National Programs/Initiatives
National LISC affords Duluth LISC resources in the following areas:
Housing
Housing, both rental and homeownership, has been and continues to be a core business for LISC. We are constantly refining and expanding the resources we dedicate to this important activity. Duluth LISC provides operating and technical support to CDCs which develop unit for both rental and homeownership. In turn, this helps residents in these redeveloping areas build their own assets and invest in their neighborhood's growth.
The Housing Authority Resource Center works with local LISC sites and their local Housing and Redevelopment Authority offices.
The Affordable Housing Preservation Initiative supports community groups and other partners with projects and rental housing.
Economic Development
A neighborhood isn’t truly a neighborhood without places to shop and work and without clean, safe streets. LISC helps CDCs develop retail and commercial facilities, train and place neighborhood residents in jobs, organize anti-crime efforts, and develop child care options for working parents. The Center for Commercial Revitalization, Community Safety Initiative, and the Community Investment Collaborative for Kids reinforce these efforts with financial and technical assistance to benefit communities, entrepreneurs and neighborhood residents.
Organizational Development and Leadership Cultivation
Every LISC program, local and national aims partly at strengthening the productive capacity of CDCs. Our Organizational Development Initiative and LISC Online Resource Library support that mission with training, problem solving resources, and online information. Throughout the country, LISC works to strengthen the leadership of CDCs through training and learning opportunities for their staff and leadership. In addition, our AmeriCorps Program, a partnership with the Corporation for National Service, places AmeriCorps members in challenging positions throughout the community development industry.
Community Building
LISC helps CDCs tackle a broad range of human issues at the community level, enhancing the local quality of life with better health care, parks and youth development programs, through programs such as NFL Grassroots Program.
Based on the belief that educational choice and academic excellence are key ingredients to successful community development efforts, LISC has begun implementation of a national initiative to support the financing of charter and alternative school facilities. With initial funding from the Walton Family Foundation, LISC has created the Educational Facilities Financing Center (EFFC). The EFFC will pool low-interest loan funds with those already received from the Walton Family Foundation and others, and leverage them for investment in charter and alternative school facilitates. Support for this initiative will help create vital new or renovated school facilities for underserved children, families and communities across the nation.