Safety

Safety is fundamental to the health and vitality of communities. People need to know that their children can walk to school without fear, and that their neighborhood streets and parks are peaceful places—every bit as much as they need good, affordable housing, living-wage jobs and strong schools. 

Safety is also critical to attracting community-minded businesses and homeowners to neighborhoods. When crime is high, local economies shrivel. Revitalization and crime reduction must go hand in hand, which is why LISC invests in safety initiatives that promote police-community partnerships and community development at the same time.

Addressing crime and safety is as important as making sure people have affordable housing, jobs and health care, and good schools. Safe neighborhoods attract families and businesses.

LISC Safety establishes partnerships among law enforcement, residents, business owners and members of other neighborhood institutions.

Long-term, effective partnerships can significantly reduce persistent crime, disorder and fear. The Community Safety Initiative seeks to help neighborhoods reduce crime, increase public confidence, support home-ownership, and stimulate commerce.

How We Do It 

• We offer guidance, training and community. In addition to direct training, our online resource center shares lessons and tools culled from police-community partnerships across the country.
• We champion best-practices. Through programs like our MetLife Foundation Community-Police Partnership Awards, LISC has recognized strong safety alliances and shared their stories.
• We support federal crime reduction initiatives. Since 2012, LISC has served as the national training and technical assistance provider for the Byrne Criminal Justice Innovation Program (BCJI), a initiative of the Department of Justice Bureau of Justice Assistance that seeks to improve safety and spur revitalization in persistently high crime communities in 60 U.S. cities.