“A Gateway for Possibilities”: Resident Leadership and Community Ownership
In this Spotlight for the Institute for Community Power, we look at three leadership development programs designed and implemented by LISC and local partners: Training the Trainers (T4T) in Houston; the Newark Resident Leadership Academy (NRLA); and Community Connectors in Philadelphia. What follows is not a comprehensive evaluation of the programs. Instead, this is meant to serve as a jumping off point for further exploration, identifying some of the key themes and topics that emerged from interviews with participants and tracing some of the impacts the programs had both on participants and their communities.
Spotlight on Resident Voice and Community Ownership
Community development, at its core, helps residents create their own shared future. This concept of self-determination – also known as community ownership – is fundamental to LISC’s work, as we recognize that both our own investments and others from the public and private sector need to be directed by local voices. This Spotlight for the Institute for Community Power highlights contemporary efforts to advance community ownership by bringing residents together to elevate their voices and decision-making abilities. In it, we look at three programs designed and implemented by LISC and local partners: Training for Trainers (T4T) in Houston; the Newark Resident Leadership Academy (NRLA); and Community Connectors in Philadelphia.
Spotlight on Inclusive Economic Development Without Displacement
On Wall Street and downtowns around the country, declining in-person work is driving near-record office vacancies, with implications for nearby businesses, the urban tax base, and public services. But on main streets across the country, LISC is addressing some of the same technological and economic changes behind downtown vacancies, to support entrepreneurs of color facing displacement.
Three Models for Inclusive, Community-Led Economic Development Without Displacement
Community-centered economic inclusion initiatives hold important lessons for how to dismantle inequities and promote economic opportunities without displacement. LISC’s local partners in places like Everett, WA, Oakland, CA, and Charlotte, NC are fostering community-led initiatives that promote economic justice with residents and small businesses.
Stable Homes and Resident Empowerment
This report from the LISC Community Research and Impact team describes COPA and TOPA policies at work and their outcomes in DC and San Francisco, implementation lessons, and evidence about the impact of these policies based on preliminary LISC analyses of housing market dynamics in New York City.
Spotlight on LGBTQ+ Liberation and Community Development
LGBTQ+ people have a powerful history of organizing and cooperation to support. Yet there is little focus within community development on development without displacement by and for queer and trans communities, and the challenges and opportunities they face in scaling this work. As extremist groups and policies increasingly target LGBTQ+ people, strategies to build queer and trans community and economic power for systems change are urgently needed. This LISC Institute for Community Power Spotlight focuses on the intersections between LGBTQ+ liberation and community development.