Despite the City of Austin's goal of having a park within a 10-minute walk of every resident, there’s a stark difference between the trails and outdoor space enjoyed by wealthy residents and the unmarked lots in under-resourced neighborhoods. This divide became tragically clear during the pandemic, when East and South Side residents faced higher COVID-19 death rates and lacked local outdoor infrastructure for safe social distancing and community building.

To tackle this persistent issue, Central Texas Interfaith (CTI) launched a city-wide listening campaign in 2022. This was part of the first national funding initiative in the U.S. dedicated to supporting community-based power-building to reverse green space inequities.

It is with great sadness that we learned the news this Easter Monday morning about the death of Pope Francis.

Over the past three years, we, as representatives of Central Texas Interfaith (CTI) and sister organizations of the Industrial Areas Foundation, were privileged to meet him three times in his Santa Marta residence at the Vatican, each an encounter of 90 minutes or more. CTI leader Rev. Minerva Camarena Skeith, rector of St. John's Episcopal Church (in photo greeting Pope Francis) was part of the delegation that met with Pope Francis in 2023.

Said Reverend Minerva Camarena Skeith: 

“Meeting with Pope Francis was an experience that I will never forget.  What impressed me the most is how well he understood the work we do around the development of leaders and creating a culture of solidarity."