[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 146 (2000), Part 12]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page 17565]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]



                    TRIBUTE TO FATHER LLOYD SPRINGER

                                 ______
                                 

                          HON. JOSE E. SERRANO

                              of new york

                    in the house of representatives

                       Monday, September 11, 2000

  Mr. SERRANO. Mr. Speaker, today I pay tribute to Father Lloyd 
Springer, who has retired after 27 years of ministry to the South 
Bronx. He was honored on August 25, 2000, by members of the community.
  Father Springer came as priest in charge to St. Edmunds Episcopal 
Church, located at 177th Street and Morris Avenue, in 1973, with a 
vision and commitment. As a hands-on clergy, he at once began to 
enhance services to the congregation and to build coalitions with and 
feelings of empowerment in neighborhood residents. However, as soon as 
the church began to grow in membership, a devastating fire consumed the 
parish hall. While this could have been an excuse to flee the South 
Bronx, instead Fr. Springer worked with the Episcopal Diocese to secure 
a loan for renovation. Further, he looked to the needs of the 
neighborhood beginning with Trabajamos Head Start.
  Blueprints for the renovation of four abandoned buildings across from 
the church were gathering dust when Brien O'Toole, a community 
organizer from the North West Bronx Community and Clergy Coalition, 
came to the Mt. Hope neighborhood. Fr. Springer agreed to provide space 
in the church office and the Mt. Hope Organization was born. A 
coalition of tenants, churchgoers, homeowners and community leaders met 
regularly in St. Edmunds' undercroft to address and plan how they would 
solve the growing problems of abandoned housing stock, drugs, and poor 
services. The priority for St. Edmunds was the four abandoned buildings 
across from the church, because drug dealing there posed a danger to 
all the community, and especially to the community's children. On the 
site, St. Edmund's Court, with 110 housing units for both community 
residents and the City's homeless, was opened in 1989 with the 
Honorable Edward I. Koch presiding.
  Mr. Speaker, after this success, the Mt. Hope Organization formed a 
management company and began working with the City to reclaim other 
abandoned buildings. Father Springer led marches and meetings with 
elected officials, and the result was 1,200 more units of housing 
renovated for low- and moderate-income families.
  Father Springer became the first president of the Board of the Mt. 
Hope Housing Company, a new Community Development Corporation providing 
housing, social services, jobs, and job training for residents of the 
community. During the six years under Fr. Springer's leadership, the 
Mt. Hope Housing Company did as much work as many larger and longer 
established Community Development Corporations.
  Under Fr. Springer's leadership, and in partnership with the 
Episcopal Diocese and, later, with Episcopal Charities, an After School 
and Food Bank Program was established. Leaders of the Mt. Hope/St. 
Edmunds community petitioned the Bronx Borough President for a decent 
playground, and in 1993 a major capital improvement grant of $870,000 
for construction of the St. Edmunds/Mt. Hope Playground was announced 
at the corner of 177th and Walton Avenue. Parishioners also began to 
serve an Annual Thanksgiving Dinner for the homeless.
  These accomplishments energized the community, and Fr. Springer and 
members launched a search for an organization that would address the 
inadequate health services available at that time. The Institute for 
Urban Family Health and the Primary Care Development Corporation became 
partners with St. Edmunds and Walton Family Health Center opened its 
doors. This health facility now serves about 900 families yearly. St. 
Edmunds is also a partner in a new Reach 2010 project, which is looking 
at the disparities in health care in urban settings, and in 
particularly the high incidence of diabetes and hypertension among 
Blacks and Hispanics in the South Bronx.
  Father Springer's commitment not only to his parish, St. Edmunds, but 
also to the Mt. Hope Community as a whole, including the homeless, has 
not gone unrecognized. As Mt. Hope Housing Company rightly stated 
during its 1993 award, ``Father Springer's presence and wisdom, broad 
vision and imperturbable temperament, through trials and successes has 
held the neighborhood to its mission. These qualities and a passion for 
justice and opportunity, and an ethic of stewardship and duty have 
contributed mightily to making the Mt. Hope area a community equal to 
the dignity of its residents.''
  Mr. Speaker, I ask my colleagues to join me in recognizing Father 
Lloyd Springer for his remarkable career of serving the community and 
bringing hope to the many individuals he has touched.

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