Forth Lonesome, Route 39 and Manatee County,” Jamison said. “The third area includes subdivisions developed since 2007-2008, including Vista Palms, Sereno, Southshore Bay and Valencia Lakes.”
In step with its collaborative partners, the Wimauma CDC, under board chair Bryce Bowden, worked closely for more than two years with Hillsborough County commissioners and planning officials to develop the Wimauma community plan and its nine goals and eight community benefits.
With its focus on “health, equity, resilience and sustainability,” the Wimauma plan celebrates “Wimauma’s agricultural heritage, rural natural resources, local businesses, cultural legacy and small-town character,” according to county officials. The plan consists of nine goals aimed to “enhance community character, promote the development of a town center, promote economic development, establish design standards, protect and enhance the environment, enhance the safety of the community, improve the transportation system and develop trail and sidewalk connectivity.”
Vaughn steps into her new job with master’s degrees both in education and in public administration, with a specialization in nonprofit management. She launched her career as a middle school reading teacher in Indianapolis public schools and served also as program coordinator for a grant-funded college readiness program, as program director for a Boys & Girls Club and as a research associate for United Way of Central Indiana.
Now Vaughn’s job is to help lead the charge for development focused on such issues as affordable housing, adequate infrastructure, downtown revitalization, sustainable jobs and “conserving as much of that rural small-town charm that makes Wimauma special.”
Darlene Vaughn started her job in September as the newly named executive director of the Wimauma Community Development Corporation.
“Yes, we particularly focus on programs for low- to moderate-income residents, but we have all these other residents who want to get involved in the community and don’t know how,” Vaughn said. She added that to aid that effort, the Wimauma CDC has a membership program “for residents who want to be in the know and businesses connected to their community.”
For more information, visit www.wimaumacdc.org/. Wiamauma CDC is at 5128 Florida State Road 674. Call 813-699-5802 or Email info@wimaumacdc.org/.
