By contrast St. Edmund’s Towers is an imposing new edifice rising above nearby squalor. The building smells of fresh paint and polished linoleum. The windows are washed. Tolliver marches into the activity room like a drill sergeant on inspection. Everything looks in order. The refreshments have been served, and the clusters of residents who have come to hear a speaker from city hall and meet Reverend Tolliver seem content.       

Tolliver will keep his remarks short. It’s important for him to be at these functions. The people like seeing St. Edmund’s rector out in the community, not holed up in the church like some monk. Besides, when you’re the president and CEO of the St. Edmund’s Redevelopment Corporation (SERC) you have to demonstrate confident leadership. This is about progress not pipe dreams: $18 million in SERC projects completed in the 1990s, and $25 million more in progress. For Tolliver the community renaissance plan is equal parts mission and vision.       

He discusses this philosophy in a chapter of a book, Urban Churches, Vital Signs: Beyond Charity Toward Justice. Tolliver explains that Christian community development focuses on affordable housing, quality education, economic opportunity, and programs to ensure safe, secure surroundings. He notes that spiritually driven development typically offers more of a holistic long-term approach than purely secular efforts.       

“In some of our urban neighborhoods only the church can make this happen,” he says, echoing the zeitgeist of the faith-based movement.       

According to his philosophy, St. Edmund’s Church, as the dominant stable institution in the Washington Park community, must take the lead in development efforts. But the church can’t do it all. Partnerships with government and private-sector organizations must occur to attract working-class and middle-class families and individuals to move into the area. Certainly there must be low-interest loans, tax abatements, and other financial inducements to spur investment. One such tool is a low-income housing tax credit, part of the Tax Reform Act of 1986, which offers corporate and individual investors a credit against their federal income taxes for investments directed at acquiring, “rehabbing,” or constructing low-income housing.        

The Local Initiatives Support Corp. (LISC), the nation’s largest nonprofit community-development support organization, uses the tax credit to support more than 600 urban revitalization programs like the St. Edmund’s Redevelopment Corporation in more than 100 U.S. localities. In a dozen years, the Local Initiatives Support Corp. has attracted more than $2 billion in investments from 130 corporations nationwide.       

Nile Harper, author of Urban Churches, Vital Signs, says that one of the most important products generated by SERC is hope. He writes: “Entrepreneurial ability, visionary leadership, and long-term pastoral commitment have all come together in the work of St. Edmund’s Episcopal Church, SERC, and St. Edmund’s Academy. The ‘miracle in Washington Park’ is not a mystery. It is the result of long, persistent, skillful hard work, and the partnership of local people with key financial investors. The future is far from certain. There is, however, solid, creative accomplishment and real hope for a positive future in Washington Park.”           

Before his talk to the senior citizens in the activity room at St. Edmund’s Towers, Tolliver enters the first-floor lavatory. He emerges moments later doing a slow burn. His brow creased, his ebony eyes searching the room for the building manager.        

Without raising his voice, he directs the manager to get a custodian into the restroom immediately. He will not tolerate an unkempt lavatory, and he doesn’t accept the lackadaisical attitude of the manager. But he knows how hard it is to get qualified people to come to Washington Park to work. He makes a mental note about recruiting a new building manager.       

No time to frown now. He must talk to the congregation of seniors who greet him with polite applause. He steps lightly, clasping his thick fingers at waist level.        

“I’m Reverend Richard Tolliver from St. Edmund’s Church, and I want to welcome you to….”       

The residents smile along with him. His voice is firm and clear, but not overpowering. He’s no hellfire and brimstone preacher, nor a shake-rattle-and-roll evangelist. Yes, he’s an African-American minister from an inner-city parish, but he is, after all, an Episcopalian. He displays a reserved countenance, his dignified demeanor more akin to General Colin Powell than to Reverend Jesse Jackson.