PEORIA When Tony Scroggins returned to Peoria a few years ago, he had a vision.
After years of being in Las Vegas and learning how to invest in real estate, he wanted to bring that knowledge here and teach people. He wanted to empower people in South Peoria, the East Bluff and the North Valley to become home and business owners. I came back here and saw how bad it was and specifically how bad it was for African Americans; I knew there was something I wanted to do to make it better, he said. By teaching people how to fix homes, they can actually get these properties, fix them up and have a decent place to live and also give them an opportunity to make money through the trades they are learning.