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Leading With Hope, Vision

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By KATHY STEELE, The Tampa Tribune

Published: October 13, 2007

Updated: 10/11/2007 05:11 pm

EAST TAMPA - Toni Watts had a revelation as a 16-year-old summer intern.

She liked her clerical duties at the Naval Oceanographic Office at NASA's John Stennis Space Center on Mississippi's Gulf Coast. But she set her career goal a bit higher: management.

'My love has always been administration,' she said. 'I'm a paper pusher.'

And until last year, more of a behind-the-scenes force at the Corporation to Develop Communities of Tampa. She stepped into the spotlight in 2006 when Chloe Coney retired after 14 years as the East Tampa nonprofit agency's first director.

On Tuesday, Watts will preside at the corporation's 15th annual fundraising luncheon at the Hyatt Regency, featuring urban policy expert Yvonne Scruggs-Leftwich as keynote speaker. This year's theme is Transforming Lives - Revitalizing Communities.

In the year since Watts took leadership, she has overseen creation of a commercial real estate division, negotiated about $2.5 million in acquisition loans to buy 60 lots for housing, put construction of the corporation's headquarters back on track and dealt with budget cuts to youth programs when the city and county slashed contributions to nonprofit groups.

Being in charge is different, Watts said.

'You are the public face,' she said. 'That was a bit of an adjustment, being more public than I have been in the past.'

But Coney, who mentored Watts, said, 'It was a natural fit.'

Watts was Coney's first full-time hire, going from the corporation's administrative assistant to grants manager to chief financial officer to chief executive officer.

The agency was founded in 1992 by Coney and a group of activists, including Audrey Spotford, to bring jobs, business ownership and affordable housing to one of the city's most blighted communities. They started in rented offices on Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard with a small grant from the Children's Board.

'We were pioneers,' Coney said. 'We were trailblazers.'

Watts found it easy to identify with the agency's goals.

Her internship in Mississippi opened her eyes to the opportunities of a professional career. It was the kind of program and guidance that the corporation offers in its youth programs.

'I was pretty much a kid like the ones we're helping out now,' Watts said. 'I'm just a small-town girl. I guess that's my foundation.'

Watts was born in New Orleans but grew up in Picayune, Miss., about 55 miles away. The baby of the family, she was raised by her grandmother on a block populated with aunts, uncles and cousins.

'Everyone was your mom, everybody was your dad,' Watts said.

The town's schools integrated in 1971 when Watts was a sixth-grader.

After high school graduation, she lived in New Orleans and briefly attended Southern University. In 1982 she joined the Air Force, where she was trained as an air traffic controller.

She served in Biloxi, Miss., Del Rio, Texas, Anchorage, Alaska, and finally at MacDill Air Force Base. She always thought she would return to Alaska, but a divorce set her on a different path.

As a single mother with two children, Keena, now 22, and Tiffany, 20, Watts took a job as fundraiser for the nonprofit Tampa United Methodist Centers. Coney said she was impressed with Watts' skills and hired her for the corporation.

'We were a great team,' Coney said. 'I was the face of CDC. Toni was in the office doing the detail work.'

Tyrone Keys, a former Tampa Bay Buccaneer and a Mississippi native, met Watts about 12 years ago in Tampa. They graduated from the same high school but didn't know each other.

Keys founded the nonprofit All Sports Community Service in 1993, and Watts was the bookkeeper in its early years while also working at the corporation.

'She burnt the candle at both ends without any fanfare,' Keys said. 'She knew what we were doing for the kids. She wants people to have a better life.'

Watts said Coney made her believe that hope and a vision were enough to get the corporation up and running.

The agency took a chance on start-up businesses such as the Nehemiah Coin Laundry at East Lake Avenue and 29th Street. It also built the Audrey L. Spotford Youth & Family Center on the site of a notorious bar on East Lake; the Osborne Landing Apartments at Osborne Avenue east of 34th Street; and an open-air market on East Lake.

There have been bumps in the road. A goal of attracting vendors to the open-air market hasn't panned out, although Watts said churches and civic groups hold events there.

A nearly $300,000 budget shortfall in 2004 prompted the corporation to put the laundry up for sale. It was bought this year for $375,000 and remains open.

Looking at East Lake and 29th, Watts said there is work to be done but 'the whole atmosphere here is different.'

She's excited about upcoming projects.

With the $2.5 million in acquisition loans, Watts said single-family houses will be built on 60 lots scattered throughout East Tampa. Most will be sold at below-market rates to buyers who qualify for low-interest loans and down-payment assistance.

Eleven houses are under construction, with five under contract.

'Every day we're getting phone calls,' Watts said.

The agency has a six-week homeownership course and in recent years has moved 17 families into homes without a single foreclosure, she said.

The corporation bought the 10-unit Renaissance apartment complex on Columbus Drive and will convert it to condominiums for first-time home buyers, Watts said.

After many delays, construction of the Urban Enterprise Center, 1907 E. Hillsborough Ave., will begin this year, Watts said. The building will become headquarters for the corporation's staff of about 25 full- and part-time employees.

'This year has been all about positioning,' Watts said.

Grants will always be part of the financial mix, she said, but they come with built-in cutoff dates. A successful commercial real estate program can produce revenue to support the corporation's youth programs, Watts said.

And youngsters are the heart of the organization.

'It's about getting people from a place of lack to where they can take care of their families and live the American dream,' she said.

IF YOU GO

WHAT: Annual luncheon for the Corporation to Develop Communities of Tampa

WHERE: Hyatt Regency, 211 N. Tampa St.

WHEN: 11:30 a.m. Tuesday

KEYNOTE SPEAKER: Author and urban policy expert Yvonne Scruggs-Leftwich

TICKETS: $75; corporate sponsorships available

INFORMATION: Call Georgeanne Gillett at (813) 248-9738, Ext. 105.

Reporter Kathy Steele can be reached at (813) 835-2103 or ksteele@tampatrib.com.

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