Welcome to the Moses House website!

Some pages in our website are under construction, and we are continually adding more content. Take a look around and return soon to see more updates! Check out recent updates on our In the News page.

This video documentary presents some of the history of the Moses House, with an emphasis on plant cultivation and gardening projects that were undertaken over the years at its three locations: East Tampa, and then Spring Hill and Sulphur Springs in North Tampa. The video was made during the spring 2011 semester by Stefan Krause and Elizabeth Murray as a service-learning project for the graduate seminar Visual Anthropology, under the supervision of Dr. Elizabeth Bird, Department of Anthropology, University of South Florida, and in collaboration with the Moses House.

Rediscovered Video Footage of Taft Richardson and the Moses House Museum

To see some of the amazing grassroots work that was being done by the Moses House at one of the organization’s previous locations, check out this recently rediscovered video footage from 2003 of Moses House co-founder Taft Richardson explaining the organization’s philosophy and vision as he offers a tour of the Moses House while it was located in the historically African American community of Spring Hill, now part of North Tampa. Thanks go out to Mr. Lewis Bingham, Jr., producer of the video, for contacting us and making the video available on YouTube.

Moses House awarded Tau grant by Allegany Franciscan Ministries

In December 2010, Allegany Franciscan Ministries, Inc. awarded the Moses House a $10,000 Tau grant to help support the Moses House Community Garden project during 2011. Read the full press release here.

Help us grow our community garden!

We are still seeking donations for our upcoming Moses House garden. We would appreciate tools, gloves, pots, cinder blocks, soil, compost, etc. Any amount of these items will be helpful. Donations are welcome anytime but are most needed before January 15th. See flier for more details.

USF service-learning student and Moses House volunteer featured on USF News

Read more about it here.

Moses House featured in Tampa Tribune/tbo.com article

Read more about it here.

Moses House partners with USF on community safety and well-being research

A group of Moses House youth are learning how to conduct community based research with USF Anthropology graduate students. Read the full press release here.

Moses House awarded grant by the Children’s Board of Hillsborough County

In June 2010, the Children’s Board of Hillsborough County awarded the Moses House a $9,000 grant through its FY 2010 Technical Assistance Funds. Read the full press release here.

An Open House Afternoon

Saturday, April 3rd, 1:00-3:00 pm

Join us for a fun afternoon of music, free food, and light refreshments. Learn about the Moses House, how to get involved, and how you can help support its mission. Programming resumes soon!

Download a pdf of the flier here.

Download a pdf of the event booklet here.

Moses House awarded grant by Project Ahimsa

On March 16, 2010, the Moses House was awarded a $1,500 mini-grant by Project Ahimsa, a Patel Foundation Cultural Initiative that operates under the auspices of the Patel Foundation for Global Understanding. Read the full story here.

The Moses House is one of three local grassroots nonprofit organizations that are being granted permission to lease (rent-free) the currently unoccupied buildings at the Mann-Wagnon Memorial Park at 1101 E. River Cove Street in Sulphur Springs. (The other two nonprofits are the Sulphur Springs Museum and Community Stepping Stones.) These buildings have remained vacant since the Hillsborough County Parks, Recreation and Conservation Department moved out toward the end of 2008. Over the course of 2009, the Sulphur Springs Cultural Park Partnership (the three nonprofits) and their allies at USF and elsewhere have been actively negotiating with County and City officials to be granted use of the buildings and surrounding green park area, which borders the Hillsborough River. USF faculty and students, especially from the Anthropology Department and the College of The Arts, have played major roles throughout this entire endeavor. For more about the history of this initiative, as it was reported in the local news media, see the links below.

Prior to occupancy of the buildings, each of the three nonprofits must meet certain criteria specified by the Arts Council of Hillsborough County and the Board of County Commissioners. For the Moses House, this includes demonstrating that we have the capacity to renovate our building, the funds to finance organizational operations and programming, sufficient staff and volunteers to direct and assist with program activities, business and marketing plans for sustaining the organization and attracting community members to its facilities, and the ability to make utilities payments and cover our share of the grounds maintenance costs.

The Moses House is now busily preparing our move-in proposal and drumming up support. As a way to encourage donations and pledges of support, three Moses House youth participants have made a video tour of the building we will be allowed to occupy as soon as we meet the move-in criteria. This video was made as part of a series of “Hood Documentaries” being produced by Sulphur Springs youth in the Moses House digital video workshop. It can be viewed below. (For better viewing, click on PAUSE until the entire video loads up, then click on PLAY.)


If you or anyone you know is able to help support the Moses House through donations or volunteering (or pledges of donations and/or volunteering), please e-mail us or visit our donation page. We are accepting miscellaneous furniture, office supplies and office furniture, computer equipment, music and sound equipment, art supplies, books and videos about the history and cultures of Africa and the African Diaspora, and building renovation supplies, as well as monetary donations in any amount. All monetary donations will go toward operating expenses and programming costs; the Moses House board of directors, executive director, instructors, and program staff do not receive any salaries or wages from donated monies.

All donations will be used to further the organization’s mission: to create and provide community-based cultural and educational programs and activities for children and youth from low-income families; to support and conduct non-partisan research, education, and informational activities to increase public awareness of the poor, distressed, and underprivileged; to defend human rights and civil rights secured by law; to strive for the elimination of prejudice and discrimination; to advance social justice education; and to combat community deterioration, juvenile delinquency, and the criminalization of children and youth.

Thank you from everyone at the Moses House!


History of the Sulphur Springs Cultural Park Partnership: