When Newtown earned a place on the National Register of Historic Places in April 2024, the designation validated more than 100 years of history and community-building in Sarasota’s close-knit Black neighborhood. But the community’s fabric is threatened. As downtown Sarasota swells with new residents, buyers have been heading north into Newtown, looking for an affordable neighborhood near the city center and offering prices that are sometimes too good to pass up—especially for homeowners who need to make extensive repairs to their homes.
It’s a familiar story. Erin DiFazio, managing director of the Sarasota Alliance for Historic Preservation, says that in the 1920s and ’30s, most of the Black community resided in Overtown—a neighborhood just north of Fruitville Road, now known as the Rosemary District. Through the decades, newcomers saw the value in Overtown, with its close proximity to downtown (the Rosemary District is now one of the hottest neighborhoods in the city), and African Americans were pushed into Newtown about a mile north. The Black community ultimately thrived there and built their own homes.
Today, about 30 to 50 of these original homes, many of them built by Newtown’s founders, need restoration, but their owners can’t afford the repairs. Some longtime residents have sold and left the community. That’s why the Alliance for Historic Preservation started the Resilient Roots program in November 2025. Funded in part with two grants—$10,000 from the Community Foundation of Sarasota County and $20,000 from the Newtown Community Redevelopment Agency—Resilient Roots offers 12-year loans and removes closing costs and interest on the loan for properties located in Newtown…