Seventeen years ago, the community day center Transformation Village was launched with a mission to improve the quality of life for residents of Bithlo, a rural, historically underserved part of east Orange County where 26 percent of the population lives in poverty.
Described by historians as the “Gateway to Orange County,” locals have grimly referred to it as the “Nightmare Before Christmas” — a reference to the village of Christmas located just a few miles east.
Initially, Bithlo’s Transformation Village received little government support. But founder Tim McKinney, a community advocate, told Orlando Weekly that the government’s cold shoulder toward them has changed. “I would say that we have basically universal support from all levels of government — federal, state and local,” he said…