For decades Eastlake has been the heart of Phoenix’s Black community, a corridor where Black- owned shops, churches, and families built a vibrant ecosystem of commerce, culture, and care despite segregation and displacement. Afri-Soul Education Center’s move from 1145 E. Washington St. into the Swindall House at 1021 E. Washington St. honors that legacy by returning a community landmark to community use and ensuring Eastlake’s stories remain visible and active.
The Swindall House is one of the last surviving African American boarding houses in Phoenix and was a welcomed refuge for Black travelers during the Jim Crow era, including listings in The Negro Travelers’ Green Book. For families and visitors who could not find safe lodging elsewhere, the Swindall offered hospitality and dignity, making its preservation a direct act of historic justice and community remembrance.
The historic Swindall House inn
Built 1913
Black Boarding House 1920 - 1964
Afri-Soul will transform the Swindall House into a living marketplace and cultural hub that centers BIPOC youth and families while reviving Eastlake’s tradition of Black enterprise. The
Youth Accelerator and, STEAM Program expands into the house, turning rooms that once sheltered travelers into classrooms and storefronts where youth learn product design, pricing, merchandising, and public pitching, skills that translate cultural knowledge into economic opportunity and intergenerational wealth.
A cornerstone of the new Swindall House will be Afri-Soul’s business incubator, a hands-on program that supports makers and microbusinesses through mentoring, retail-readiness training, and shared storefront access. The incubator pairs emerging entrepreneurs with experienced mentors, offers short-term vendor scholarships, and provides technical assistance in bookkeeping, branding, and digital sales so local businesses can scale from market tables to sustainable operations. By anchoring the incubator in a historic site that once anchored travelers and neighbors, Afri-Soul ensures Eastlake’s commercial legacy is renewed and expanded for a new generation.
Keeping the Swindall House in community hands stops cultural displacement and revives a block that was once a bustling stretch of Black businesses, social clubs, and meeting places where neighborhood life flourished. Afri-Soul plans oral-history exhibits, rotating displays about Eastlake’s Black business history, and intergenerational programs that invite elders to pass down recipes, stories, and entrepreneurship wisdom in the very rooms that once sheltered travelers and families.
Immediate needs for the Manifesting the Dream campaign include acquisition support,
accessibility upgrades, safety remediation, and seed funding for youth stipends and vendor
scholarships so the house can open as a warm, accessible space for shopping, learning, and gathering. Community donations will directly protect a Green Book-era landmark and activate it as a place where visitors can learn Eastlake’s history while supporting local start-up businesses and youth entrepreneurs.
How to help
Afri-Soul’s relocation to the Swindall House is a homecoming that reconnects Phoenix residents and visitors to a living history of Black enterprise and refuge. Visit, donate, mentor, or shop, and help turn this historic house into a place where stories are kept, livelihoods are built, and community thrives.
For more information or to support the Manifesting the Dream campaign, contact Afri-Soul Education Center at [email protected], or Dr. Darlene Little at 602-342-2599. Visit www.afri-soul.com for campaign updates and opportunities to get involved.