In 2023, LISC Houston continued our work in placed-based community development by disbursing $400,000 in grants to three GO neighborhood communities. Through these efforts, our GO communities have been able to create and implement Quality of Life agreementsto help foster thriving communities. Through these initiatives, our continued goal is to create strong cross-sector partnerships to help support sustainable growth. In addition to our support of GO neighborhoods, we distributed $67,000 in small grants to support 14 projects across six neighborhoods in Greater Houston. Deploying funds to build capacity and support our communities is a foundational pillar of our work, and providing leadership training in those communities is equally important. This past year, LISC increased the capacity and leadership skills of 31 T4T cohort members and over 150 T4T ambassadors through our ongoing leadership programming creating a pipeline for continued advocate and community leaders to help further our work. In our commitment to drive innovation, we launched Community Compass where LISC Houston-funded community-based organizations had the opportunity to apply for in-kind support of a consultant - provided by LISC – to work one-on-one with them and develop a unique map that would support the capacity building of their organization and/or the community they serve. Leveraging LISC National’s resources, we developed and expanded sources of wholesome, affordable foods in Northside. Lastly, in partnership with LISC National, the NFL Foundation and the Houston Texans, we continued to address the shortage of clean, safe and accessible football fields in low-and moderate-income neighborhoods by providing financing and technical assistance to nonprofit organizations, middle schools and high schools to improve the quality, safety and accessibility of local athletic fields.
2023 was a year of level-setting in our community development work where we took the opportunity to pause and reflect with a goal of streamlining LISC messaging and building consensus and understanding across our network. The ladder part of the year, we went on a listening journey to understand the needs in our communities from the community perspective. We convened perspectives from multiple sectors to understand how we can collectively solve challenges that we know cannot be solved in silos. We are grateful for our communities, funders, elected officials, private corporations, and community-based organizations for coming together to provide much needed input. Through these conversations, we will continue to forge a path for cross-sector partnerships and connections to build thriving communities.
In the upcoming year, our strategic priorities will lead us to continue the advancement of community-centered economic inclusion work and prioritizing strategic partnerships with community leaders, government leaders, private and community-based organizations to promote sustainable community development. We plan to expand our community development work to include equitable green initiatives and community-led safety strategies.
Additionally, LISC will dig deeper into the intricate relationship between social determinants of health (SDoH) and community development. We understand the SDoH profoundly shapes the overall well-being of residents. Economic instability, limited access to quality education, inadequate housing, and underemployment contribute to continued disparities in underserved communities. We hope to work in partnership with other entities to address these fundamental needs to be a catalyst for significant change and improved communities.
For more information, contact Carolyn Andrews at candrews@lisc.org.