The next steps for the Jefferson drill site project will include applying for funding from California’s Department of Toxic Substances Control to clean up the site as well as applying for state funds for the new park and the planned community center.
Parks is also working with Neighborhood Housing Services of Los Angeles County to develop affordable housing on the parts of the property where there were no wells. Lori Gay, president of NHS, said she’s known Parks and the work of Redeemer, where her husband is on the board, for years.
Gay said that Parks first approached her about the Jefferson site a few years ago and she’s been watching as the project progresses. Gay, the daughter of a minister, said faith-based groups can play an essential role in addressing the issue of affordable housing.
She said Parks and the neighbors around the drill site have a tenacity that helped make the drill site redevelopment project a reality. She recalled how, when Parks prayed for the project recently, he recited a slightly modified version of the Lord’s Prayer.
Rather than praying that God’s will be done on earth as it is in heaven, Parks prayed that God’s will be done “in the neighborhood as it is in heaven.”
“I’ve never heard that before,” said Gay.
Parks said praying about God’s will being done on earth can sound overwhelming. It can also be hard to put into action. But the neighborhood is a place where he can make changes.
“When we think about the little piece of earth that God has entrusted to our care, then when we pray, maybe it will be done in the neighborhood as it is in heaven,” Parks said.
This article originally appeared here.
