Old Obama acquaintance voices South Side’s disillusionment with his former ally

Back in his office, Allen shares his frustrations with other activists, including a young firebrand named Mark Carter who, within the past year, has formed a new political party, dubbed the Broke Party, part of a protest against the Obama administration and mainstream politics in general. At this moment, the two men are struggling to come up with the names of South Side African Americans who have clout with the Obama administration — those who can get meaningful funding, in contrast with the impotence that they think characterizes the lives of most South Side residents. One name comes up that elicits nods: Richard Tolliver.

Carter smiles wanly. “Tolliver is big,” Carter says. “Be nice to have his connections.”

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Through the lens of the White House photographer: For the past three years, Pete Souza has served President Obama’s offical photographer. View his best images from July 2012.

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Funding for some groups

Tolliver is a prominent Episcopalian priest and the chief executive of the St. Edmund’s Redevelopment Corp., which is in Washington Park, a neighborhood a few miles from Bronzeville. Since its creation in 1990, it has been responsible for the development of about 600 housing units in 28 buildings, largely for a mix of poor and working-class residents.

The reliability of St. Edmund’s has proven alluring to donors: For two decades, the corporation’s funding has principally come from government grants and philanthropic organizations. Since Obama entered the White House, St. Edmund’s has been the recipient of millions in stimulus money and other federal funding, which has gone toward new buildings that have set aside units for low-income earners and the elderly.

The photographs of luminaries in Tolliver’s office bespeak his clout. The most prominent pictures are those of Tolliver with Obama. The 67-year-old reverend proudly points to a photo of the two engaged in conversation during a recent Obama fundraiser. “He knows of my work,” Tolliver says, smiling. “He asked, ‘How are things going?’ We were just two people talking. Very relaxed.”

The St. Edmund’s story reflects the success of several South Side groups in accessing government funds from the Obama administration, typically established groups that have enjoyed federal support in the past. What irks Allen and other activists isn’t Tolliver’s success, but the inability of newer groups on the South Side, those without long track records, to lay claim to stimulus dollars and grants.

Tolliver is keenly aware of his status. He says with pride that St. Edmund’s has been the only community development corporation in Chicago to receive three different sources of federal funding from the Obama administration for housing construction.

“People like to support winners,” he explains, pointing to the upside of the influence of St. Edmund’s: “Some of our poor and elderly receive quality housing. How is that anything but good?”

But on some points, Tolliver sympathizes with critics such as Allen. He sees persistent obstacles to training and hiring opportunities for large numbers of local residents, especially those who have spent time in prison. Overall, Tolliver says, he is in agreement with skeptics who contend that the lives of too few local residents have been touched by the stimulus package.